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CLKANINCS IN lUOK ( T LTl'IUO. 



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rrs oil lliis side. Dr. Miller', llic Dadaiits, aiul 

 soiiK' DtliiMS w liost' iiiuiii's we (1(1 not now recall. 

 have decided that tlie " exti'a tliiii " is no hettei'. 

 nor a.-i Rood, as what is caMed"(hin surplus." 

 When the niattei' came up for discussion, we 

 believe the ohjectioii to tile exti'a thin was. 

 that the bee?, would, on acconni of its e\irenie 

 ly liL'lit wciyrlil. sometimes ^naw it.| 



EMPTY COMBS AND OLD FOUNDATION IN 

 SECTIONS. 



<K( TIONS OF OLD IlKAWX CO.MHS VS. SKCTIONS 

 OK.FHICSII KOLNDATION. KTC . 



As th(^ b(H^-keepef goes to work' to pniiare 

 his snpiM's for tlie coining iuifvest he i,s olten 

 iii(^t by tile pioblem what to do with the unMn- 

 ished sections h'fl over fioin t lie previous sea- 

 son. As to the value of such sections lor using 

 again, tlie widest ditlerence of opinion iirevails. 

 Some c()nsi(h'r them superior to freshly lilled 

 sections, and till wlioit^ siijiers witii them, while 

 othei-s consider tliem worse tiian worthless 

 excejit for the purpose of attracting bees into 

 the snjiers: and even for this inirpose ihey do 

 not want more than one or two in a super. 



When the subject was lirst brouglit up for 

 discussion, sevi^ral years ago. I received many 

 appreciative letters from those who had found. 

 as I had. that it was more prolitable to melt tip 

 sections tilled witii coiiib than to ti'y to have 

 them lilled with honey. IJut tlu^re were some 

 very practical lujiiey- producers who opposed 

 this view, and continued to oppose it in a way 

 that was at first very perplexing to me. 1 had 

 found that sections were never hrst class in ap- 

 pearance, and that, wliile the bees might tiegiii 

 work on them tirst. th(\v would ntit be linished 

 as soon as those started from fresh foundation. 

 It has been generally c(jiiceded that such sec- 

 tions never look quite as nice: but the proposi- 

 tion that they are le.ss valuable otherwise has 

 always lieeii opposed. 



During the past two or three seasons, with 

 theii' poor yields of hoin y. I think I have found 

 the reasons for this ditference of opinion. I 

 have found, as others have. that, during a very 

 light yield of honey, the two or three •" bait sec- 

 lions '" of empty comb in each super would 

 sometimes be tilled with honey, and tinished, 

 before sections containing founclation had been 

 startcid at all. Of course, undei' such circum- 

 stances the use of sections containing drawn 

 comb would give a larger vield of box honey. 

 even though its quality might not be tirst class. 

 Hut it is to he hoped iliat hoiiey-tlows of so 

 light a character as this ar(^ not going to be 

 frequent enough to make it n(H'essary to take 

 this point very much into our calculations. 



When we closely question many of those who 

 insist on the great value of drawn combs in sec- 

 tions we find that they use only starters of 

 foundation instead of sheets tilling the section 

 full. A comb reaching from top to bottom of 

 the section otT'ers much irreater indiicetnents to 

 the bees than a narrow <tarter at the tO|). aiul 

 good combs may b(i more prolitalile than such 

 starters. 



But the principal reason why many do not 

 see this question in its i)roper light is. liiat they 

 do not compare the sections of drawn comb 

 with those tilled with ./''•'>''' foundation. I have 

 known for years that freshly made foundation is 

 better than that which has been exposed to the 

 air for some time, but I never saw tlie differ- 

 ence so strikingly shown as in an experiment 

 last summer. On account of lack of help. 

 many supers were just as they had been left 

 the preceding summer, the sections containing 

 full sheets of foundation untouched by the bees. 



Wishing to tiy a new make of sections, two or 

 three rows of the old sections w'en^ r(^ni(Tved 

 from each of a number of supers, and replaced 

 with the new ones coiitaining fresh foundation. 

 Onlv a moderate aniounti of honey was lieing 

 gathered, and but few c(jloni(^s were making 

 aii\ iMiigress in the supers, so that I was sur- 

 prised, a con|)le of weeks later, to lind most of 

 those new sections liiilll out and tinished, wliih; 

 in some cases th(> old foundation, right along- 

 side in the same su|)e|-s. hiid not been touched. 



If. ill tesijiiir iiijs matter, full sheets of fresh 

 foundation were always compareil with drawn 

 combs, I think the unprotitalileness of tin; lat- 

 ter would seldom lie ((tiestioiKHl. Uiit there is a 

 serious difliculty in the way here. It is not 

 always [lossible for the bee-keeper, esiiecially 

 if he counts his colonies by tlu; hundred, to use 

 only fresh foundation. He must prepare many 

 of his sii|)ers in advance of the honey-harvest, 

 and is always liable to have some of them left 

 ovei- unused. If he does not do t his he must be 

 able to count on an abundance of reliable help 

 during the honey season, or he is liable to 

 serious loss. On the contrary, I am convinced 

 that he may lose heavily by using old hard 

 foundation. Hetwcicn the two horns of the 

 dilemma I hai'dly know which to choose. 

 What I have decided on for the present is this: 

 All drawn-out combs, except enough of tiu^ best 

 to put two or thre(^ in (^acli super, used at the 

 beginning of the season, shall be cut out and 

 melted: all sh(H>ts of foundation that have be- 

 come bleached orprojiolized shall he remelted, 

 and at least one-third of the sections in each 

 super shall be tilled with fresh foundation. Hy 

 "fresh foundation" I mean that which has 

 been expos(;d to the air as little as possible, and 

 has not been put into the sections more than 

 two or three w(;eks in advance of the time it is 

 ni^eded on the hives. Possibly it might not de- 

 teriorate very much by being in the sections a 

 couple of months: but that which has been 

 kept over from one season to another, exposed 

 to the air, is certainly very far inferior to fresh 

 foundation. This is especially the case when it 

 has been on the hives some time and has been 

 varnished over with iiropolis by the bees. 



I consider that foundation best which has 

 come most recently from thiMJipping-tank and 

 rolling-mill; but that which has been papered 

 and tightly boxed, so that it is not exposed to 

 the air. will keep a long time with but little 

 injury. J. A. (JitKiox. 



Dayton. 111., March 4. 



PREVENTING INCREASE WHEN THE FIRST 

 SWARM ISSUES. 



.J. F. M'INTY-KE EXI'LAINS MOKK FlIXY the SE- 

 CRET OF THE DADANT XGN-SWARMING 

 PI-AX. 



In Chas. Dadant it Son's article on prevent- 

 ing increase. |jag(! 541. IS'.il, they ri^vealed a 

 secret not found in the books: at least, I have 

 just looked through ten bei^-books. Dadant's 

 included, and did not (ind it in any of them. 

 They all agree that, as a rule, the first svvartn 

 issues when tin; first qii(!eii-c(dls are s(!al(!d, un- 

 less prevented tiy foul weather. Now. (ivery 

 bee-keeper shoiilrJ know that there are several 

 other conditions which will make a colony 

 postpone swarming until the second crisis, that 

 is, when the tirst cells an^ r(;ady to hatch, and 

 one of the most powerful is a large hive con- 

 taining plenty of empty combs. If I understand 

 Dadant's system they put a super full of empty 

 combs on their extra huiie brood -chain hers be- 

 fore the bees commence to build queen-cells, or 



