368 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



up their hands. The reverse of the question 

 showed that only one had changed from 8 to 10 

 frame.— Ei). J 



COMB-BUILDING. 



IS WAX SECRETION VOLUNTARY ? A DISCUSSION 

 BY MOBLEY AND DOOLITTLE. 



By G. H. Mohley. 



Friend Root: — Mr. Doolittle said, in answer 

 to a question some time ago. tiiat beeswax is a 

 faity substance peculiar to the bee, and produc- 

 ed by the consumption of honey, etc. VVliile 

 this is true, yet I take the ground that it is mis- 

 leading in this: He seems to convey the idea — 

 and others too, I admit — that bees consume 

 more honey when building comb or secreting 

 wax than they do at other times. ThisI believe 

 to be a false idea. Bees are like cattle or hogs 

 or other animals. If they can obtain sufficient 

 food they will eat all that is required to produce 

 an abundance of fat. They never stop to in- 

 quire whether they need the fat for any particu- 

 lar purpose or not, but eat away as their appe- 

 tites demand and require, without regard to 

 consequences. Now, I hold this to be true as to 

 the honey-bee: It eats all that its appetite re- 

 quires, and no more, at any and all times, 

 whether the process of comb-building is in 

 piogress or not; and the claim as made, that it 

 takes 20 iLs. of honey to produce one of comb, is 

 a bosh — as the same bees would consume the 

 honey if no comb were built at all. Now, the 

 facts are here: Bees will not build comb unless 

 they need it, possibly because they do not want 

 it in the hive unless they have something to put 

 in it. But the moment the combs are all oc- 

 cupied, then the building of combs is at once 

 commenced, and kept up as long as the honey 

 is coming in and there is room left for it to oc- 

 cupy. As a matter of fact, the colony having 

 combs built will store honey much faster than 

 the one that has to build the combs as they 

 gather the honey. But each colony will con- 

 sume just as much honey as it needs, and no 

 mdre. to satisfy their hunger. Now, if there 

 were any difference in the consumption of hon- 

 ey in ihe two hives, I am forced to the conclu- 

 sion that the other one— the one that had all 

 combs built— would consume the most, from the 

 fact that they exercise more, have more active 

 work, and work much harder than they would 

 in the hive building comb, which business re- 

 cpiires, seemingly, much less exertion than it 

 does to go out into the fields and fly from flow- 

 er to flower and battle with the winds and ob- 

 stacles that they are constantly encountering. 

 Often, when a bee returns with its load of hon- 

 ey or pollen, it is so tired that it will fall short 

 of the hive-entrance, and have to rest for a 

 while before it can fly again. Who ever saw 

 comb-builders stop to rest? I think this con- 

 sumption-of-honey idea originated with foun- 

 dation or extractor men as an advertising medi- 



um, and has no foundation that will stand the 

 test. 

 Walker, Mo., Dec. 8, 1893. 



[The foregoing was sent to G. M. Doolittle, 

 who replies:— Ed. J 



In replying to the above, I wish to state, first, 

 that Mr. Mobley exposes his ignorance of the 

 past when he charges that the idea of its tak- 

 ing 20 pounds of honey to produce one pound of 

 comb originated with foundation or extractor 

 men. as an advertising medium to sell comb 

 foundation and extractors. This 30-pound 

 "theory " or " idea," as it is so often called, is 

 no theory or idea at all, but the result of the 

 most carefully conducted experiment by that 

 prince of apiarists. Huber, who conducted these 

 experiments and gave the results of the same, 

 years before either the extractor or comb foun- 

 dation was thought of. In fact, this matter of 

 the consumption of honey in building comb has 

 been talked of far less since foundation and the 

 extractor came into being than it was before 

 the advent of these. Such a thrust at those 

 who are working for the good of all in giving 

 us improved extractors and foundation is very 

 unkind, to say the least. 



It seems strange to me. and has all along in 

 the past, that the idea obtains with many, that, 

 because a man has something to sell, he is un- 

 qualified thereby from giving an unprejudiced 

 opinion relative to the merits of any thing he 

 has to sell. If the man who has spent his life- 

 woik in producing something to meet a long- 

 felt want is not qualified to tell us of the ad- 

 vantages arising from the same, pray tell us 

 who would be. Are we so selfish ourselves that 

 we look with suspicion upon everybody else? 

 Are we so jealous of some pet scheme of our 

 own that we think no one can give the unvar- 

 nished truth about something they have to do 

 with? Because Mrs. Atchley is the largest 

 queen-breeder in the world, does it follow that 

 she can not tell the truth about queens, and 

 how to rear them? Such thoughts come only 

 from a selfishness that can not take in the 

 great brotherhood of man. When it comes to 

 pass that we are not willing to accord to others 

 the sinceiity of purpose which we claim for 

 ourselves, we are not doing unto othirs as we 

 would have them do to us. Brethren, let us 

 be more as we should be, that we may be of the 

 greatest use in the world. 



Huber's experiments were, to shut a swarm of 

 bees up long enough so that they would con- 

 sume what honey they carried in their honey- 

 sacs, when they were fed till they produced a 

 pound of comb; and from several experiments 

 along this line, and then striking an average, it 

 was found to take 20 pounds of honey or sugar 

 syrup to produce one pound of wax or comb. I 

 have never heard a doubt expressed but that 

 these experiments gave the truth in the matter, 

 where bees were confined to the hive; but it 

 has been thought that, where the bees had the 



