1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



(From the Progressive Bee Keeper ) 



LATE SWARMS, 



BY .1 \V. HOUSp;. 



I am often a<ked, "Are late swarms 

 worth saving ?" I always answer yes. 

 Bees when in a normal condition, al- 

 ways know what they are doing, and 

 late swarms never come only when 

 there is a goood flow of nectar. 



I once had some ten or twelve 

 swarms to come as late as the 15th of 

 September, and 1 saved every one of 

 them, and they were as good colonies 

 as I had the next spring. I alvvays 

 give a new swarm, either late or early, 

 a frame or two of brood and honey, 

 which starts the new swarm to house- 

 keeping immediately, and also holds 

 the new swarm to the hive. 



If very late swarms come off, I 

 would give them three or four frames 

 of brood and honey from some popu- 

 lous colony that could spare them, or 

 draw from two or three if necnssary. 

 Of course if increase is not desired, 

 one could then double up or remove 

 queen cells and put the swarm back, 

 giving plenty of surplus room. 



By leaving some of the honey on a 

 little too long, waiting for other colo- 

 nies to get their honey ready to take 

 off, I am still having an occasional 

 swarm. 



I had one to come off just two 

 weeks ago, and by giving them two 

 frames of brood and honey and filling 

 balance of brood chamber with empty 

 combs, in three days I filled the sur- 

 plus chamber with empty combs, and 

 yesterday I extracted thirty-nine 

 pounds of honey from them. It was 

 a good swarm, weighing 8j pounds. 



I had another swarm to come off' 

 two days ago, and they have their 

 brood chamber nearly filled now. 



These late swarms interfered some 

 with honey gathering, but where in- 

 crease is desired they may cotne in 

 very acceptably. 



I am tickled in my sleeves at the 

 other fellows who are figiiting the five 

 banders so much. I feel sure if they 

 were not so hard to breed pure, there 

 would be very many more of them. 

 I do not mean to say that queen breed- 

 ers are dishonest and are knowingly 

 advising against their convictions, as 

 I am not usually of a suspicious nat- 

 ure, and cast suspicions on no one 

 because the may not see as I do. 



The way the five banders work in 

 my own apiary, and tlie letters I get 

 from time to time of how they are 

 doing for others and how pleased many 

 of my cu.stomers are to get these gold- 

 en beauties, encourages me to go on 

 wiih them, let others do as they like. 



There has been and is now a good 

 h(mey flow, and the prospects are 

 splendid for a good "fall flow if frost 

 does not cotne too soon. There is 

 plenty of white clover still in bloom, 

 and it will likely'be in bloom until 

 frost. 



Mexico, M". 



(From the AmericanTBee Journal.) 



GETTING TflE WAX :OUT OF OLD 

 COMB. 



BY .lOHN CLARK. 



Bee-keepers have found the work 

 of rendering old|combs into good, sal- 

 able wax, troublesome, discouraging, 

 and sometimes too slow and expensive 

 an operation to "fool with " to any 

 great extent. I have been keeping 

 bees for a great many years, and such 

 has been my axperience. But recent- 

 ly, while expv-rimenting, I discovered 



