82 



1HE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



murker comb in its place. While the 

 latter does not give as perfect combs 

 as the former, (for which reason 1 

 always use the former whenever con- 

 sistent,) yet the latter has in its favor 

 the immediate use of the combs in 

 full colonies, for it is often tnid-sum- 

 mer before many nuclei are strong 

 enough to build comb at the bottom 

 pf (he frames, where the most of the 

 drone comb is usually built. Where 

 the combs are need'-' i for immediate 

 ind there is a large patch of drone 

 c >mb in a frame, I cut it out with a 

 narrow bladed, sharp knife, after 

 which the frame is laid over another 

 frame of oomb winch has some drone 

 comb in it also, so as not to spoil a 

 good comb. I lay it so the empty 

 space comes over the worker comb, 

 when the lower comb is marked a trifle 

 i than the space to be filled, after 

 h the marked piece is cut out and 

 sed into the place where the drone 

 comb came from. If the piece should 

 happen to be a little too small, a few 

 - of melted beeswax will hold it 

 iu place till the bees fasten it. For 

 small patches, from an inch to four 

 es in diameter, I use punches of 

 iroper size, made of old fruit cans. 

 Those can be found about hotels, if 

 led fruit, is not used in your own 

 ily, and need not cost you any- 

 thing. When you have collected 

 jrour different sizes, place the ends on 

 a iot stove when the solder will melt, 

 thus letting the top and bottom oil', 

 as you place either end on the stove. 

 r the tops and bottoms are off, 

 :e the whole circumference of one 

 sharp with afile, sharpening wholly 

 from the outside. Now lay the comb 

 . Hat down on a smooth board and with 

 the right sized punch cut out the patch 



of drone-comb by twirling the punch 

 around as you press down upon it. 

 Now push out this drone-comb and 

 with the same punch and in the same 

 way, cut out from some discarded 

 frame a piece of worker-comb, which 

 will, of course, exactly fit the place 

 you took the drone comb from. In 

 this way it is no great task to rid all 

 the frames of drone-comb. If any 

 have honey in them so you cannot tell 

 where the different kind of comb com- 

 mences or leaves off, you will have to 

 wait until the honey is taken out by 

 the bees, when these can be fixed also. 

 In this way I go over all my combs 

 every other spring, just after pollen 

 becomes plenty, taking out the drone 

 comb. '•But/' >ays one, "your plan 

 cannot be effectual, or you would not 

 need to go over your combs every lit- 

 tle while. I see that it is claimed that 

 when the frames are filled with comb 

 foundation that there is no need of 

 having any drone comb in the hive." 

 Weil, I do not know what the experi- 

 ence of others is, but with me combs 

 are very different from a piece of iron 

 which will stay for years as first made, 

 for the mice will sometimes get into a 

 hive in winter, in spite of all the pre- 

 cautions I may take, and gnaw holes 

 in the combs, which (holes) the bees 

 will fill with drone comb unless I get 

 the start of them and fill with worker 

 comb as described. Then, again, the 

 moth-larva will get in while extra 

 combs are stored away, or they will 

 make holes in the combs in removing 

 mouldy bee-bread, a buncb of dead 

 bees or anything of the kind, and so 

 by numerous ways drone comb will 

 get in after the combs are compara- 

 tively perfect ; hence it requires vigi- 

 lcnce in this as well as other things, 



