forbids your working in a warm room ? 

 They break clown in the hive likewise, if 

 you put them in no matter when or where. 



As a general rule do not tit out with comb 

 foundation a hive intended for the reception 

 of a natural swarm. Besides the excessive 

 heat which the bees produce by their agita- 

 tion and which softens the wax, being 

 enough of itself to cause the sheets to fall 

 down, do not forget that the new swarm 

 suspends itself in thick clusters on the first 

 combs, no one of which will resist the 

 weight. I have experienced this to my sor- 

 row, repeatedly. Natural swarms are to 

 be placed in hives whose frames are simply 

 furnished witli guides. At the end of 5 or 

 6 days half of these may be replaced by 

 foundation. As I have not found it advis- 

 able to place foundation in the outside 

 frame, next to the entrance, I advise you to 

 exchange frames number 2, 4, 6, etc., for 

 those furnished with foundation. Less 

 breakage is likely by managing thus. As 

 to artificial swarms obtained by a removal 

 of combs from colonies, do not hesitate to 

 employ foundation where up to this time 

 you have only used empty frames. 



Another recommendation : Do not trans- 

 port hives whose frames are occupied with 

 incompleted combs built on foundation. In 

 this case, as before, the heat due to the dis- 

 ordered movements of the bees, would make 

 of the whole a complete wreck. Remove 

 such combs and fill their places with empty 

 frames. If they are already occupied with 

 eggs, exchange them for old combs taken 

 from colonies that are not to be moved, or 

 else transport them in a box by themselves 

 to the place to be occupied by the bees, and 

 then after 24 or 48 hours, that is, when your 

 bees shall have had time to become quiet, 

 put them back. These precautions are nec- 

 essary in order not to have losses to mourn 

 over ; but admit that they are easy to take. 

 The bees build less readily upon them 

 than upon a guide of natural comb. That 

 depends upon the place you give your frames 

 furnished with foundation, and also upon 

 the condition of the colony. If the stock is 

 weak a frame of foundation placed in the 

 back part of the hive will remain there 

 some little time before being touched by the 

 bees ; the same thing would be true of nat- 

 ural comb. The position of the frame of 

 foundation is so unfavorable that even a 

 strong colony would hesitate a couple of 

 weeks before doing with it anything worth 

 speaking of; generally the bees would 

 merely gnaw the threads and cut holes 

 through the foundation, which would not 

 exactly aid in the completion of the work. 



It is best then (except in the case men- 

 tioned in Letter 3, American Bee Jour- 

 nal, page 202, top of right-hand column) to 

 suspend the sheets of foundation in the 

 midst of the brood nest as far as is possible 

 and between full combs. Here the work 

 will be carried on with a rapidity propor- 

 tional to the strength of the colony, and to 

 the youth, that is to say, to the prolificness 

 of the queen. I challenge any one to show 

 me at the end of a week a comb built with 

 only a guide-piece to start with, containing 

 one-tenth the eggs which my comb founda- 

 tion will contain, the surface of which will 

 be nearly all built out. 



I scarcely need to say to you that in order 

 to secure rapidity in the building out of the 

 foundation, you must refrain from putting 

 in more than two frames of foundation at 

 one time, or you will have too much unoc- 

 cupied space in the hive, which will injure 

 the brood by scattering the workers too 

 much. It is likewise dangerous, for the 

 same reason, to place two frames of founda- 

 tion next to each other ; separate them 

 always by a full comb. There is one condi- 

 tion without which there can be but little 

 success ; I wish to insist upon this point, 

 that Is, to operate only with colonies having 

 young queens. It has been observed, indeed, 

 that the more prolific the queens are, the 

 more industrious and inclined to build 

 worker cells their subjects are. Now, here 

 you offer them exact foundation and half 

 the work done ; with an old, failing queen 

 the bees seem to feel that there are few 

 zoosperme in reserve and that the greater 

 part of the eggs will be unfecundated ; 

 whence, less activity ; the affair is settled ; 

 and, furthermore, there exists an instinct- 

 ive propensity to construct drone cells. 

 Your worker foundation will then be worth- 

 less to them, I will say quite in their way, 

 your bees will prefer by far a mere bit of 

 natural comb in the top of the frame where 

 nothing will hinder them from building 

 down drone comb at their leisure. 



I need hardly add that in order to give 

 good results, comb foundation should be 

 used when the bees are working freely and 

 when laying is active, from the 15th of April 

 to the 15th of August. Before or after this 

 you will obtain no benefit— no more than 

 with simple starters. 



Thus you see, by following certain rules, 

 in this as in other things, success is sure. I 

 do not think M. Pellenc, little inclined to 

 favor the use of movable combs anyhow, 

 has carefully tested such a course as I rec- 

 ommend to you in this letter ; his conclu- 

 sions, taking for granted his intelligence 

 and skill, would have been very different. 



Here, my friend, is the case fully stated. 

 It rests with you to decide whether a 

 change of opinion is necessary. In my 

 next letter we will talk about the adaptation 

 of comb foundation to box hives, and we 

 will examine together an objection, which, 

 I believe, is brought up very commonly. 1 

 refer to the price of foundation— much too 

 high, especially for the modest purse of the 



Feasant. By giving to the latter a method 

 y which he can manufacture his own foun- 

 dation, perhaps I will still come out ahead 

 in the discussion. I hope so, as I likewise 

 hope you do not feel it necessary, financially 

 speaking, to follow me through to the end. 

 Dr. Reisser. 



Hsi" The weather in Great Britain, as 

 well as in Continental Europe, has been 

 so wet and cold that no honey was 

 gathered up to the end of July. There 

 will be a good market for American 

 honey in Europe this season, which with 

 the limited honey yield in this country, 

 will cause prices to advance. 



