'^^^X 



Vol. XVI. 



NOV. 15, 1888. 



No. 22. 



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REPLY TO DH. MILLER. 



TIETUNQ UP NOT ACCORDING TO NATURE ; WARMTH 

 FOR COMB-BTTILDING. 



@N pajre 75.5 of present volume of Gleanings, 

 Dr. Miller asks Doolittle some questions In 

 reg'ard to bees working in sections over dum- 

 mies, etc. In replying: to these questions, I 

 will do so in a sort of genera! way, in order 

 that I may be the better understood by all of the 

 readers of Gleanings, be they veterans in bee cul- 

 ture or novices. Dr. Miller says, " If a super of 

 empty sections is put on a hive, don't the bees 

 commence over the brood first?" Most assuredly 

 they do, for that is bee nature, and all of our work 

 should be in conformity with the natural habits of 

 the bee if we would succeed. That the tiering-up 

 process is not in accord with the natural habits of 

 our bees, is one of the reasons why I have discard- 

 ed that process; and because it is not natural is 

 why more honey can be secured by some other 

 way of working, and that, too, in a more nearly 

 finished state, taking our seasons as they average. 

 That the tiering-up process is not theone to give all 

 finished sections at the end of the season, or the 

 larger proportion of them so sealed, Dr. Miller well 

 knows, or else he would not have given that arti- 

 cle of his, written lately on grading honey for 

 market, in which he dwells quite largely on what 

 to do with sections which are from a few cells to 

 wholly unsealed. Now, bees naturally have very 

 little unsealed honey in the fall, where manipula- 

 tion is unknown; and to show what I wish to get at, 

 and apply it to what I believe is the only right plan 

 pf wording for section honey, let us take a newly 



hived swarm, and watch them work according to 

 nature, till they fill their hive. Upon getting set- 

 tled in their newly found home, the first thing the 

 bees do is to start a single comb in the center of the 

 cluster of bees at the top of the hive; and when 

 this comb is of the size of a 2g-cent piece to that of 

 a silver dollar, two other combs are started on ei- 

 ther side of it, the size of the first one varying before 

 the others are started, according to the size of the 

 swarm, it being built much larger before the com- 

 mencing of more combs, with the small swarm than 

 with a large one. Now, the three combs grow till 

 the middle one is of the size of a man's hand, and 

 the others are of about one third that size when 

 two more are started, one on either side of the first, 

 two side combs, rather than having the two on one 

 side of these. In this way they keep on till the 

 side of the hive is reached, providing the hive is 

 not too large, or the cluster of bees too small to ac- 

 complish the filling of the hive. As the combs 

 grow, brood is placed in the center of them, while 

 the honey is placed in the top and around the sides 

 of the brood, which (honey) is sealed as soon as 

 evaporated enough for that purpose; and, no mat- 

 ter whether the swarm is large or small, you will 

 find that they will keep the honey sealed well up 

 to the comb-builders, so that, when the honey-flow 

 stops, the larger part of what they have obtained is 

 sealed. 



' Dr. M. well knows that, if the swarm were too 



j small, the sides of the hive would never be reached; 

 yet the central comb might be 8 or more inches 

 long, and the honey all sealed on the inside of the 



I outer combs, if a hive 18 inches square were used. 



I Then why does he talk as he does of the sections be- 



