March 22, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



257 



but a Texas man recently said that Doolittle taught him how to make 

 a wax comb-guide and starter combined that had been satisfactory to 

 him for years, but said he would not tell how it was made. Can you 

 not tell us how! Canada. 



Answers. — 1. Thanks for information as to temperature, and 

 from so reliable a source. 



2. One way to make a starter and guide is to nail on the underside 

 of the top-bar a thin strip coming down to a sharp edge, half an inch 

 or so deep, and by the aid of a small brush paint it with hot wax. 

 Another way is to hold irmly, or else tack lightly to the underside of 

 the top-bar a square strip which is kept so thoroughly wet that wax 

 will not stick to it;. then pour into the angle or trough thus made 

 melted wax, holding it in such position that when slightly cooled and 

 the strip removed there will be a thin starter of wax hanging down 

 from the center of the top-bar a half inch or 60. One trouble with any 

 arrangement of this kind is that there is nothing to hinder the bees 

 from starting drone-comb if they feel so in inclined. Much more sat- 

 isfactory is a 6tarter of worker foundation. 



Wiring Frames With Starters Only— Sweet Clover 



1. 16 it of any benefit to wire frames when using only starters? 



2. Will the bees build straight combs from starters i 



3. Will sweet clover grow here in Wisconsin 1 or, does it grow here? 



4. If so, where can I get sweet clover seed ? 



5. Is it tender or hardy? Will it freeze as easily as does corn? 



Wisconsin. 

 Answers. — I. Yes, the wires will strengthen the combs, although 

 there is the objection that you can not count on the bees following the 

 wire with the septum, whereas when full sheets of foundation are 

 used the wire is always fastened in the septum, or the middle wall of 

 the comb. 



2. Ye— es, at least pretty straight. They will start straight at 

 the top, and if the hive stands perfectly true from 6ide to side you 

 can count on their following that general direction, only toward the 

 bottom they will build the comb more or less corrugated, or waving. 

 They seem to do that for the sake of greater strength. But for all 

 practical purposes you can get combs straight enough without full 

 sheets of foundation. But you will have too much drone-comb with it. 



3. I think it is scattered all over Wisconsin. 



4. Watch the advertising columns of this Journal. Or, address 

 some of the supply-dealers. Perhaps they can furnish it. 



5. Hardy — very hardy Sweet clover would only laugh at a freeze 

 that would kill corn. I think I've known it to be killed only in two 

 ways. One year I prepared a piece of ground in fine 6hape, sowed 

 sweet clover with oats, and it made a fine stand. Next spring there 

 wasn't a spear left. The ground was so nice and soft that it heaved 

 and pulled up all the 6weet clover by the roots. In the solid ground 

 of the roadside I never knew it to winter-kill. Another year I had a 

 piece mowed close to the ground when it had started from the seed 

 and was nearly a foot high, and it finished it. 



business than I have been. Would it make any difference to the bees 

 whether they had drone or worder comb to store surplus in, in an 

 upper story, said upper story being a full hive-body, and the queen 

 confined to the lower story? Indiana. 



Answer. — There ought not to be a particle of difference generally, 

 provided the only difference was in the size of cells. A difference 

 might be in this way: If a drone-comb aDd a worker-comb were put 

 side by side in the same super, earn of them having been in use the 

 6ame number of years, and there were any noticeable difference 

 (doubtful whether there would be), I should expect the one most 

 promptly accepted to be the worker; because most brood would have 

 been reared in it if both were in the brood-chamber, and when bees 

 show any preference it is for comb with a good stock of cocoons. A 

 difference might be shown in another way : Have none but worker- 

 comb in the brood-chamber, a small amount of drone-comb in the 

 second story, and an excluder between the two stories. In such a 

 case I have known the bees to fill the worker-combs in the super and 

 keep the drone-comb empty, probably because they wanted the queen 

 to lay in it. But in general practise you'll find drone-comb in a super 

 filled as promptly as worker-comb. 



Use of the Bee's Sting— Increase by Dividing 



Drone-Comb in Upper Hlve-Storles 



1 have quite a lot of nice, straight drone-comb. I used some last 

 season in upper stories for extracting, but the bees did not seem to fill 

 it as readily as they did worker-comb in the same hive; but I know 

 one season is not sufficient to test anything in bee-keeping, hence I 

 would like to have the experience or opinions of others longer in the 



1. I am sending a clipping from the Minneapolis Journal, in re- 

 gard to the real use of the bee's sting. If you know anything more 

 about it I would be pleased to hear it. 



[The clipping referred to is as follows:— Editor.] 



Real Use of the Bee's Sting. 



" The bee's sting is a trowel, not a rapier," said a Nature student 

 as he helped himself to honey. " It is an exquisitely delicate little 

 trowel with which the bee finishes off the honey-cell, injects a little 

 preservative inside and seals it up. 



" With its trowel-like sting the bee puts the final touches on its 

 dainty and wonderful work. With this sting it pats and shapes the 

 honey-cell as a mason pats and shapes a row of brick. Before sealing 

 up the cell it drops a wee bit of poison into the honey. This is formic 

 acid; without it honey would spoil. 



"Most of us think the bee's sting, with its poison, is a weapon 

 only. It is a weapon secondarily, but primarily it is a magic trowel, 

 a trowel from whose end, as the honey-cells are built up, a wonderful 

 preserving fluid drips." 



2. My brother and I started with 2 colonies, and now we have 7 in 

 winter quarters, all strong and in good shape. They did very poorly 

 here last year, it being too cold and rainy. We took off about 10(i 

 pounds of honey. We wish to increase our number of colonies to 

 15 in the spring, by dividing. What is the best way for us to do it? 

 Would Mr. W. W. Someford's method be all right? Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. — good many years ago Rev. W. F. Clarke, a Cana- 

 dian bee-keeper, announced as facts the ideas contained in the clip- 

 ping, namely, that bees use their stings as trowels to work wax, and 

 before sealing up each cell of honey drop into it poison from the sting. 

 He never gave any proof for such belief, and when remonstrated with, 

 replied, " Well, I see the bee6 busy in the cells, what else can they be 

 doing?" The whole thing is silly foolishness. 



2. Yes, but in working any plan of increase successfully it will be 

 worth much to be thoroughly familiar with the principles you will 

 learn from your text-book on bee-culture. 



Reports anb 

 (Sxperiences 



Good Prospects in Utah. 



The American Bee Journal is still a 

 welcome visitor and I hope, as it de- 

 serves, that more of its many friends 

 will become subscribers. 



While tile bee-keepers in the greater 

 portion of this state enjoyed a fairly 

 prosperous season last year, the pros- 

 pects for the coming season are even 

 more encouraging, especially in the 

 lower altitudes, some of which were 

 a little too dry; but the unusually 

 heavy precipitation of snow and rain 

 insures an abundance of irriga 

 water, which in turn will insure a good 

 honev-llow. E. S. Lovesy. 



Salt Lake City, Utah, March 5. 



Indications for a Honey Troll. 



The indications for a honey crop Mi. 

 pn sent season are very fine for this 

 portion of California. We have had 

 steady, soaking rains and vegetation is 

 farthei advaneed at the present time 

 than it usually is a month later. The 

 bees are gathering some hi y and 



much pollen from the early flowers, 

 and brood-rearing is going on rapidly. 

 seine colonies having 7 or S frames of 

 brood, aini 301 ie are already making 

 preparations to swarm, having queen- 

 cells built. 



'riie crop I isi season was fairly good, 

 but the price, as usual, was very low. 

 After the long, dry year of 1904, the 

 colonies ware weak, but they soon built 

 UP, and my crop averaged 110 pounds 

 of extracted li y per colony. 



There is a good deal being written 



about gentle I s, non-stingers, etc., 



but, with my present location, give me 

 the i,,e with the hot b u s i a ess - e n d . As 

 long as tin > protect themselves from 

 iIm depredations of thieves and looters, 

 I can stand a few jabs from their little 

 sabers while thej are keeping in prac- 

 tice. 



Although I am one of the "boys of 

 61," and am 65 years of age, I have 

 worked nearly every day during what 

 we eaii winter. F. C. Wiggins. 



San 1 liego, I 'alif., Feb. 20. 



He's "\iiin" the Japanese. 



On page' 138 mention is made of Jap- 



i ma- to Texas to engage in 



bee-farming ilk-culture. I do not 



approve of thai class of people coming 

 to this country, I live in California, 

 right among them, and 1 know what 

 they ate, I'll are good workers, but 

 totalis uniili ole. Besides, they live 

 in any kind ol hovels and live on the 



most meager kind of food, so they can 

 afford to work cheap, and the whites 

 are either driven out or compelled to 

 live likewise. We want a class of peo- 

 ple that will raise our standards, not 

 lower them. Last, but not least, they 

 are .a class by themselves, and will 

 never mingle and intermarry to build 

 up a future race of Americans as some 

 other foreigners have. 



I., i us draw our colonists for Texas 

 l'ro in another source. There are enough 

 to spare from our crowded cities to 

 till tin- whole of that State. They 

 would inn have to learn the language, 

 and. therefore, you would get subscrip- 

 tions t" your paper sooner! 



M. D. Price. 



Arroyo Grande, Calif., Feb. 19. 



Pine Prospects for Honey. 



Prospeets for a honey crop are 



!' ire in good shape, and are get- 



ting new pollen. Grant Anderson. 



Sabinal, Tex. 



Vul a Heavy Rainfall. 



Bees are in good shape, and for the 

 present seem to he getting eoi 



nectar t the flowers now i 



but the weal her is such as to i ep 

 tin bee ' ■■ pers guessing on the ful 



as th" rain I'a II has not be.-n I" 



enough to afford much hoi 



. rep, Th ei a re stron g n p 



will i hlj begin to sw wi tl 



