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GLEANINC.S IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



and will rarely come off again." I don't know 

 whether tliat would work in this country, but 

 I'm afraid. 



Cheshire thinks that there is something in 

 the old-fashioned idea of making noises to in- 

 duce a swarm to settle. He thinks bees choose 

 quiet times — notably Sundays— for swarming, 

 when they can hear the queen. But then conies 

 the old question. If the din makes them settle 

 because they don't hear the queen, why don't 

 they generally settle when they come out with 

 a clipped queen, which they surely don't hear? 



WAX SECRETION. 



E. FRANCE GIVES SOME INTERESTING EXPERI- 

 ENCES, PROVING THAT OLD REES DO SE- 

 CRETE WAX ANT) BUILD COMBS. 



I have been trying to find out just when bees 

 secrete wax, and some other matters. That 

 the reader may perfectly understand me, and 

 what I have to say on the subject, I want you 

 to read several articles in back numbers of 

 Gleanings. First, one by Prof. Cook, 1891, 

 page 212. There you will see that he thinks 

 wax is not secreted unless It is wanted to build 

 combs. Now, this is just what I think about 

 wax secretion: That wax is not secreted unless 

 it is needed to build combs. But, how is wax 

 secretion brought about? Can the bees secrete 

 wax any time it is wanted for comb-building? 

 I believe they can, and will try to prove it fur- 

 ther on. 



Now turn to April 15th Gleanings, page 318. 

 Here we have another article from Prof. Cook 

 on this same subject, followed by my ideas in 

 the same line. You see I take the ground that, 

 in order to secrete wax. the bee fills her sac full 

 of honey, and then remains quiet, and wax 

 secretion goes on as a consequence, just the 

 same as a pig fills his sac with corn and then 

 remains quiet and secretes fat. 



Now turn to May 1st number, page 3.59. to 

 Prof. Cook's "Nubbins." He says he thinks 

 France makes a good suggestion regarding wax 

 secretion, and says he shall try some experi- 

 ments to prove or disprove my theory. I hope 

 he has done so. and that others have also, as I 

 don't want to stand alone in this matter. 



Now we will turn to page 421, May 1.5th num- 

 ber, "Fragments," by Bro. Doolittle. You see 

 he agrees that wax secretion is brought about 

 by the bees holding their honey; but he says 

 that the old bees returning from the field give 

 their loads of honey to the young bees, and that 

 these young bees hold these loads of honey till 

 they are sufficiently evaporated to be deposited 

 in the cells; hence it comes about that it is 

 the young bees very largely that secrete wax. 

 Hold on, Bro. Doolittle. Let me ask whether 

 the bees in your one-comb observatoiy hive 

 were building comb at that time. If not, what 

 did those young bees do with the wax secreted 

 while holding those loads of honey? Do the 

 bees evaporate their honey by holding it in 

 their sacs? I think not. unless they have no 

 other place to put it. If evaporation of honey 

 was brought about in that way, then wax se- 

 cretion would be going on all the time, whether 

 the bees wanted it or not. I have seen bees 

 take honey from one another in that way; but 

 how do you know that it was j/o((w/ bees that 

 received the honey ? I can not tell a young bee 

 from an old one. unless in case of a very young 

 one just hatched, young enough to be white. 



Now let us look at the next fragment by Mr. 

 D., about old bees secreting wax. Read this 

 carefully; and then if you have also read all 

 the other articles mentioned you will be ready 

 for my experiment, which I will now proceed to 

 give you. 



On the 10th day of June I hived a good fair- 

 sized swarm of bees to experiment on, and 

 prove, as far as possible, how old bees will live, 

 and also whether they ever get so old that they 

 don't secrete wax. I gave them 9 full L. frames 

 of combs. I took them out of my comb-room, 

 where they had been kept since last fall, so 

 there was no brood in them. I also gave them 

 y L. frames with one-inch foundation starters 

 above the combs, and 8 L. frames with one-inch 

 foundation starters below the combs. The bees 

 were working very strong at that time on hon- 

 ey-dew. June 19th the upper set of frames 

 vvere full of combs, and they Were 'building 

 nicely in the lower set. At this time I extract- 

 ed all of their honey, but did not weigh it. July 

 1st I extracted 40 lbs. of honey. The whole 

 three sets of combs were full of honey and 

 brood. It was then 21 days since the swarm 

 was hived. Then I took away all of their 

 brood, and there was not a bee hatched at this 

 time. In place of the brood-combs taken out, 

 I put in empty frames with inch starters of 

 foundation. July 11th I took out one comb of 

 honey, o lbs., and sold It to a neighbor who 

 wanted some comb honey very much, and gave 

 the bees one more frame with foundation start- 

 er. July 20th I took all their combs away and 

 gave them six full combs of honey. Mind, the 

 combs contained no brood- positively nothing 

 but honey. Why did I take all of their combs 

 away on the 20th ? For the reason that every 

 comb in the three sets contained brood, more or 

 less, so I had to take them all to get all of the 

 brood. At this time our basswood honey-flow 

 was over. 1 now, July 20th, reduced their space 

 to two stories — upper story six combs of hon- 

 ey with two empty frames with foundation 

 starters, and eight frames below with founda- 

 tion starters; and now that the honey harvest 

 was over I gave them two three-pound feeders 

 full of honey, so they can have plenty of honey 

 for wax secretion. 



July 25, according to Mr. Doolittle, all the 

 bees should be dead; but instead they are alive, 

 a fair working colony, and are building combs 

 rapidly— have eggs in one of the new combs, 

 and eggs in one of the honey-combs, whence 

 they have removed the honey. August 3d I 

 reduced their space to 8 L. frames, and took 

 away all of their brood again. This makes 

 three times that tiu\y have been robbed of their 

 young ones. It look^; too mean, when a queen 

 has worked so hard to build up a family, to rob 

 her in that way. Of course, the l^rood is given 

 to other colonies, so there is no loss. 



Now, Aug. 3d, the hive contains four combs 

 of honey, four empty frames with inch founda- 

 tion starters. The empty frames are put be- 

 tween the honey-combs. 



Aug. 15th I looked at hhc bees and fed them. 

 Since the 3d tht^y have built comb in all of the 

 four empty frames. One of them is a fourth 

 full of comb; the other three are half full, and 

 have brood in two of them. Some of the brood 

 is capped over. The bees are at work every 

 day when others work. They gather pollen, 

 and appear to carry loads of honey; but it may 

 lie water. It is now 21 days since they should 

 all be dead, according to Mr. D.'s standard; 

 but instead there is a fair colony for a one-story 

 hive, and they are building combs yet. I am 

 afraid that I shall be compelled to take their 

 brood again. 



Aug. 24th I examined the bees and found 

 enough alive to warrant further exi)erimenting. 

 I took away four combs that contained brood. 

 Three of the brood-combs were built since Aug. 

 3d. One of these was built half way down. 

 The other two lunv combs were each two-thirds 

 of a full comb. I nov/ reduced this space to five 

 L. frames. One of the frames was empty, with 



