AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



819 



queen whose mother came from imported 

 stock, and was bred in the North. 



I have always been of the opinion that 

 bee-lieepers spend too much useless 

 worry over their bees in the spring, and 

 not half enough of the necessary work 

 in the fall. We all of us know how it is. 

 We start out in the spring very enthusi- 

 astic, and can hardly think of anything 

 else than our pets. More or less of them 

 live and build up, and the honey-flow 

 comes on. It is then work, work, work, 

 from early till late. By-and-by we get 

 tired, for it is hot, and the bees are 

 cross, and when the flow ceases, we are, 

 many of us, almost guilty of being glad. 

 We look them over and see that they 

 have a little honey, and likely enough 

 do not examine more than two or three 

 colonies again before we put them away 

 for winter. We suppose of course that 

 the queen is doing her duty filling the 

 combs with eggs so that there may be a 

 hive full of young bees for the winter, 

 but many times she is not, and we have 

 a weak colony or no colony at all for 

 next spring. With us here in the North, 

 where our winters are so long, I find 

 that if we do less "fussing" with the 

 bees in March and April, and more in 

 September and October, we are dollars 

 and cents ahead the coming season. 



And to come back to the queens again, 

 I find that a Northern bred queen will 

 respond to the fussing a good deal better 

 and quicker than her Southern sister ; 

 and her bees are more able and willing 

 to help her out. For this reason, if no 

 other, I prefer her even if I do have to 

 sacrifice beauty just a little. 



Eau Claire, Wis. 



Storliii aiii MmM Comlis. 



Writteiifor " QJeaiunyn in Bee-Culture'''' 

 BY G. M. DOOLITTLiE. 



QxiesUon. — I have about 800 empty 

 combs. How can I protect them from 

 the moth? and what is the best method 

 of fumigating them ? 



Answer. — If the questioner wishes to 

 keep these combs for an indefinite time, 

 there is no way except to fumigate them 

 and then store them where the female 

 moth cannot have access to them. But 

 if he or she expects to utilize them dur- 

 ing the present mouth or forepart of 

 July, fumigation may not be necessary. 



My plan of storing combs from which 

 the bees have died the previous winter 

 is to store them in some dry, airy room, 

 where they can be hung two or more 



inches apart. In storing them I select 

 out all that contain much bee-bread or 

 pollen, and place them by themselves 

 where I can use these first ; and I select 

 all having but little pollen in them, and 

 place these where they will come to 

 hand next after those first named ; then 

 I select all which are old and black, and 

 have these next at hand, while those 

 having been used but little by the bees 

 for breeding purposes, and having no 

 pollen in them, are left to be used last 

 or latest in the season. 



All white combs in which no brood has 

 ever been reared, whether containing 

 honey or not, and that have been taken 

 from the hives during the fall, winter, 

 or early spring, are also moth-proof, or, 

 at least, I have never to my remem- 

 brance, had such combs.disturbed by the 

 larvte of the wax-moth, where kept as 

 above for any term of years ; but when 

 such combs are taken from the brood- 

 chamber of the hive during hot summer 

 weather, and stored away as above, 

 then they may be troubled some. 



Combs stored two or more inches apart, 

 with those having the most pollen in 

 them to the front, need not be looked 

 after in this locality until June, when 

 they should be examined ; and if any 

 fine webs are noticed about the cells 

 containing pollen, these should be given 

 to the bees as soon thereafter as pos- 

 sible. By about the 10th to 15th, look 

 after those having little pollen in them, 

 and by the 25th look after the old, 

 lough combs ; while those which the 

 bees have used but little for breeding 

 will rarely be touched before July 4th 

 to 10th. In this way I have no difficulty 

 in using all the spare combs I may 

 chance to have, before the moth troubles 

 them to an extent tending to injure 

 them. 



But if we wish to keep combs during 

 a whole season or more, they must be 

 fumigated, or else have been exposed to 

 a temperature of about zero during the 

 previous winter. Where this latter has 

 been the case, pack them away in early 

 spring in some box or closet which is 

 moth-proof, and they will keep forever, 

 or as long as the closet or box keeps, 

 providing no female moth is ever allowed 

 to deposit eggs on them. 



To fumigate, place in a tight room, or 

 in hives which will fit closely on each 

 other, without bottoms, when we burn 

 sulphur to the amount of a pound to 

 every 400 cubic feet contained in the 

 hives or room. 



In sulphuring combs there is little 

 fear of using too much sulphur ; for 

 should a deposit of sulphur occur on the 



