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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



485 



nothing for days until they swarm, and a super or two of sec- 

 tions without a bee in them ! We know perfectly well that, 

 when bees swarm, they will go to work — that Is, providing 

 they are put into another hive, and their mania satisfied. 



In the foregoing I have enumerated a number of condi- 

 tions that cause bees to hang out ; but one I did not mention ; 

 pamely, that of queenlessness. Several of -our good, strong 

 conlonles were working nicely until we took away their 

 queens. They immediately began to sulk, and to hang out. 

 They knew something was wrong, and I think they had a sort 

 of idea if they could once swarm, all would go well again. So 

 they thought they would hang out. When these same colo- 

 nies were supplied with a queen, the loafing ceast, and the 

 bees went to work. 



I have been watching the matter very narrowly, and I 

 have about come to the conclusion that, for our locality, we 

 do not want a colony with a caged queen or one queenless in 

 the hive. Bees seem to do very much better when there is a 

 queen laying, and brood in all stages ; yet I recognize that 

 some good apiarists succeed well with caged queens. 



THE NEW DRAWN FOUNDATION; DOES IT MAKE " GOBBY " COMB 

 HONEY ? 



Of course, this new article has been the subject of con- 

 tinued and careful experiment at the Home of the Honey-Bees. 

 Supers having a row of drawn foundation, and then a row of 

 full sheets of ordinary foundation placed in alternation, have 

 been placed on the hives, both at the home and at the out 

 yard. We have also given the bees supers containing sections 

 filled with drawn foundation only. Now, what has been the 

 result of these experiments? Just the same as those con- 

 ducted on a much smaller scale last year. In every case the 

 bees have accepted the new drawn foundation at once. As 

 was to be expected, where full sheets of the new article were 

 put into sections, the combs were attacht, when completed, to 

 all four sides. 



Earlier in the season, when orders were pressing for the 

 new foundation, we put into a good many sections only nar- 

 row strips about l>i inches wide. These were placed in alter- 

 nation with the old-style foundation of the same width. The 

 new article was accepted at once, and comb building begun at 

 its bottom edge, and continued down to the bottom of the sec- 

 tion, nearly. In very many instances such combs were 

 nearly completed before the bees did much with the narrow 

 starters of carwmon foundation, which they had gnawed in 

 many cases. In one or two instances, where the supers of 

 full sheets of drawn foundation and full sheets of old founda- 

 tion were placed in alternation over powerful colonies, the old 

 product was not so far behind in the drawing out. (This was 

 the experience of M. 6. Chase; but powerful colonies are not 

 always to be had.) 



" But," you may ask, " what kind of comb honey does the 

 new drawn foundation make?" I suppose an ordinary fair 

 test would be to compare it with comb honey made from full 

 sheets of foundation. But Mr. Weed was determined to give 

 it a more severe test still. Accordingly he brought in one of 

 the sections completed that had been made from a narrow 

 starter of druwti foundation. The lower portion, or that built 

 by the bees was, of course, natural drone-comb. In my pres- 

 ence he requested two of the printers to turn their backs 

 while he cut a small chunk of comb honey from the natural- 

 built comb, and one that had been completed over the drawn 

 foundation, both from the same sections. Boss printer Hobart 

 then took a mouthful of one, without knowing which one he 

 took. He chewed it down to a piece of wax, and then took a 

 mouthful of the other, and chewed that also. When askt to 

 state whether one was more " gobby " than the other, he an- 

 swered in the affirmative. On being askt which oue it was, 

 he named the second mouthful, which proved to be the nat- 

 ural-built drone-comb. 



To make sure that there was no mistake, another printer, 

 Mr. Shane, was tried in the same way, only that the order of 

 the mouthfuls was reverst, with the result in favor of the new 

 product again. It seemed to me hardly .possible that the 

 Weed foundation would give more idinble comb honey with 

 less wax than that built wholly by the bees, even tho it were 

 drone-comb. 



Then the test was applied on me, with the result that I 

 could see quite a markt difference in favor of the Weed. 



I askt Mr. Shane what he meant by saying that one was 

 more "gobby" than the other. "Why," said he, "one is 

 harder to chew." 



Now, understand that this honey from the new Weed 

 drawn foundation was put in to test over against comb built 

 wholly by the hccs, but which, as a matter of fact, was drone- 

 comb, and which they usually build for store purposes during 

 the honey-flow. 



It should be stated that natural-builtdrone is heavier than 

 natural-built worker ; but the bees don't build much worker- 

 comb for store purposes, as already stated. It will be seen 

 that the fear that the comb honey from the new product be 

 more "gobby" is groundless. 



Later. — After the above was in type we tried again the 

 same experiment that we did on the printers, with the excep- 

 tion that we placed comb honey from foundation in the test. 

 The tasters were A. I. Root, my sister Constance, my mother, 

 three of the machine-shop men who hardly know a bee from a 

 grasshopper, and last, the cook in our lunch-room. The ver- 

 dict of all was that the natural-drawn comb was heavier and 

 more gobby than either the drawn-foundation honey or that 

 built from full sheets of ordinary foundation. As between 

 the last two, the verdict was that there was no difference. 

 Please understand that none of the tasters above mentioned 

 had knowledge beforehand which sample was which. They 

 were tested independently, with the result aforesaid. 



To-day (July 12) I took home with me a section built 

 wholly from a full sheet of Weed drawn foundation. I cut it 

 out of the section myself. At the point where it was fast- 

 ened to the wood, it seemed to resist the knife considerably ; 

 but beyond this the blade went through the comb without any 

 sensation of midrib, as is present when the comb is built from 

 full sheets of ordinary foundation. Upon eating the comb I 

 could not see how anybody could think it was more gobby 

 than ordinary comb honey. Strange as it may seem, our 

 household do not ordinarily care very ojuch for honey ; but 

 Mrs. Root remarked how nice and tender this comb was. The 

 whole section had delicate comb, and they all pronounce it 

 fine — even the youngest, who sits by "papa." 



Now, I do not believe that I am prejudiced; and if any 

 one thinks I am, I hope such person will try the experiment 

 of blindfolding two disinterested persons, placing before thera 

 samples of comb honey. That will surely eliminate the ele- 

 ment of prejudice which is so decidedly pronounced on the 

 part of a few of those who have seen fit to oppose the new 

 article. One man condemned the new drawn foundation 

 severely, even before he had tried it. Now, after having tried 

 it on a small scale (three samples from our first dies that were 

 very inferior to our present ones), on the principle of " I told 

 you so," he condemns it just as severely again, saying that 

 bees would not accept it, and that it had an " awful gob" to 

 it. His experience is so opposed to our'own, in the case of 

 dozens of samples I have seen, that I must believe his preju- 

 dice quite ran away with his judgment. A few condemned 

 ordinary fouudation when it was first introduced into this 

 country. They condemned it beforehand, and then con- 

 demned after they had tried it, saying that the bees would not 

 accept it, etc. It is not at all strange that one who has con- 

 demned severely the new drawn foundation should do so now, 

 after having tried it. — CHeanings. Medina Co., Ohio. 



