THE AMERICAN APICVLTURIST. 



163 



That (his statement c:in be verified 

 (siive peiiiaps so ftu' as paying for the 

 article) li_v reading- Hu; l)ac'k niunbeis 

 of tiie American Bpa' Journal. 



That twenty pounds of stores are 

 not siillltient to carry a stronu," colony 

 of bees IVoni October 1 to May 20, 

 and that twenty-live |)onnds will doit. 



That those beekeepers wlio pay liCty 

 cents per |)oiind lor comb foundation 

 and nse full sheets in section boxes, 

 and then sell the honey at twelve 

 cents per ponnd, do not make money 

 very fast. 



That <S frame L. hives are the com- 

 inii" hives. 



Tliat hnndi'eds of beekeepeis are 

 adopting such hives as the stan(hii'd. 

 That such hives, when made of thin 

 boards (^ thick) and used in an out- 

 side or winter case, give better satis- 

 faction than any other st3le hive in use. 



FULL SHEETS OT FOUNDA1ION. 



It seems to us that the person who 

 recommends the nse of full sheets of 

 foundation in brood frames and in 

 sections has had but little experience 

 in such matters. We have used a 

 good deal of foundation in the Bay 

 State Ai)iary and nnich of it was in 

 full sheets, and have bought huncb'eds 

 of colonies of bees wliose combs were 

 built on foniidation. In neaily every 

 case where lull sheets were used in the 

 brood frames, it had sagged and 

 stretched to al»out half the depth of the 

 fiame, foiniing oblong cells, which 

 the bees woidd not utilize for either 

 honey, pollen or brood. It was prac- 

 tically worthless, and just that amount 

 of space for brood rearing and storage 

 lost to the colony. We have in our 

 l)ee-honse many coml)s of this descrip- 

 tion that will be melted as they are of 

 no use, oi' in other words aie worthless. 



Among the brood combs purchased 

 were quite a numi)er that were wired, 

 but this did not prevent sagging and 

 stretching. 



The person who introduced "wired 

 foundation" should not be credited 

 with doing the beekeeping public a 



benefit. Wire in bi'ood fiames is an 

 injury to any apiary, as well as a nui- 

 sance. A strip of foundation, say one 

 not over two inches wide is a 1 that 

 should be used in any brood frame. 

 Just enough for a comb guide is all 

 that is needed. I have sometimes 

 placed frames of con)i) built on foun- 

 dation in the centre of a brood nest of 

 a large colony for the purpose of get- 

 ting eggs for cell-building, and in some 

 eases have waited more than a week 

 for the queen to deposit egg.j therein. 

 It seems queer that a queen l)eecan tell 

 a comb built on foundation from a 

 natural one, yet it is a fact that queens 

 will not use such cells till obliged to 

 do so ; when all other combs have been 

 filled with eggs, then the foundation 

 is used. 



Now about full sheets of foundation 

 in sections. I have just been eating 

 some of Mr. Proctor's honey of which 

 mention is made on another page. 

 Mr. P. used full sheets of foundation 

 in his sections and this "fishbone" 

 division is very easily found running 

 through the entire comb. Now who 

 wants to lind something in his food as 

 tough and indigestible as leather? 

 I^or one, I do not believe theie is an}-- 

 thing gained by using full sheets of 

 foundation in either the frames or in 

 the sections. When beginners call 

 here they always ask me how nuich 

 foundation I use in the frames and 

 sections ; they are informed in accoid- 

 ance with the views above stated. A 

 small V-shaped i)iece is used in the 

 sections and [)ieces about one or two 

 inches wide in the bi'ood-frames. One 

 reason given for using full sheets of 

 foundation in brood- frames is to pre- 

 vent the bees from building too much 

 drone comb. Let the bees build a little 

 drone comb. There shoidd be more 

 or less of it in every colony. If there 

 is too much such comb in the hive, de- 

 stroy it. This can be done at a time 

 when the bees will not replace it with 

 more drone cells. When the bees com- 

 mence to drive the drones out the hive 

 at the close of the early honey bar- 



