THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



18: 



The case, however, is totally different where 

 movable comb hives are used. Where the 

 combs can be cliangcd or moved from place to 

 place, and the brooding chamber ,sei)iirated by 

 a parlilion from the store-chamber, we luive it 

 in our power to keep the brooding- cluimbor 

 entirely free from drone-comb, without hav- 

 ing recourse to the pruning knife. This 

 position, assumed and muintained by me years 

 ago, has been attacked and opposed by several 

 eminent bee-keepers. Tliey admit the advan- 

 tage accruing from keeping out drone-comb 

 Avilhout the use of the knife, but deny that it is 

 possil)le to do so under existing circumstances; 

 and it will be my task to show that the thing 

 can be done. 



It might, perhaps, suflicc to say ihat ichat Jinx 

 been d'lue, and is still done^ must be possible. In 

 my apiary I have for some live years past kept 

 the brooding chamber of my hives altogether 

 free from from drone-comb, without ever using 

 the knife. I have succeeded in accomjdishing 

 this, not only Avith Italian bees, but with black 

 bees also. Even this year, when in conse- 

 quence of large sales of Italian bees, I was 

 compelled to buy nearly a hundred SAvarms of 

 black beep, I have still been successful in this 

 matter. Hence, that which is practicable in the 

 hands of one individual, must certainly be pos- 

 sible, even though not every one can accomp- 

 lish it. 



Those who seek for information and instruc- 

 tion, as well as those who controvert my posi- 

 tion, will, doubtless, be ready now to propound 

 the inquiry : " How are we to proceed in order 

 to keep the brooding chamber free from drone- 

 comb, without recourse to the pruning knife ?^' 

 !My process is quite simple. So long as the bees 

 build worker-comb I let them build. But so 

 soon as they begin to build drone-comb, I do 

 not permit them to build in the brooding cham- 

 ber, but insert full sheets of empty worker- 

 comb. If any drone-combs have in the mean- 

 time been built, I remove them at once and use 

 them in the honey chamber, between which and 

 the brooding chamber I introduce a division 

 board. Having then their brooding chamber 

 fully supplied with worker-comb, the bees have 

 no room there for the construction of drone- 

 comb. In due time I give them adnnttauce to 

 the honey chamber, where they may build 

 drone-comb if they choose to do so, because it 

 can do no injury there, but is on the contrary 

 rather advantageous. Such, on the whole, is 

 my mode of proceeding, w^hich certainly, it 

 seems to me, is simple enough, and easily com- 

 j)rehcuded. 



It may, indeed, be objected : '* All this is 

 very fine, but where do you obtain the recjuired 

 full sheets of empty worker-comb, wdiich you 

 need for filling out the brooding chamber ?" 

 This is undoubtedly the puzzUng ciuestion, 

 which many find it difiicult to solve ; and I 

 therefore subjoin a brief elucidation of the man- 

 ner in which I manage so as to provide a supply 

 of worker-combs. In (he first place I never 

 melt up any combs while they rciyain in a con- 

 dition to be acceptable to the bees ; and in the 

 full all the combs I have on hand are carefully 



assorted, the worker corahs being selected from 

 the drone-combs, and eacli of these again sepa- 

 rated into classes so as to have full combs, half 

 linisheil, and ([uarter (inisiied combs, in distinct 

 lots. Tlius assorted and arranged, they are 

 placed for the winter in two cliambers, in which 

 I keep my apiarian implements and apparatus, 

 and whicli are large enough besides to receive 

 3,000 full Iniilt frames. Some of the combs con- 

 taining honey are reserved for spring, and 

 others are emptied by n)eans of the centrifugal 

 honey extractor. When the spring opens, and 

 the bees begin to work, I avail myself of every 

 opportunity to let them build worker-combs, or 

 to complete the half finished or quarter finished 

 combs on hand. Not much, however, can be 

 accomplished in this way before the swarming 

 season, and the bee-keepers must, therefore, 

 strive to turn that season and the period of mak- 

 ing artificial colonies to account. I never give 

 a swarm full built combs, but only such as are 

 partially built up, and I generally secure four 

 full built worker-eoml)s from each. As soon as 

 a swarm begins to build drone comb, I slop that 

 work by removing the combs containing drone 

 cells and inserting full worker-combs instead, 

 and then filling out the brooding chamber with 

 such. 



A chief means of obtaining full built worker- 

 combs is this, to remove from colonies that con- 

 tain full combs, and are in a condition to build 

 worker-coml), all the full combs which have no 

 brood, and insert partially finished worker - 

 combs instead. Every after-swarm, and every 

 artificial colony containing a young queen, will 

 he in such a condition, so soon as the young 

 queen is fertilized and begins to lay. The bees 

 will then build w'orker-combs exclusively, and 

 advantage must accordinglj^ be taken of this their 

 propensity at the time. All full built combs 

 should at once be removed and reserved for fu- 

 ture use, and frames with worker guide comb 

 or unfinished worker-comb be subsfituted. By 

 this means I not unfrcqucntly obtain more full 

 built worker-combs in a brief period during and 

 after the swarming season than I subseciucntly 

 find it necessary to return. Before the inven- 

 tion of the honey comb emptying machine, I 

 used to razee the cells on each side of the comb, 

 cutting them down close to their foundations, 

 thereby securing the honey and some wax, and 

 and reinserting the razeed combs in the hive 

 where the cells were quickly rebuilt hy the 

 bees. I also made considerable use of artificial 

 comb foundations made of wax. Artificial 

 combs, having cells of nearly full depth, I have 

 found too costly, and of little use, as being rude 

 imitations which the bees would reject or recon- 

 struct. Dathe. 



Some country yieldcth one fruit, and some 

 another; some bearcth one kind of grain, and 

 some another; some breedeth one kind of cattle, 

 and some another; so there is no ground, of what 

 nature soever it l)e, Avhether it be hot or coldj 

 wet or dry, hill or dale, AvoodlandorehampaignCt 

 meadow, pasture, or arable, in a word, whether 

 it be battle or barren, which yieldeth not mattei^- 

 for the bee to work upon. — Butler. 



