116 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



face is exposed to the atmosphere by 

 putting it into shallow, open-topped 

 vessels. This I find greatly improves 

 honey that has any objectionable taste. 

 The vessels, of course, should be kept 

 covered with cheese cloth to keep out 

 dust. They should also kept in a very 

 dry room. This broom-weed honey 

 posseses fine medicinal. qualities, es- 

 pecially for throat and lung trouble. 



There are other honey producing 

 plants, shrubs and trees here, but the 

 ones mentioned above are the most 

 prominent and plentiful. 



Salado, Bell Co., Tex. 



Drawing Out Comb Foun- 

 dation. 



BY K P. HOLTERMAN. 



I have yet to see the man who, con- 

 sistently, for any length of time, sticks 

 to the statement that good worker 

 comb can, without fail, be secured by 

 using only a starter or part of a sheet 

 in the frames. The bees will com- 

 mence to build drone comb just as 

 quickly as the first eggs that have 

 been deposited in the combs produce 

 young bees, or if the frame is put in 

 an old colony, as quickly as they com- 

 mence to want to swarm and build 

 comb thereafter. Of course, every 

 allowance must be made for the age 

 of the queen, the disposition of the 

 bees and the honey flow. A young 

 queen is less liable to lay drone eggs, 

 and, of course, if there is no honey 

 flow the bees will not be likely to 

 build drone or any other kind of comb. 



I always use full sheets of foundat- 

 ion, and in order to get the best comb, 

 follow the method given below. When 

 a colony is strong enough for an upper 

 story I take from the lower combs 



(generally two) heavy brood, capped, 

 and near the time of maturity. This 

 I put above, and below I place the 

 frames with foundation in, which the 

 bees should quickly draw out. The 

 advantages are if placed above with 

 full combs they will only draw out 

 this foundation when compelled, 

 through lack of space above, and 

 then, as we all know, the comb is very 

 tender and easily broken in extract- 

 ing. When the foundation is placed 

 below the bees will build out the comb 

 more quickly, and by brood hatching 

 in them the combs are strengthened 

 and less liable to be broken. 



Another system I adopt is, every 

 time I extract I break out two combs, 

 leaving six in the hive. The two 

 broken out are replaced by combs of 

 foundation which the bees can fill 

 whilst storing honey in the remainder. 

 I believe we can get more extracted 

 honey by this system than giving all 

 foundation to some colonies and all 

 comb to others, and the foundation is 

 less liable to be broken down, as the 

 bees will not cluster very much on the 

 foundation until they commence to 

 fasten it. This too can be avoided by 

 putting these frames with foundation 

 closer together, in fact, quite close, 

 only they must be watched and proper- 

 ly spaced when the bees have com- 

 menced to draw out the comb. 



Brantford, Out 



Would it not be a good idea to raise 

 some choice queens this year for our 

 own use ? The rearing of queen bees 

 is one of the most fascinating occupa- 

 tions in the world, and it pays well, 

 too. Weed out the scrub stock con- 

 tinually. 



