^0S.'BUIQ^^ 



37 th. Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 1, 1897. 



No. 13. 



tifeSE 



The Use of Drawn Combs in Sections. 



BT W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



There is probably no topic ia which the apiarian world is 

 more interested at present than in the one that I have used as 

 the title for this article. We all know that, as usually raan- 

 aeed, more extracted than comb honey can be produced — 

 many say twice as much — but it is certain that much more 

 can be produced. One reason for this, if not the main reason, 

 is that in producing extracted honey no comb has to be built, 

 that is, after a supply has been obtained. I doubt if anything 

 is lost In the building of comb, that is, if the wax for comb- 

 building is produced at a loss, under ordinary conditions, but 

 the trouble is that so much time is consumed in comb-building, 

 that a short, sharp, but very bountiful flow of honey may be 

 practically lost if the bees are compelled to build combs in 

 which to store it. In this connection, comb foundation is a 

 great help, but it is ?iot drau'ii comb, and cannot be such in 

 much less than two days, and even ten days, in a short, abun- 

 dant flow may mean a great deal. Drawn combs can be 

 utilized at once. 



To my mind, the main reason why more extracted than 

 comb honey is produced, is because in the former case abun- 

 dant storage-room of drawn comb is always furnisht. If we 

 could always have sections full of nice drawn combs, I see no 

 reason why we could not produce exacily as much comb as ex- 

 tracted honey. Mr. Heddon says ihau more extracted honey 

 can be produced by using shallow extracting supers, and then 

 tiering them up so rapidly, as the flow advances, that the bees 

 do not fully seal the honey. This plan also largely saves in the 

 work of uncapping. There may be something in this, but I 

 see no reason why supers of sections may be rapidly tiered up 

 in the same manner during a rapid flow, and then the capping 

 of the combs completed later, after the rush is over. 



I have thus dwelt upon the advantages of drawn combs in 

 a heavy honey-flow, but in some localities and seasons it is 

 possible that there may be still greater advantages In using 

 them to eet the bees at work in the supers early In the season. 

 With Italian bees and a slow, gradual opening of the main 

 honey-flow, the bees are loth to begin work in the sections. 

 They will crowd the brood-nest, lessening the amount of brood 

 that is produced, and will begin work in the supers when they 

 are actually forced into them ; that is, if the sections contain 

 nothing but foundation. Fill the sections with drawn combs, 

 and how different the case. The bees begin to put honey into 

 the sections as soon as any can be spared for that purpose. 

 They seem to clc(iy/i£ to begin work in the supers when they 

 are thus supplied with drawn combs. Pressure upon the 

 brood-nest is stopt, and more brood is the result. A super of 

 sections having drawn combs will often be completed and 

 ready to come off, and work commenced in a second super by 

 the time that work will be simply commenced in a super con- 

 taining foundation only. A super of drawn combs in the 

 spring often means another super of fioisht comb honey, and 



the bees inclined to ivork in seclwns instead of swarming. This 

 latter is a hlg point sometimes. 



There are different ways of getting drawn combs in the 

 ssctions. At the end of the season there are always more or 

 less of unfinisht sections. There are two methods of dealing 

 with those that are nearly finlsht — that of "feeding back" 

 extracted honey to secure their completion, and of selling them 

 at a reasonable price in the local market. For most bee- 

 beepers, the latter course is probably preferable. All sections 

 that are not three-fourths completed better be emptied by set- 

 ting supers of them over colonies that are lacking in stores, 

 and then the dry, clean combs kept over for use the next 

 spring. Any combs that are over one-half completed better 

 be leveled with the comb-leveler before putting them on the 

 hive. In those localities where there is a fall flow of dark 

 honey that will bring only a low price, it can be used to the 

 best advantage in drawing out foundation in sections to be 

 used another year for storing white honey. In other localities 

 It may be profitable to feed sugar In the fall, selecting for the 

 work colonies that are lacking in stores, and thus have foun- 

 dation drawn out in the sections for use the next season. This 

 same work may be done in the spring, and thus not only get 

 the combs drawn, but so fill the brood-nests that when the 

 season's honey harvest finally open«, the honey must go into 

 the sections because there is no other place in which to put it. 



Some have reported excellent success In having founda- 

 tion drawn out in full sheets, and then cutting it up and fit- 

 ting it into the sections. This greatly increases the work, and 

 I feel satisfied that if the use of drawn combs becomes gen- 

 eral, it will be by having them drawn out directly in the 

 sections. 



I recently exprest my views regarding the new deep-cell 

 foundation, with which The A. I. Root Co. is experimenting, 

 and have only to add when such a man as E. R. Root says that 

 the comb resultiug from the use of this new foundation is as 

 brittle and "eatable " as natural combs we can only wait — 

 suspend our judgment until we can try it ourselves. If it 

 should turn out that the use of this product does not debase 

 the comb honey, and it can be produced in commercial quanti- 

 ties, at a low price, it is ijulte likely that it will solve the 

 question of how drawn combs should be produced. In the 

 meanwhile, we can go on getting drawn combs according to 

 the plans that we know are successful. 



Genesee Co., Mich. 



A Visit to Switzerland and France. 



BY GUST AVE GROSS. 



During my visit to Switzerland and France, the past win- 

 ter, I seized every opportunity to Inquire about the state of 

 apiculture there. I saw a good many bee-keepers, visited 

 several apiaries, and from all I saw I came to the conclusion 

 that apiarists there are far behind us in their practice, which 

 may in part be accounted for by the fact that they do not read 

 bee-papers as we do here. Of course, there are exceptions, 

 but it was not my lot to meet with such. Besides, the honey 

 resources of the country are not nearly as good as ours. In 

 Switzerland (the part 1 visited) they get their surplus mainly 

 from the pines, and it Is only a honey-dew, in color resembling 

 our buckwheat honey, having a strong " piney " taste, though 

 very sweet. The honey Is mostly extracted, sections are 

 high, .ST. 00 per 1,000, while heavy comb foundation costs 50 

 cents per pound ; but they told me it was very hard to get it 

 pure, the most of it being mixt with parafline. 



When they produce honey it ls> in the old-fashiOQed straw 



