1894. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



109 



honey harvest is over, without any- 

 real gain in an increased crop of honey. 

 Dr. C. C. Miller and myself are wait- 

 ing, and living in hopes, that some 

 bright bee-keeper will yet invent 

 something which will entirely do away 

 with the swarming desire in bees, so 

 that tiny will work all the "livelong 

 day,'' and all the days of the season, 

 with the vim manifested by a new 

 swarm, with oosuch thought as swarm- 

 ing. What fun there would be then 

 in having out-apiaries, and piling up 

 honey — yes, and home apiaries also ! 

 — (i leaning. 



BTORING AND FUMIGATING COMIts. 



Question. — I have about 800 empty 

 combs. How 7 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 fumi- 

 gate them and store them where the 

 female moth cannot have access to 

 them. But if he or she intends to use 

 them during the present month or 

 fore part 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 them 

 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 contain- 

 ing 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 

 rememberance, had such combs disturb- 

 ed by the larva; 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 possible. By about the 

 10th to 15th, look after those having 

 little pollen in them, and by the 25th 

 look after the old, tough 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 1 may chance to 

 have, before the moth troubles them 

 to an extent tending to injure them. 



But if we wish to keep combs dur- 

 ing a whole season or more, they 

 must be fumigated, or else have been 

 exposed to a temperature of about 

 zero during the previous winter. 

 When this latter has been the case, 

 pack them away in early spring in 



