70 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



ner. Besides, he who has only one colony, 

 must necessarily forego many of the advantages 

 •which the new system possesses and obviously 

 presents. 



4. They are not careful to provide, especially 

 for tlie second year's operations, an adequate 

 supply of empty combs ; and thus fail to secure 

 one of the essential conditions of success in 

 reducing the new system to practice. 



Now, my friend, if you design to experiment 

 with movable comb hives, and desire me to be 

 your counsnilor in the premises, you must 

 promise, first, to make yourself well acquainted 

 with the principles of the new system of man- { 

 agenient ; secondly, to select and adopt for prac- 

 tical use an approved form of movable comb 

 hive ; thirdly, to start with at least two good col- 

 onies — it were better to begin with four\ nnd 

 fourthly, to provide for the sfcond year a fair 

 supply of good, clean, empty combs. As 

 regards the latter, you will be apt to ask me 

 how and where you are to obtain them, and 

 how you are to preserve them for use when 

 obtained. In reply to this, I would say — adopt 

 the course I pursued, and in due time you will 

 be as well supplied with such combs as I am ; 

 and I have constantly on hand a store of them 

 sutBcient to enable me, in any year, to give 

 each of my colonics fifteen additional ccmbs. 

 Nor are any of these combs more than three 

 years old, because whei they get to be older 

 than that they become friable and I melt them 

 down and sell the wax. My process is as fol- 

 lows : When breakii\g up colonies in old box 

 or straw hives, I carefully select and preserve 

 every good worker comb or piece of comb, 

 adjusting them all properly in frames. And, 

 secondly, I cause new combs to be built in 

 frames to be ready for use— availing myself for 

 this purpose of the comb-building propensity 

 of the workers. This propensity is peculiarly 

 strong and active in young swarms, and in col- 

 onies reduced to the condition of a swarna, by 

 brushing the bees from their combs and trans- 

 ferring them to a hive containing frames fur- 

 nished with worker comb foundations or guide 

 combs. It is also active in a colony having a 

 young queen just become fertile. In the for- 

 mer case — tbat of young swarms, or of bees 

 brushed from the combs and transferred — I give 

 guide combs only in so many frames as are 

 suited to the size or strength of the colony. In 

 the other case, I give them at most only three 

 frames with guide combs, and place these each 

 alternately between two full built frames. While 

 doing this I am careful to see that the brooding 

 space in the hive is kept entirely free from drone 

 comb. In hives containing frames more than 

 ten inches long, the prevention of drone comb 

 building is more difficult to be accomplished 

 than in such as have shorter frames, or frames 

 not exceeding that length. Experience has 

 shown that in long frames bees are exceedingly 

 prone to build drone comb. Thia has led to 

 the adoption of shorter frames, by practical api 

 arians ; and it will be found that among the 

 means of preventing the pioduction of drone 

 comb, the selection of hives not more than ten 

 inches broad, is one of the most efficient. In 

 favorable years, swarms, even when placed in 



empty hives, will completely fill eight or ten 

 frames with worker comb exclusively ; and if 

 that number of frames of such combs has once 

 been obt;iined, the bees may then be al'owed to 

 build drone comb also, if they be so inclined ; 

 though these should afterwards be transferred 

 to the supers or the surplus honey boxes. 

 When drone comb is cut out or removed from 

 the brooding apartment, pieces of worker comb 

 should at once be inserted or substituted for it. 

 There is anoiher mode of obtaining a large sup- 

 ply of worker comb for future use, to which I 

 sometimes resort. At the busiest honey season, 

 I brush the bees of a strong colony from their 

 I combs into a hive furnished with frames con- 

 i taiuing guide combs only — thus constraining the 

 I bees to build aew combs, and using those from 

 I which they were brushed to strengthen weak 

 j colonies. Of course a beginner cannot emplo)' 

 this method ; but if swarms happen to be 

 j numerous in the spring, he may hive tliem all, 

 j stimulate them to comb-building, and in the 

 I fall unite the bees with other stocks, and pre- 

 I serve the combs they have built for use the next 

 spring. I never had any difficulty in preserving 

 empty combs. I suspeud them in my garret, 

 ! immediately under the lidge of the loof, so 

 j placing them that they do not touch each other, 

 [ and allowing a current of air (which molhs dis- 

 I like) to pass fieely among them. Thus placed, 

 j neither mice nor moths ever injure them. 

 j Having now stated my stipulations, and also 

 ' shown that they may easily be complied with, 

 1 I proceed to explain how you may successfully 

 1 engage in the new sj'^stem of bee-culture. As 

 already premised, I would, in the first year, 

 place good strong swarms in four movable comb 

 hives, carefully watching to see that they regu- 

 i larly fill the frames with combs, and that those 

 I in the brooding apartment contain worker 

 comb exclusively. In the fall, if in want of 

 empty comb for next season's operations, and 

 you have no other source of supply, I would 

 break up the weaker two of those lour colonies, 

 uniting the bees with other stocks, and preser- 

 ving tlie combs for future use. Next year, I 

 should devote the two remaining colonies ex- 

 clusively to honey-gathering, as it would be 

 injudicious to allow Ihem to swarm or to divide 

 them. We can only hope to secure one thing 

 at a time — either honey or swarms ; to secure 

 both would require an uncommonly good sea- 

 son and superior management. Accordingly, 

 the storing of honey must now be our chief 

 'object— for, remember, we are making an 

 experiment to asceitain whether more can be 

 gained by means of movable comb hives, than 

 by the old kind in common use. The old sys- 

 tem has taught us that colonies which, after 

 swarming, are still populous, and are speedily 

 re-supplied with a fertile queen, ever prove to 

 be richest in honey stores, if pasturage be rea- 

 sonably abundant. And why ? 1. Such a col- 

 ony has no occasion to build comb, or need 

 build very little. 2. For a considerable 

 period it has no brood to nurse, and can there- 

 fore store up honey as fast as it is gathered. 

 And, 3, the fertility of the vigorous young 

 queen inspires the bees of the colony wiih 

 renewed energy. Now that which such a col- 



