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For the American Bee Journal. 



A Criticism— Comb Foundation. 



BY a. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I read with much interest the new 

 44 Manual of the Apiary,' 1 by Prof. Cook, 

 especially the scientific part, for I 

 learned much thereby. I consider it, on 

 the whole, an excellent work, and it 

 should be in the hands of every bee- 

 keeper in the land. There is an item, 

 however, in regard to artificial swarm- 

 ing, which I consider dangerous, espe- 

 cially to those not posted in apiculture. 

 I dislike to criticise, and would gladly 

 pass this by, were it not that it may re- 

 sult in loss to many who read the work. 

 On page 178 we read in reference to 

 artificial swarming : 



" If the apiarist has several colonies 

 it is better to make the new colony 

 from several old colonies, as follows : 

 Take one frame of brood comb from 

 each of six old colonies, and carry them, 

 bees and all, and place with the nucleus. 

 Fill all the hives with empty frames as 

 before," &c. 



If, instead of empty frames, he had 

 said empty combs, this article would 

 never have been written, for in that 

 case no drone combs could have been 

 built. Having these empty frames filled 

 with drone comb is wherein the danger 

 lies. 



To best give my views in this matter 

 I will quote from an article from my pen, 

 on page 12?> of Gleanings for 1874: : "Mrs. 

 Tupper and others tell us to make our 

 new colonies by taking full frames from 

 several old colonies and putting empty 

 frames in their places, thereby making 

 a full colony at once. We have found 

 ourselves often wondering at such ad- 

 vice, as we never have been able to get 

 one square inch of worker comb built 

 under such circumstances." 



Although I have experimented much 

 since 1874, 1 have no reason to change 

 this statement. But, says one, you live 

 in New York and Prof. Cook in Michi- 

 gan, and perhaps this is wherein the 

 difference lies, as we all know that bees 

 do not act alike in different localities. 

 I might think that this difference in lo- 

 cation caused the bees to build different 

 comb were it not that I find on page 13 

 of Gleanings for 1877, in an article from 

 the pen or E. Stanhope, Pentwater, 

 Mich., this statement : 



" Some 8 or 9 years ago we were lying 

 awake nights studying on the bee busi- 

 ness, and with the rest we got the idea 

 that there could be a big thing done in 



artificial swarming. "We had it (in 

 theory) surely; it would work without 

 a doubt. When the time came round 

 all right and the bees were strong and 

 had lots of brood, just right, we went to 

 a number of colonies and took a frame 

 of brood from each, put them all to- 

 gether in a hive, and gave them a queen 

 cell ; we also put empty frames in the 

 old hives from which we took the brood. 

 The young colonies came on in good 

 time, and did well ; but the old ones, 

 what did they do ? They built the 

 empty frames, every one full of drone 

 comb, and filled it with drones. Our 

 theory was smashed, and we have never 

 been able to get strong colonies to build 

 worker comb before swarming time, not 

 even the blacks, as good comb-builders 

 as they are." 



But we have not got to hunt up various 

 authors to prove that these old colonies 

 will build only drone comb, for Prof. 

 Cook tells us they will, in this same 

 "•Manual." Listen to what he says on 

 page 110 : " The character of the cells 

 as to size (that is whether they are drone 

 or worker) seems to be determined by 

 the relative abundance of bees and 

 honey. If the bees are abundant and 

 honey needed, or if there is no queen to 

 lay eggs, drone comb is invariably built, 

 while if there are few bees, and of 

 course but little honey needed, then 

 worker comb is almost as invariably 

 found." 



As in 1874 I wondered at such advice 

 about making artificial colonies, so I am 

 wondering now that such a system of 

 making colonies ever got in Prof. Cook's 

 Manual, and have even found myself 

 wondering if Prof. Cook ever made a 

 colony that way, even although he says 

 that by so doing he " can thus always, 

 so my experience says, prevent swarm- 

 ing." He must have used empty comb 

 in these old colonies where he tells us 

 to use empty frames. 



But, says one, use comb foundation ; 

 it has proven a success, and it will rem- 

 edy all evils in the shape of drone 

 comb. Now, my friend, I am afraid 

 you have got me in hot water, for Doo- 

 little does not acknowledge foundation 

 to be a success as yet. I gave you my 

 experiments with it up to last year, in 

 the March number of the American 

 Bee Journal, Vol. XIV., and although 

 I am a little better satisfied with the 

 present year's attainments, yet founda- 

 tion is far from being a success, when 

 compared with natural worker comb. 

 In the first place it has sagged badly, 

 unless built out in cool weather, and 

 even in cool weather it sags so that the 

 cells in the upper part of the combs 

 measure 4* cells to the inch, while nat- 



