o8 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



March 



used to extend both the septum and 

 side-walls of the cells. The heavier 

 the foundation used, the heavier will 

 be the comb built upon it. If the sep- 

 tum is thicker than that of natural 

 comb, the bees will not thin it down. 

 Drone-comb has a heavier septum 

 and cell- walls than worker-comb. 

 Foundation with a very heavy sep- 

 tum and very slight walls will 

 produce a comb having heavy walls. 

 When heavy foundation is used, 

 the extra weight of the comb is due 

 more to the extra weight of the 

 walls than of the septum. When 

 foundation containing enough wax 

 to build the entire comb is used, 

 still more wax is added by the bees, 

 sometimes nearly enough to build 

 the comb without the help of that 

 contained in the foundation. Wax 

 (foundation) seems to be given with 

 the best economy when the septum 

 is of the thickness of that in natural 

 comb and but a moderate amount 

 of wax contained in the walls. 

 Poorly attached combs in the sec- 

 tions, appear to be more the result 

 of weak colonies and scanty honey- 

 flows than of the kind of starter 

 given; though large starters and 

 strips of foundation attached to the 

 bottom of the section do help to 

 secure a more complete fastening 

 of comb to the wood. Separators 

 are essential to the best results in 

 producing comb-honey. The thicker 

 the comb, whether natui'al or arti- 

 ficial, the greater pro|K)rtion of 

 honey to wax in it. In natural 

 comb, one inch thick, the propor- 

 tion of wax to honey is between 1 

 to 20 and 1 to 25. 



BEES AND FRUrr. 



The Florida Farmer and Frxif- 

 tjroioer, a well-edited weekly journal, 

 devoted to the interests which its 

 name implies, in a recent issue 

 quotes the greater part of our edi- 

 torial, '■'Utter Fo(>lishn(\ss."' i)age 



18, to which the editor appends the 

 following foot-note: 



We gladly concede the immense value 

 of bees to all fruit-growers and would 

 not wish to see a single bse less than we 

 now have. Sjmetinies, however, we get 

 a little impatient with apiarists for the 

 excitable haste with which they assert 

 that their favorites do no injury what- 

 ever. The fact that bees, when con- 

 fined with grapes and other fruits, died 

 before they would puncture them, proves 

 nothing any more than does the fact 

 that some Florida cattle when penned 

 up. will die before they will eat the best 

 article of hay that can be provided. 

 Bees" tongues are so formed that they 

 cannot be said to puncture fruit ; but 

 that does not prevent them from suck- 

 ing skins until they break. Highly-bred 

 fruits have e.Kceedingly tender skins, as 

 witness the grapes of France, which 

 crack open at their own accord and 

 (Muit a few drops of nectar which are 

 collected to make the choicest wines. 

 A fruit with so tender a skin could not 

 be shipped, and if the bees do suck and 

 break the skin, they are not doing any 

 serious injury. 



The American Bee-keeper notes 

 with pleasure that Florida Farmer 

 and Fruit-yrovyer belongs to that 

 class of well-informed agricultural 

 journals which recognize the inter- 

 dependence of the kindred pursuits 

 — apiculture and horticulture. It 

 is a gratifying fact that all the lead- 

 ing horticultural journals now 

 freely concede this much; but just 

 why Bro. Powers" patience should 

 be wrought upon by the disinclina- 

 tion of apiarists to '-"fess," like 

 Topsy, to a charge of which they 

 are obviously not guilty, we fail to 

 uncerstand. We have never known 

 a bee-keeper to make such a sweep- 

 ing claim as is attributed to them 

 in the foregoing extract. Every 

 expe-rienced bee-keeper must have 

 k nown of ins tances wherein 

 bees have been justly adjudged a 

 nuisance : and it is every b e e - 

 keeper's plain duty to avoid such 

 conditions so far as possible; 

 though they are matters not always 

 under his control. In the matter 



