June 27, 1907 



American liee Journal 



keepinK day wheu all the world shall know 

 the truth about bees and honey, which truth 

 shall make them free — from ignorance, and 

 prejudice, as well. 



A Section-Si/,0 Correction.— We have 

 received the following from Mr. Wm. M. 

 Whitney, of Lake (ieneva. Wis., under date 

 of .June 17: 



Mk. Kditok:— In the report of the Chicago- 

 Northwestern Bee-Keepers' convention, on 

 page 531, I am made to say that I have sec- 

 tions 4%x5''s, which is far from correct. Such 

 a section as that, if properly completed, would 

 weigh at least 1", pounds. It so blunts the 

 point intended to be made as to make a bad 

 blotch. The section is 35'bX53„— 7 to thefoot — 

 a little narrower than the 4x5 plain, but taller 

 and thicker, weighing, when nicely capped, 

 just 16 ounces — have weighed dozens of them. 

 The double supers, as I call them, with sec- 

 tion-holders and fence, hold 48 sections each, 

 which is put on a strong colony in time of 

 good honeyllow, and often duplicated. Bees 

 work in them better than in the 4)^ section. 

 I don't know why. 



My hives are overflowing with bees, Init I'm 

 feeding, anxiously looking for white clover. 

 Wm. M. Whitney. 



Analysis of Pollen. — Having on page 

 429 reported an unsuccessful search for an 

 analysis of pollen, Mr. W. K. Morrison 

 kindly comes to our aid with the following: 



Albumen— r percent. 

 Peeticacid U _„.„_. 

 Grape sugar ) '^ Pe^ent. 



Butyric acid 

 Myricene 



6. Pal matin acid ;• 5 percent 



Stearine acid 



Oleic acid J 



Glycloxyd. 



.Vnthosmim. 



Hyppurio acid. 



Cerinthin. 



Pollenin. 



Cellulose. 



Eritholin. 



Honey as a, HealtIi>Food. — This 

 is a 16-page honey-pamphlet intended to help 

 increase the demand for honey. The first 

 part of it coatains a short article on " Honey 

 as Food," written by Dr. C. C. Miller. It 

 tells where to keep honey, how to liquefy it, 

 etc. The last part is devoted to " Honey- 

 Cooking Recipes" and "Remedies Using 

 Honey." It should be widely circulated by 

 those selling honey. The more the people are 

 educated on the value and uses of honey, the 

 more honey they will buy. 



Prices, prepaid— Sample copy for a 2-cent 

 stamp; 50 copies for 70 cents; 100 for $1.25; 

 250 for $2 25 ; 500 for $4.00 ; or 1000 for J7.50. 

 Your business card printed free at the bottom 

 of front page on all orders for 100 or more 

 copies. Send all orders to the office of the 

 American Bee Journal. 



" Songs of Beedoni." — This is a beau- 

 tiful 16-page-and-coyer pamphlet, 6x9 inches 

 in size, containing 10 bee-songs — words and 

 music — all the songs so far written specially 

 for bee-keepers, we believe. It is nice, as 

 well as convenient, to have these songs all in 

 one binding. Every bee-keepers' organiza- 

 tion should have copies for use at conven- 

 tions. They could be sold to members after 

 using once, or held by the secretary for use 

 at future meetings. Of course, every bee- 

 keeper's family will want at least one copy. 

 It is sent, postpaid, for only 25 cents, or 3 

 copies for 60 cents; or, we will mail one copy 

 with the American Bee Journal one year — 

 both for $1.10. Send all orders to the office 

 of the American Bee Journal. 



No. 5.— Comb-Building and 



Obtaining Surplus Honey 



Cheaply 



BY R. C. AIKIN 



In the previous article I discussed 

 nuclei and how to make them. Still 

 further back in these articles — in Nos. 

 2 and 3 — I mentioned the making and 

 use of nuclei. I also have made refer- 

 ence to specialty in the use of bees ; 

 that is, running part for honey and 

 part for colonies for next year, and 

 now I want to speak of another spe- 

 cial use of certain kinds of colonies, 

 and that is — 



Building of Brood-Combs. 



Every practical bee-keeper knows 

 that under certain conditions much 

 drone-comb will be built, while under 

 certain other conditions only worker 

 will be built. Years ago Mr. Doolittle 

 told us how to utilize weak colonies, 

 and specially weak ones with young 

 queens in getting straight all worker- 

 comb. It is a fact that a weak colony 

 with a young queen will build almost 

 exclusively worker-comb, and under 

 certain conditions they will build just 

 as pretty, straight ones as can be had 

 from comb foundation, and do it 

 more cheaply than by the use of it. 



Here is another fact— I previously 

 mentioned this point — a small colony 

 just getting started with bees to cover 

 well one to 3 combs and brood in pro- 

 portion, will put up more honey (that 

 is, gather, store and consume) than a 

 like number of bees under other condi- 

 tions. When the young are hatching 

 fast, and there is a good proportion of 

 nurses and comb-builders, it is aston- 

 ishing how much they will build, and 

 how well they will do it. 



Suppose you have started with a 1- 

 frame nucleus. First, put the one 

 frame at the side of the hive, and next 

 to this put a drone-comb, or one mostly 

 drone. Such a colony will not use the 

 drone-comb for anything but honey- 

 storage, and if they begin to get 

 crowded they will put almost every bit 

 of the honey in the drone-cells and fill 

 the worker-comb with brood from end 

 to end. When the colony can use more 

 space, move the brood from the hive 

 side and put in a frame with a starter ; 

 this gives the hive side, which is 

 straight, for one guide, and the face of 

 the comb next to it, having been next 

 to the hive side, will be as straight as 

 a board, for it was lined by a board ; 

 there they will build as good a comb 

 as if foundation were used. 



But you may object to having them 

 build next to the outer wall, as being 

 too cold ; in a few cases that may be a 



valid objection, but you can get exactly 

 the same results by using a dummy or 

 follower board, putting the drone next 

 to the hive side, and the brood-comb 

 between it and the dummy. 



As fast as the comb is built in the 

 first frame given, it will be used by the 

 queen, and it won't be many days until 

 it is full, when it should be moved 

 from the old one and a starter put be- 

 tween it and the old one, and also at 

 the same timeone put between the new 

 one and the dummy ; these two will be 

 built about as quickly as the first one. 

 And right here is the time that another 

 drone-comb may be put on the inside 

 next to the dummy, the presence of 

 drone-comb will encourage the build- 

 ing of worker-comb. If you do not 

 have dummies to use just let a drone- 

 comb serve in its place ; I often use a 

 comb instead of a dummy. 



We have now given the colony 3 

 starters, and with a young, vigorous 

 queen you can depend upon 99/100 of 

 the comb in them being worker, if you 

 have followed the plan outlined. At 

 this time, if there has been free gath- 

 ering of nectar, the drone-combs should 

 be full of honey, and now 2 more 

 frames may be given, this time putting 

 them as near the center as may be, and 

 they may be put both together and be- 

 tween the 2 nicest, straightest sheets 

 of brood. Note this fact : A sheet of 

 brood to build comb next to is better 

 than a board, every time ; it is a warm 

 place, and where the nurses are doing 

 much business ; there the fewest bees 

 necessary to the work can build. 



Note also that a sheet of brood will 

 remain just as straight as when you 

 find it until the brood hatches from it, 

 or until they cease to breed in it and 

 put honey therein. Always, in any 

 colony, when you want to have a comb 

 built, put the starter next to or be- 

 tween sheets of brood ; if between 

 store-combs, and nectar is coming 

 freely enough to cause the combs to be 

 promptly filled, there is always a ten- 

 dency to lengthen the cells out into 

 the space in which the new comb is to 

 be built, until it is too narrow to build 

 even deep enough cells to rear brood 

 in. I have often seen full sheets of 

 foundation made into very thin combs 

 with a very thick one on either side, 

 and have seen even the two adjoining 

 combs with cells so lengthened that 

 they cut out entirely the new comb at 

 places. Yes, the best possible place to 

 build new combs is between sheets of 

 brood. 



By the things pointed out in the last 

 paragraph, you will see that conditions 

 may make very different results ; where 

 you can get a good comb built one time 

 you may not the next. I hove indi- 

 cated the plan that will meet nearly 



