THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



having direct passage wa^^s and two 

 or more section cases in which the 

 bees have begun woric, is a prevent- 

 ive. Under these circumstances we 

 often find not a single burr-comb 

 anywhere, but care is required that 

 the bees do not get crowded for 

 room. Any large swarm capable of 

 occupying botli the brood-chamber 

 and surplus case at once will not 

 build burr-combs but if all the comb 

 building is confined to the brood-cham- 

 ber at first burr-combs are sure to be 

 built before the bees will enter the 

 super. 



Those who winter bees inchaff hives 

 will find great benefit from taking oflf 

 the covers on clear days and letting 

 the packing dry out and get the air. 

 This may be done once a week where 

 the weather will permit. If the bees 

 are able to take a flight, the packing 

 over the brood-nest should be re- 

 moved. The effect of the sun shining 

 on the covering of the brood-nest is 

 highly invigorating to the bees. 

 New Philadelphia^ Ohio, Dec. 5, 1889. 



■Wooden combs. 



Dr. C. C. Miller. 



I am not very sanguine about the 

 success of Mr. Aspinwall's wooden 

 combs, but I think Brother Pratt will 

 take it good-naturedly if I suggest 

 that he is a little hasty in his denun- 

 ciation. Whatever may be the final 

 outcome, I believe that Mr. Aspin- 

 wall has made an honest and a very 

 painstaking effort to get up what may 

 yet prove to be a good tiling. Wheth- 

 ter the cost may not be prohibitory if 

 it should prove otherwise successful, 

 remains to be seen. But there is at 

 least a small number of beekeepers 

 who would endure considerable ex- 

 pense for the sake of having a hive 

 in which a colony of bees would work 

 on continuously without ever swarm- 

 ing. Mr. Pratt sa3's " drones can be 

 reared in worker cells." Yes, I have 



seen plenty of them raised in worker 

 cells, and I have also seen workers 

 raised in drone cells, but I do not 

 know that I have ever known drones 

 to be raised in worker cells with a 

 good prolific queen in the hive. Drone 

 eggs are usually laid in worker cells 

 b}' laying workers or by an unimpreg- 

 nated queen and in such cases a 

 swarm will hardly issue. A queen, 

 on first commencing to la}', may de- 

 posit a few drone eggs, and on be- 

 coming very old may become a drone 

 layer, but swarms are not likely to 

 issue in such cases. Brother Pratt 

 sa3's, " The reluctance on the queen's 

 part to lay profusely in wooden combs 

 might depopulate the colony." How 

 much reluctance is there? 



Mr. Aspinwall frankly says that 

 bees prefer to use combs of their own 

 building for brood-rearing, and I sus- 

 pect that is all Brother Pratt knows 

 about the reluctance. But bees pre- 

 fer old black combs to new ones, and 

 yet that does not prevent the queeu 

 from laying profusely in new, white 

 combs if she cannot have the kind 

 she prefers. 



Admitting, however, that Mr. Pratt 

 has offered no valid objection, the 

 important question yet remains, Will 

 no swarm ever issue from a droneless 

 colony? Can Brother Alley or any 

 other of the veterans tell us anything 

 about this? If we should find out 

 that drones are not necessary for 

 swarming, then I can hardly see any 

 great value in wooden combs for any 

 one. 



Clipping queens' wings. 



AVhile I have the ear of Brother 

 Pratt, will he allow me to ask why he 

 thinks " the clipping of queens' wings 

 a cruel and inhuman practice." I have 

 clipped hundreds of them and I never 

 thought of there being anything cruel 

 or inhuman about it any more than 

 there is in trimming one's finger nails. 

 If I understand the matter rightly, 

 there is no more feeling in a queen's 

 wings than in my finger nails, and I 



