456 



not troubled with sagging ; have had it 

 built out in three days ; out of 50 or GO 

 colonies have had only some 5 or 6 

 frames of comb to break down from 

 any cause. I conclude that the few cases 

 were from having foundation tilled with 

 honey too soon after being built out 

 instead of having brood, but it has 

 given no trouble. When I find a comb 

 broken, I slip on transferring wire to 

 top of frame push in lower part under 

 the lower-bar on both sides, and take it 

 up, bees and all, without trouble, after 

 removing comb on each side if neces- 

 sary. 

 Sunny Side, Xapa, Cal., Aug., 1879. 



From the Michigan Farmer. 



Manual of the Apiary, Etc. 



FRANK BENTON. 



[COOK'S Manual ofthe Apiaky : Published by T. 

 G. Newman & Son, Chicago, III. Illustrated, 12mo.; 

 cloth binding ; per copy, $1.25.] 



It will be remembered that 1 have several 

 times recommended those who wished to 

 become familiar with improved methods of 

 managing bees, to secure a copy of Prof. A. 

 J. Cook's excellent work, "Manual of the 

 Apiary ;" this I have done because a careful 

 perusal of the work had convinced me that 

 it is just the one to serve as a complete 

 guide in apiarian matters. This recom- 

 mendation can only be repeated now, and if 

 anything with more emphasis than before, 

 for a copy of the last edition just received 

 from the author shows valuable additions to 

 the contents and improvements in the text. 

 The work has been improved mainly in the 

 following particulars. Under the head of 

 feeders an illustration and a description of 

 the division board feeder which the Profes- 

 sor has invented and experimented with 

 since the previous edition of his work, has 

 .been inserted; management of colonies 

 containing fertile workers ; and the addition 

 of an illustrated appendix giving a history 

 of movable frames, treating of several 

 recently mentioned insects injurious to bees, 

 describing the tulip-tree louse (Lecanium 

 tulipiferae— Cook), which is so destructive 

 at times to the tulip (whitewood) trees, but 

 which secretes a sweet substance often 

 mistaken for honey-dew and as easily 

 appropriated by the bees ; further, the ap- 

 pendix contains as an addition to the large 

 list of honey plants given in the body of the 

 work, several descriptions and illustrations 

 of valuable plants, and also a representation 

 and description of the honey comb coral so 

 often spoken of as " petrified honey-comb," 

 but which the Professor says is the work of 

 little polyps that "existed millions upon 

 millions of years before any flower bloomed 

 or any bee sipped the precious nectar." 

 Altogether this book of over three hundred 

 pages, with its appendix and full alphabeti- 

 cal index, clear type and fine illustrations is 

 just what every one interested in bees ought 

 to have and which no one who obtains it 

 will regret having purchased. 



ARRANGEMENT OF COMBS. 



It is not too early to begin to think how 

 we are to winter our bees and how near each 

 colony will come up to the standard deemed 

 essential to success in the particular method 

 chosen ; so, too, we should begin to act— to 

 arrange so as to have each colony in prime 

 order when the final work of packing, 

 housing, or putting into pits or cellars 

 comes. 



Besides having a vigorous young queen, 

 plenty of young workers, and abundance of 

 stores— pollen, sealed honey, etc., another 

 point is worthy of early attention, namely : 

 the arrangement of combs in the hive— not 

 alone the arrangement witli reference to a 

 honey supply during the winter, but also 

 with due regard to the needs of the bees 

 when they commence breeding early next 

 spring. If we expect to secure the best 

 result for the honey and pollen consumed 

 and the bees employed in brood rearing, we 

 must not neglect the last mentioned point. 



It is of course essential for one to know 

 the various kinds of comb when he sees 

 them, and then to know in what part of their 

 habitation bees that are in the most pros- 

 perous condition choose to construct these 

 kinds, and, going a step further, he must 

 learn the use which the bees make of these 

 different sorts of cells and in how far he 

 must follow Nature, in his management of 

 the combs. Aside from a few queen cells, 

 the comb of a hive ismadeupalmostwholly 

 of two sizes of cells, namely : those one- 

 fourth of an inch across — four of them side 

 by side measuring an inch — sixteen covering 

 a square inch of surface, and those measur- 

 ing one-fifth of an inch across — five side by 

 side measuring one inch — twenty-five being 

 needed to cover a square inch of surface. 

 Comb made up of these coarse cells may be 

 used to rear drones in or to contain honey. 

 The smaller cells are such as worker-bees 

 are reared in, and may be used as receptacles 

 for honey or pollen. Very few young bees 

 are reared in cells that are not regular hex- 

 agonal prisms, and comb made up of small 

 cells when devoted to the production of 

 workers must be only seven-eighths of an 

 inch in thickness ; one and one-fourth 

 inches is about the thickness of drone brood 

 comb. When notoccupied with brood these 

 cells are, as previously stated, often used 

 for honey, and, in this case ; if the combs 

 are far enough apart to permit it, the cells 

 are lengthened out considerably ; and when 

 the bees wish to use them again in brood- 

 rearing they are cut down. Now the tops 

 and corners of the frames, as well as the 

 outside frames, often contain cells more or 

 less irregular, sometimes such as slant up- 

 wards instead of being horizontal ; into all 

 such the queen will never put eggs, unless 

 compelled to do so by a lack of regular cells 

 in which to deposit them ; then suppose we 

 were to separate the brood-nest (which is 

 usually nearly spherical in form) into two 

 parts by the insertion of a frame nearly or 

 quite niade up of these irregular cells, the 

 queen will find it necessary to go around 

 this comb, or confine her laying to the combs 

 on one side of it, which latter will surely 

 occur as the season approaches a close and 

 the bees fill the inserted comb with honey ; 



