THE AMERICAN BEE JOUIINAL 



lU 



[For the American Boe Journal ] 



Securing Straight Combs. 



Mn. Editor: — I see tluvt Mr. Bickford in the 

 JouKNAi, No. 5, pp. 'J2 and !J;}, for November, 

 18G7, lias liit upon the f/e/ieral idea ofwhat has 

 proved with me as being tlie best plan to scenre 

 nnirorni strain'ht combs. He says that his idea 

 is '-to place in the hive before hiving the swarm 

 tiro st'i aight covibs^ one at each ■point where the 

 curved combs UAuall// ber/in^ say at one-third of 

 tlie width of the hive from each side." Of course 

 I have no means of knowing where his bees 

 ■usually begin to build curved cotnbs, except from 

 his article above rel'erred to. My experience in 

 former years, however, has proved to me that 

 so far as my own and some of my neighbors' 

 bees are concerned, they have never adopted as 

 a rule of practice, any ]iarticuUir point within 

 the hive, where it can be said that they "usually 

 l)egin to build curved combs." I have had nat- 

 ural swarms to build combs very similar to Mr. 

 I>iekibrd's description. But, on the other hand, 

 I have just as often had them build unilbrm 

 straight combs on one side of the hive and curved, 

 if not decidedly crooked ones on the other side, 

 I have seen uniform straight combs on each side 

 of the hive, and curved ones in the centre; others 

 with unllorm straight combs throughout the 

 ii|>per portion of the combs with curved lower 

 ends. ]\Iy experience has also convinced me 

 that full colonies or swarms are more likely to 

 construct unilbrm straight combs than light or 

 small colonies or swarms arc. 



Let us now recur to the general idea of Mr. 

 Biekford above— that is, the use of straight combs 

 to be placi'd in the hive before hiving the swarm. 



Straight combs, or combs that 'are uniform in 

 ^traightness, so arranged or placed in the hive 

 that the curvatures or irregularities in the seve- 

 ral combs will correspond with each other, is 

 the practice that I adopted in artihcial swarm- 

 ing during the past summer. I have been using 

 what is known as the •'Harbison Improved Pa- 

 tent Hive," with nine frames in each hive; and 

 by the loss of four colonics in the winter of 180G 

 and 1867, had at my command in April last, 

 thirty-six spare combs to commence operations 

 with. In April last, I cleaned, trimmed, and 

 straightened these combs as well as I could — 

 making th«m uniform in thiclcness and uniform 

 in struightness. I was also careful in the use of 

 these combs, in so arranging them in the hives 

 as to leave any slight curvature in the combs 

 used in' each hive to correspond with each other. 

 This I regard as being an essential precaution 

 to be strictly w'atched and followed in practice, 

 whenever dry combs are used as guides in the 

 brooding apartment of the hive. A mistake or 

 neglect in the strict and careful observance of 

 this precaution may be, and from observation, I 

 believe, has been the cause of bees starting and 

 building short and irregular brood-combs at- 

 tached to the sides of the full combs, in the in- 

 terior of the hives — thus rendering the removal 

 and handling of the full brood combs difficult 

 and dangerous throughout the brooding and 

 swarming season of the year. 



What is necessary in the guide combs, is to 



have full sheets of combs of a uniform thickness, 

 and as straight as they can be made by first 

 warming and tlien pressing them. Thus filted 

 out, if tlie operator shall carefully arrange the 

 combs thus prepared, so that any slight curva- 

 ture in the several combs used in each hive, will 

 correspond with each other, the elements of suc- 

 cess in securing the desiretl uniform straight 

 combs Avill be under the control of the practical 

 ai)iarian. 



The next step to bo taken is to use in each 

 hive in which a natural swarm is hived, or an 

 artilicial swarm is placed, enough of these guides 

 to insure the building by the swarm of new 

 combs corresi)onding with the guide combs. 

 The number of dry combs to be used in each 

 hive, may be, and as 1 think ought to Ijc, varied 

 according to the size of the swarm and the size 

 and shape of tlu; hive in. which they are put. 

 For a small swarm in a full sized hive, I would 

 like to have the use of from four to six guide 

 combs, to be varied to suit the season — if early, 

 four will do — if late, six will not be too many. 

 For a full swarm, three or four will be suliicieut — 

 or even two, if early in the season. As to the 

 particular iilaceiu tlie hive in which they should 

 be set, I think it quite immaterial. I should not 

 place them all together, either in the centre, or 

 on either side of the hive. My practice has been 

 so to arrange them in the central part of the 

 hive as to leave one, and sometimes two, empty 

 frames between them; and this arrangement se- 

 cured for me, in each case, during the past sum- 

 mer, in all my j-oung colonies (eighteen in num- 

 ber) uuilorm straight combs, corresponding in 

 slight curves and thicknesses with the dry combs 

 iised in the several hives. 



In each case when I used a comb full of honey, 

 brood, i&c, with a capped queen cell as a basis 

 lor a new colony, I selected the dry combs which 

 were placed in the hive with it, corresponding 

 in shape with the full comb thus used. 



I am of the opinion that each full sheet of good 

 sound brood comb is worth to the practical apia- 

 rian, who has in use movable comb hives, at 

 least one dollar jier pound for the purpose indi- 

 cated above. To this may be added the help to 

 his bees and profits in surplus honey. 



Nov. 4, 1807. Belmont. 



The indefatigable hive-bee as she flies from 

 flower to flower, amuses the observer with her 

 hum, which, though monotonous, pleases by ex- 

 citing the idea of happy industry, that whiles 

 the toils of labor with a song. When she alights 

 upon a flower, and is engaged in collecting its 

 sweets, her hum ceases, but it is resumed again 

 the moment that she leaves it. 



The majority of insects, either imbibing their 

 food in a litiuid state, or feeding on succulent 

 substances, require no aqueous tiuitl lor diluting 

 it. Water, however, is es.sential to bee*, ant.<, 

 and some other tribes, which drink it wiih avid- 



ity. 



In the Ukraine some of the peasants have 400 

 or 500 bee-hives, and make more profit of their 

 bees than of their corn. 



