1S94 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



765 



with the desired drones. This hand-picking of 

 drones is quite a tedious job, but pays well 

 where we have the object of the improvement 

 of stock in view. I have practiced the above 

 plan every year for the past six years, so am 

 not entirely ignorant in the matter, and am 

 quite sure I liave made much advancement as 

 regards my bees by so doing. 



FI.AT-BOTTOMED FOUNDATION NOT AS LIABLE 



TO HAVE FISH-BONE IN THE COMB, BUT 



NOT AS ACCEPTABLE TO THE BEES. 



Question. — I have always used foundation 

 having a natural septum,or base, but am think- 

 ing of using the flat-bottomed next season. Do 

 the bees change the base of this foundation 

 before drawing it out? or, after drawing it out, 

 will they till out the corners with wax, or let it 

 remain with a flat base? 



Answer. — Bees never leave the base of the 

 cells as they come from a foundation-mill mak- 

 ing foundation with flat-bottomed cells. This 

 is one reason why there is never a base of yellovv 

 wax apparent with flat-bottomed foundation, 

 where such is used in producing comb honey. 

 With foundation having the natural-shaped 

 base, the bees often, in times of an excessive 

 honey-flow, add their own wax right on to the 

 raised part of the foundation, so that this added 

 part can be scraped ofl! with the honey, the 

 foundation washed, and the same be nearly 

 or quite as perfect as when given to the bees. 

 This gave rise to the "fish-bone" center in 

 comb honey, complained of when comb founda- 

 tion was first used for sections, and the flat- 

 bottomed process of making foundation was in- 

 vented especially to overcome this " fish-bone," 

 if I am correctly informed. When bees are 

 given the flat-bottomed foundation, the first 

 thing they do is to go to work to change the 

 base; and in doi-ng this the side walls are ma- 

 nipulated also, but just how this work is ac- 

 complished I have never been able to tell after 

 all the close looking I have been enabled to do; 

 for. when the work is being done, the bee has 

 its head in the cell; hence the vision of curious 

 eyes is cut oflf so long as it is at work. While I 

 prefer this foundation to all other makes for 

 section honey, it has two drawbacks, which 

 are, that this manipulation of the base of the 

 cells takes time, so that sections filled with 

 such foundation are not completed quite as 

 quickly as is the case where the natural-shaped 

 base is used; and where the sections are placed 

 on the hive before the honey-flow is fully on, 

 the bees will mischievously work at it far more 

 than they will that with the natural base, 

 often biting and tearing it all down, where the 

 honey- flow we expected does not come, so that 

 it is necessary to look after the sections to see 

 that they are all right when the bees are about 

 to enter them to fill with honey, after they have 

 been on the hives during a season or period of 

 scarcity. I have had hundreds of sections 

 which were filled with this foundation, and 



which had been on the hives during a |)oriod of 

 scarcity of honey, the foundation of which was 

 eaten or gnawed away so that only a neck of 

 foundation, of from a quarter to half iin inch 

 wide remained next to the tops of the sections, 

 while the lower half of the foundation remained 

 as when put in. When honey commenced to 

 come in from the fields, and the bees began to 

 work on the foundtion, as all good bees should, 

 it would twist about so that it would touch the 

 separators, and be fastened there; and when I 

 expected to take ott" nice comb honey, the whole 

 thing would be spoiled by the tearing necessary 

 in getting the separators off. This is tiie worst 

 trouble I have with the flat- bottomed founda- 

 tion; and were it not for this, I would never 

 think of using any other make in the sections. 

 For the brood -frames I can not see where the 

 flat-bottomed has any advantage over that 

 having the natural base, while it has the dis- 

 advantage of taking the bees longer to manip- 

 ulate it; consequently I prefer the other makes 

 of foundation to this for brood-frames. 



[I had always supposed with the rest that 

 drones could be reared out of season at the de- 

 sire of the apiarist, the same as workers; but 

 Doolittle is probably right. If any one has ac- 

 tually succeeded, let him report, giving the 

 method. Mr. D.'s experience with flat-bottom 

 foundation is quite in line with our own. If I 

 am not mistaken, Mr. R. L. Taylor will have 

 soon some interesting results on this subject in 

 the Review. Excuse me Bro. T., for "telling 

 tales out of school."— Ed. J 



FASTENING FOUNDATION TO TOP-BARS. 



If Dr. Miller would make the grooves in his 

 brood -frames wider and deeper, and then fas- 

 ten the foundation in with wooden wedges I 

 think he would like it better than the German 

 way. Either one full length, or severaJ small 

 wedges, can be used. If the doctor uses small 

 wedges he might get his friend Jake Smith to 

 make them with that jack-knife. Dr. Miller 

 may succeed (with a lot of trouble) in getting 

 his bees to fasten foundation on 1:0 the bottom- 

 bar, but they will surely cut it out again. Last 

 year I made some frames in which the bottom- 

 bar was composed of two pieces tVxJ'a inch. 

 These I nailed in the end-bars edgewise, ^ of 

 an inch apart, and I let the foundation hang 

 down between them. With these frames I ex- 

 pected to get some very strong combs; but in 

 handling them this summer I found that the 

 bees were enjoying the benefit of a half-inch 

 space between the comb and bottom-bar. I 

 am making some frames now with just three 

 pieces — that is, without bottom-bars, and I 

 think they are stronger than the old-style 

 frame with thin top-bars. .John Galvin. 



East Sherbrooke, Que., Can., Aug. 20. 



