;n3 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 15. 



cut. and we liave no doubt they will hold the 

 I'ings in position. Your extractor offers facili- 

 ties for putting in and taking out the combs, 

 and the action of the reveising would be posi- 

 tive and certain. Tlie extractor will work, no 

 doubt: but we are inclined to think the expense 

 of manufacture would i)i'eclude its general use 

 among bee-keepers. So much gearing is ex- 

 pensive : and. besides, tho can will be large.] 



WAX SECRETION. 



DO CIKCUMSTAXCES OK THE BEES aoVERX THE 



SECRETION OF WAX SCALES? AKE THEY 



EVEK WA.STED'? 



Many writers for our bee-journals, and some 

 of them our most cautious and able bee-keep- 

 ers, take the position that bees have to secrete 

 wax, and that if comb or foundation is used the 

 wax is lost. But, is it true that bees have to 

 secrete wax? I greatly doubt it. Natui'e has 

 not arranged things that way. The cow se- 

 cretes milk when there is a young calf that 

 must have milk. When the bees need wax to 

 form comb, then we find wax scales in the wax- 

 pockets, otherwise we do not find them. I feel 

 quite certain of this. I have hived swarms on 

 combs, on foundation, and on frames with nei- 

 ther comb nor foundation. In the first two 

 cases the bees would be very active, and it 

 would be very difficult to find any wax scales. 

 In the other "case, most of the bees were very 

 quiet, and almost every one woiild' have wax 

 scales in the wax-pockets. Even those flying 

 out would show the scales. Now. if, as some 

 contend, the bees in the flrst cases had to, and 

 did, secrete the wax, where were the scales? I 

 could find no signs of them, and do not believe 

 they had any existence. In case of using foun- 

 dation in brood-chamber and in supers. I have 

 often had great difficulty in finding a bee with 

 the wax scales to show my class; but, once 

 hive a swarm in an entirely empty hive, and 

 how soon we could find the scales'. Indeed, it 

 was hard to find a bee without them. It is 

 hard to explain just how the bees regulate this 

 matter. I have thought it was through activi- 

 ty. If very active, no scales are secreted: if 

 quiet, or active to only a limited extent, then 

 wax secretion was active. When we work 

 mares hard, the young foals get too little 

 milk. The mares can not secrete a full supply 

 of milk, and work hard at the same time. Is it 

 not quite possible that the same is true of bees? 

 When they need comb, they bang quiet in 

 graceful festoons from the top of the hive, and 

 wax secretion goes on rapidly: and the materi- 

 al for the beautiful combs is abundant. When 

 no comb is needed, true to their instinct they 

 hie forth to gather sweet, and wax secretion is 

 nearly or quite suspended. This hypothesis is 

 not without support from analogy. The wax is 

 much like our fat or adipose tissue. We know 

 that it is the sedentary men that become ro- 

 tund, while our Cassiuses— the lean and hungry 

 men— are generally active. This fact does not 

 necessarily prove that it is wise and pi'oHtable 

 to buy and use foundation. Whctlicr founda- 

 tion is profitable or not. must be determined by 

 actual trial; but that we should desist from its 

 use to save wax scales that else will be secret- 

 ed and lost, I think is not proved. I think a 

 little close observation will convince any one 

 that bees secrete wax only when, in the econo- 

 my of the hive, they need it. A. J. Cook. 

 Agricultural College, Mich. 



[Friend C I am very glad you have brought 

 up just this point. I once thought just as 

 you state it; but other things have tended to 

 change my opinion somewhat. For instance, 



where we feed a colony of bees tremendously 

 with sugar syrup, if feeding is kept up for a 

 sufficient number of days wax scales will form 

 in great numbers: and if they are not permitted 

 to build comb, these beautiful pearly scales of 

 wax will fall on the bottom -board in gi'eat 

 quantities. You know I once fed, a single colo- 

 ny all the syrup that a barrel of sugar would 

 make: as I wanted them to fill and seal over 

 some combs to give to other colonies, they were 

 not permitted to build comb at all, except cap- 

 ping cells. Well, the great difficulty in the 

 way of the success of this experiment was. that 

 so much syrup was consumed in the secretion 

 of wax — wax that fell to the bottom- board— a 

 good deal of it in the form of wax scales. In 

 hiving new swarms on a full set of finished 

 combs (or two full sets, if you choose) we did 

 not find very many scales on the bottom: but 

 the bees filled up all the corners, and built bits 

 of wax all through the corners and crannies of 

 the hives, and put considerable quantities of 

 wax on the top of the frames. As this matter 

 is one of great imi)ortance, I hope that we may 

 have more suggestions on the subject. Al- 

 though we have foundation to .self, my opinion 

 is, and has been for a long time, that, where 

 the brood-combs and honey-boxes are all filled 

 with foundation, more or less wax is lost. I 

 hope you are right, but I fear you are not 

 wholly so in your conclusions.] A. I. R. 



RAMBLE NO. 39. 



IN MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT. 



After a few changes on the many lines of 

 railroad in this portion of Massachusetts I ar- 

 rived in Georgetown just as the shades of even- 

 ing were falling. Here I met an ex-pastor of 

 our little Congregational church at home, and 

 who had given us the words of life for several 

 years. This brother was anxious to hear all 

 about our home prosperity. The doubling of 

 our church-membership through a long-hoped- 

 for and prayed-for levival, and the building of 

 a beautiful new church, were all pi-ecious 

 things for him to hear. Our talk was necessari- 

 Iv brief upon bee-matters, as the only acquain- 

 tance our friend had with bees was thi'ough a 



THE SCOTCHMAN AND HIS SMOKER. 



brother-minister who had lately taken up bee- 

 keeping as a recreation; and my clerical friend 

 was quite elated over the fact that this brother, 

 after studying up on bee-matters, went out 

 among the farmer bee-keepers and told them 

 more about bees than they ever knew before. 



