1!)01 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



105 



so. That kind of taffy is not so harm- 

 less as what you used to get at the candy 

 pulls. 



That resident of Hawks Park certainly 

 possesses an eagle eye for labor saving, 

 and he is far-seeing as regards the ne- 

 cessity of separating the thin from the 

 thick honey. It wouldn't ruin the busi- 

 ness to have some more just as par- 

 ticular. 



In the Ladies' Home Journal for May, 

 Mrs. Korer says : " Honey is an admir- 

 able sweet, if taken once in a while with 

 moderation." I prefer mine with bread 

 and milk ; and as to the moderation 

 part, just how much is that, please? 

 She isn't nearly rabid enough to suit the 

 bee-keepers. There are two sides to 

 every question and exactly opposite to 

 each other. 



I wonder how much good the advice I 

 have given will do you ? We all receive 

 advice, but — most of us "know better." 

 Yours as ever, 



John Hakdscrabble. 



Nothing great was ever achieved without 

 enthusiasm. — Emerson. 



SOMETHING ABOUT DRONES. 



BV G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A CORRESPONDENT wishes me to 

 tell the readers of The American 

 Bee-keeper whether there is 

 anything in the matter of '* no drones, 

 no swarms," which a friend writes him 

 is a fact. He thinks if this is a fact, that 

 it is easy solving the non-swarming 

 problem. And Doolittle wishes that 

 those few bee-keepers who argue tli at, if 

 all drone-comb and drones are kept out 

 of the hive it would prevent swarming, 

 had facts on tlieir side. 



This matter has been under discussion 

 in the bee papers, off and on, for the 

 past ten to fifteen years, and I have ex- 

 perimented largely along that line; but in 

 all of these experiments I have failed to 

 find that tliis matter of drones has any- 

 thing to do with the matter of swarming 



whatever. And beside these direct ex- 

 periments I have several times liad 

 hybrid colonies in my apiary, from which 

 I have taken all drone combs and not 

 allowed them to rear drones, because I 

 did not want my young queens to meet 

 such drones; yet, so far as I could see, 

 these colonies swarmed as promptly as 

 did those having drones. I said, "from 

 whicli I liad taken all drone comb," and 

 meant just this; but will explain that, to 

 keep all drones out of a hive, means tlie 

 opening of that hive every twenty days, 

 and decapitating a few hundred drones 

 in tlieir cells; for where all drone comb 

 is removed, drone-cells will be built in 

 all sorts of out-of-the-way places, for I 

 have yet to see the hive containing a 

 populous colony, one strong enough to 

 send out a prime swarm during June and 

 July, that had not a few cells of drone- 

 comb in it ; and I do not believe that 

 these few cells can be kept out, for 

 worker comb will be cut down and 

 drone built in its place if a few cells can- 

 not be gotten otherwise. From my ex- 

 perience in the past, I would say tbat it 

 it not practical to try to keep all drone 

 comb out of any hive, but ratlier have 

 just one frame in each and every hive, 

 having from ten to twenty square inches 

 of drone-comb in it. and have such 

 comb stand in a certain place in each 

 hive, so that the apiarist may know just 

 where it is; then every twenty days open 

 the hives from whicli it is desired that 

 no drones shall fly, and decapitate them, 

 thus making a s-ure thing of the matter, 

 and fully satisfying the bees. In this 

 way you will not have a few drone-cells 

 scattered all through the hive, nor will 

 you have to use a drone-trap at the en- 

 trance of such hives to catch undesir- 

 able drones, the same making quite a 

 cost and much work for the bee-keeper, 

 in putting them on and emptying the 

 same; besides a general bother and dis- 

 gist to the bees, when first put on. and 

 at times of the flight of drones and 

 young bees. 



If this comb with drone-cells is placed 



