1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



229 



Metal Combs 



"Why don't you say something in 

 the Journal about metal combs, which 

 are so extensively advertised? Arc 

 they good, or bad?" — A Reader. 



It is not our custom to say anything 

 in the reading columns about patent- 

 ed articles which are advertised. But 

 in this case, there seems to be a uni- 

 versal interest, that requires a state- 

 ment. 



However, it will take more time to 

 test these combs in a satisfactory 

 manner. But we can point out the 

 probable advantages and defects. 



A metal base in comb was invented 

 long ago. A beekeeper of Toledo, 

 Ohio, whose name is not now avail- 

 able, sent to us, some 40 years ago, 

 two sheets of foundation made of tin- 

 foil dipped in wax and laminated to 

 give them the print of the cells. 

 Those two sheets were put by us into 

 a hive and forgotten. We have never 

 seen them since. Evidently the bees 

 built comb upon them so that it would 

 have been necessary to mark them to 

 recognize them further. So we 

 know that bees, will work on metal if 

 it is slightly coated with beeswax. 

 But we have never thought of any 

 advantage in this kind of foundation, 

 for it would cost more than the other 

 and, with a little care, we can secure 

 perfect combs with all wax. 



As to the full metal comb, we can 

 see a big advantage in its being able 

 to withstand the extreme heat and 

 the weight of the bees, if the swarm 

 accepts it. We can also see a large 

 saving of beeswax and the avoiding 

 of any drone comb, where it is sup- 

 plied. 



Other advantages are the possibil- 

 ity of boiling diseases of the brood, 

 as well as moths, out of it. Whether 

 the boiling out of the bees' cocoons, 

 in very old combs, is possible too, is 

 an open question which only long 

 practice will solve. Moths will prob- 

 ably not work on them much, as only 

 the small larvae of this pest could 

 worm their way through the inter- 

 stices that exist from one cell to an- 

 other in the metal comb. But they 

 would riddle them enough to make 

 the boiling out advisable. 



The disadvantages are, first of all, 

 the high cost. If you render the wax 

 of the combs of a colony and send 

 that wax to a foundation factory, you 

 can have the entire set of foundation 

 for that colony for about the price of 

 one metal comb added to the value of 

 that wax. 



Possible disadvantages lie in the 

 great conductibility of the metal for 



heat and cold. In a country where 

 the temperature is constantly warm, 

 as California or Texas, this objection 

 has but little weight. But we are told 

 by a beekeeper of Montana, and also 

 by one of California, that brood has 

 been chilled to death in these metal 

 combs, in cool nights. This requires 

 further and protracted tests. 



The last disadvantage lies in the 

 possibility of damage to the metal 

 comb. A wax comb, if damaged by 

 accident, in extracting, transporting, 

 mice gnawing, or otherwise, will be 

 readily repaired by the bees. But a 

 metal comb, once damaged, is wasted. 

 Neither is it necessary that the entire 

 comb be damaged to make it worth- 

 less. Who would want to keep, in a 

 hive, one or more combs in which 

 say ten per cent of the cells could not 

 be used either for brood or honey? 

 We have before our eyes one of 

 these combs, damaged on one side, 

 beyond repair, by mice that gnawed 

 it to eat the honey it contained. 



After two or three years of experi- 

 ence with these metal combs on a 

 fairly good scale, beekeepers will be 

 better able to pass judgment upon 

 them. Try them yourself. 



When we think the matter over, 

 we wonder whether some material 

 exists that might be moulded into 

 cells, which would be of a non-con- 

 ducting material and could be re- 

 paired easily when damaged to large 

 or small extent. Reviewing the dif- 

 ferent ingredients of human inge- 

 nuity and of natural origin, we find 

 one that answers the purpose well — 

 beeswa.x. 



An Australasian Beekeeper 

 and Publisher 



During the last week in May we 

 had the pleasure of a visit from Mr. 

 W. S. Pender, beekeeper, manufac- 

 turer, and editor of the "Australasian 

 Beekeeper," from West Maitland, 

 New South Wales, Australia. Mr. 

 Pender, whose magazine is now in its 

 twenty-first year, was visiting Ameri- 

 ca for information and enjoyment. He 

 left Australia on the 12th of March 

 and did not expect to return until 

 July. The only thing which he did 

 not like about his trip was the length 

 of the sea voyage. He was 24 days on 

 the way, without a stop, his first stop 

 being Panama. He landed in New 

 York, visited some of the leading 

 manufacturers and beekeepers of our 

 country, called upon the bee experts 

 at the Bureau of Entomology at 

 Washington, and from Hamikon was 

 going to Denver, then to California, 

 by way of- Colorado Springs, visiting 

 Manitou, the Garden of the Gods, 

 Pike's Peak, the Grand Canyon, etc. 

 He spent several weeks in California, 

 and at the time when this Journal ap- 



pears will be on the sea again for his 

 return home. 



Mr. Pender is a well educated man 

 and a lover of natural history. We 

 were sorry that the country roads 

 were in such bad condition that we 

 could not take him to some of our 

 outapiaries. We were quite inter- 

 ested in hearing him speak of their 

 country, where winter occurs during 

 our summer, the months of June and 

 July being the coldest they have. 

 However, at West Maitland there is 

 very little cold weather, only heavy 

 frosts for a month or two, and they 

 grow many tropical fruits. The bee 

 business there depends mainly upon 

 the eucalypti, as has been shown by 

 the interesting articles which have 

 appeared, from time to time, in this 

 magazine, from the pen of Tarlton 

 Payment. 



In summer they suflfer greatly from 

 heat and drought, the thermometer 

 ranging up ito 116 for several weeks. 

 So they have their troubles, as well 

 as we have. 



Perhaps it will astonish some of our 

 readers as much as it did us, to learn 

 that Australia, which appears to our 

 people from here as an insignificant 

 island somewhere in the Pacific, has 

 an area equal to five-sixths of the 

 United States, that its length, from 

 north to south, extends 28 degrees, 

 from the 11th to the 39th, south; 

 while the United States extends only 

 24 degrees from north to south, 

 from the 2Sth to the 49th, north. We 

 might know all of this, for it is on 

 the maps, but we are so accustomed 

 to consider the country in which we 

 live as the greatest in ithe world, 

 that it requires a special occasion for 

 us to realize that we are not nearly 

 so big as we think we are. 



Australia is an up-to-date country, 

 in beekeeping as well as .in agricul- 

 ture. "The Australasian Beekeeper" 

 is a live publication and always makes 

 interesting reading. They do ;not 

 keep bees in "skeps," as they are still 

 doing here in some of our States, in 

 Great Britain, France and the other 

 countries of Continental Europe. 

 They realize that if they are to keep 

 down diseases, they must have mov- 

 able frame hives. It is time all our 

 people understood it. 



Melilotus Alba 



"L'.^picoltura Italiana," in its April 

 number, contains an article on sweet 

 clover, by our Italo-American bee- 

 keeper, D. Barone. He explains that 

 the origin of this clover is in Asia, 

 and that for that reason it is often 

 called "Bokhara clover," Bokhara be- 

 ing in Turkestan. He mentions what 

 E. R. Root and Frank C. Pellett have 

 written about it and its great value 

 in the United States. 



The Italians call this clover "Meli- 

 lotus albus." They are indeed more 

 correct than we are in the use of 

 Latin names. The termination "us" 

 of melilotus is masculine, the ter- 

 mination "a" of alba is feminine. We 

 should call the plant Melilotus albus, 

 or better, as a neuter, "Melilotum al- 

 bum'." Our scientific names are a 

 farce. 



