1894 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



149 



honey last year?" " I don't know, 

 they seemed to hold their honey be- 

 low, and do what I would they would 

 not store it in boxes. That's the worst 

 of it, the best colonics are the ones 

 that died. Eight colonies out of those 

 19 haven't given me 8 pounds of 

 honey in 8 years. I haven't cared 

 whether they died or not. In fact I 

 don't do much with them. If I put 

 on boxes they don't work in them, so I 

 let them shift for themselves, only I 

 catch their swarms." " Do those 8 

 swarm early ?" " Yes, they swarm si i 

 early they leave the boxes before they 

 make a start. Mr. Gates, I see you 

 have been taking notes about my bees. 

 Can yon explain the cause of my loss 

 of bees?" " Mr. A., in return for 

 your kindness, I will tell you all I 

 know about it. The 36 colonies that 

 died, instead of being your best were 

 the poorest. They swarmed so late 

 that they got to work in the boxes and 

 put all white honey there, and you 

 took it in the fall. The 36 hives con- 

 tained mostly worn out bees with poor 

 honey, and you see the result. Your 

 ventilation was not good, but in spite 

 of this fact the 19 colonies have lived 

 and are all in good shape, because the 

 bees were not worn out and had good 

 honey. Those 8 colonies, especially, 

 are in tine shape, and perhaps will 

 swarm by May 20th, and are 8 val- 

 uable colonies if worked rightly." 

 " How are they valuable, and how 

 would you handle the 10 colonies?" 

 " I would not handle the 19 in any way 

 but to let them entirely alone. 1 

 would handle the new swarms which 

 come from them. 1 would make 19 

 new hives about 8 inches high by a 

 foot square, or if of the Langstroth 



size about 6 <>r seven inches high. 

 When they swarm, hive the swarm 

 in the small hive, setting it where the 

 old colony stood, moving the old col- 

 ony to a new location. Put on sec- 

 tions at once with <pieen excluder. 

 You will get a large yield of honey. 

 After the white honey harvestis nearly 

 over, unite two of those small colonies 

 in one by setting one on top of the 

 other and smoke them. The young 

 bees of both colonies will make it more 

 safe to winter if they have not been 

 robbed of all their white honey. By 

 the way, do you take the Amerk an 

 Bee-Keeper ?" "No." "Well, I 

 would like your name and 50 cts, to 

 send for it. You will? All right, 

 thank you. There is an article on 

 page 37 of March number which ex- 

 plains my views." 

 Ovid, Erie Co., Pa. 



Brood Rearing in Old Combs. 



BY H. E. HILL. 



Complying with the request of J. 

 W. Buckman , in- the July Bee Keep- 

 er, would say : Regarding the effect 

 of old brood combs upon the develop- 

 ment of larvae, it appears, as yet, an 

 open question. Several years ago I 

 transferred a colony from a box hive, 

 which had served to protect them 

 against the ravages of the elements 

 for sixty years,yet the bees.while very 

 small, were not so diminutive as those 

 which resulted from a previous ex- 

 periment, by inducing breeding in a 

 twenty-year-old comb. In this case 

 the bees were the smallest specimens 

 of American honey gatherers that I 

 have ever seen, being but a trifle larger, 

 than Apis Flora, of Borneo, the con- 

 trast being so marked between those 



