286 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



bait comb is drawn comb, and every drawn 

 comb may be used as bait. But there is a dis 

 tinci difference as to use, and I suppose this 

 difference was in mind in writing the heading. 

 Every drawn comb may be used as bait comb; 

 but unless so used it would not be bait comb. 



I may remark, in passing, that, while I should 

 prefer bait combs with cells deeper than % of 

 an inch, 1 should not want them as deep as Mr. 

 Snell says, % of an inch. From past experience 

 I should expect them to be built more or less to 

 the separators, unless used in sections more 

 than two inches wide. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



[Dr. Miller is right in explaining tbai drawn 

 combs ^8 det p referred to a particular kind to 

 which attention was drawn. I did not intend 

 to give a general definition. I think Mr. Crane 

 is nearly right in saying that in any case 

 "drawn combs should not be used more than 

 % inch deep." To u^e. them deeper would make 

 an inferior grade of comb honey. Before bee- 

 keepers learned that unfinished sections could 

 be leveled down a la Taylor, and make as good 

 comb honey as that built from foundation, they 

 had come to regard unfini-hed sections as unfit 

 for use to put back into the sup'-r except for 

 bait Years ago, when the question of unfin- 

 ished sections in supers was talked over, it was 

 generally concluded that comb honey was of 

 second quality, and that in the end it did not 

 pay. We did not then kn iw that the trouble 

 lay in the full depth of cells. We have since 

 learned that reducing those cells by means of 

 a hot knife or hot plate to somewhere about ,9^ 

 inch deep, and then putting all such sections 

 back into the super again, not only produces a 

 first-class article of comb honey, but that the 

 supers are filled much more rapidly than in 

 poor seasons. 



Mr. Wetd found that it was possible to make 

 the drawn founlation full depth if necessary ; 

 and to illustrate the pos'^ibilities of deep cells, 

 his first set of dies showed cell walls nearly full 

 depth; but later on he came to the conclusion 

 that such depth was entirply unnecessary. 



For the purpose of avoiding confusion.'the A. 

 I. Eoot Co. decided to call the new product 

 "drawn foundation," which, indeed, it is. To 

 call it deep cell-wall foundation might cause 

 confusion, because we have for yoars made 

 foundation on the old foundation-mills that 

 was nearly U inch thick: but we never supplied 

 such foundation to our trade, a* Americans did 

 not care to pay the price for so much wax. 

 But our customers in Germany have very often 

 sent in specifications for deep-cell-wall mills. 

 For the purpose, then, of avoiding confusion, 

 we called the new product "drawn founda- 

 tion;" the German foundation. " deep-cell-wall 

 foundation;" and combs drawn out by bees, 

 but leveled down. " drawn comb." As it will 

 be found to be impracticable to use any other 

 than combs leveled down, only this article 

 would be used in the discussion. In the mul- 

 tiplicity of terms we must be careful at the out- 

 set to use short ones as well as those that are 

 descriptive. 



To sum up, then, the different grades of foun- 

 dation, we have the " thin " and " extra thin;" 

 the " light brood " and the " medium " (the old 

 " heavy " having been discarded); in Gprmany, 

 the "deep cell-wall foundation;" in this coun- 

 try, "drawn foundation;" for comb drawn out 

 by the bees, but afterward leveled down, 

 "drawn comb."— Ed.1 



'——ANSWERS TO 0-— > 

 BY G.M.DOOLITTLE.BOROOINO.N.Y, 



INCREASE AND EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Questio?i.— Which is the better plan when 

 working an apiary for extracted honey — to 

 make the increase by natural swarming or by 

 division? If by division, when is the best time 

 to do it in latitude about forty-one, white clo- 

 ver being the main plant giving surplus? 



Answer.— My favorite mode of increase is by 

 natural swarming; and as a general rule I pre- 

 fer such increase for the reason that I have 

 found that colonies made by division lose much 

 more time getting ready for work than do the 

 bees when permitted to follow the natural laws 

 of increase. But there are exceptions to all 

 general rules, and this is one of these excep- 

 tions. Should we desire, ever so badly, increase 

 by natural swarming, it would be very little 

 we should get if the colonies were worked to 

 the best advantage for extracted honey. A 

 good yield of extracted honey is obtained only 

 by providing the colony with an extra set, or 

 more, of empty combs, putting the same in up- 

 per stories at the beginning of the honey flow, 

 or as soon as the bees have increased sufficient- 

 ly to receive them without any detriment to 

 their building up the most quickly. Bees do 

 not swarm until the hive is well populated and 

 honey coming in from the fields; hence if we 

 put on combs as above (and we must to secure 

 the best results in extracted honey), these 

 combs go on before any preparation for swarm- 

 ing has been made. Ernest Root never uttered 

 a truer saying than he made when he said that 

 "plenty of empty combs is the best preventive 

 for swarming," and by fixing our bees as we are 

 obliged to to secure the best results, we very 

 nearly if not quite prevent all increase of a 

 natural kind. 



In all of my experience with the extractor I 

 have never had a single colony cast a swarm 

 before the honey harvest was beginning to 

 wane; and not ten per cent of the colonies 

 thus worked ever offered to cast a swarm at all. 

 Hence we see, if we wish increase, it must be 

 done in some way other than natural swarming, 

 or we must sacrifice our honey crop quite largely 

 by not putting on the combs till the colonies 

 have swarmed. Hence we have increiise by 

 division, where increase is wished, as the only 

 way when working for extracted honey. 



Having decided this question, the next thing 

 which confronts us is, " When is that division 

 to be made ? " Verv many of our most practic- 

 al apiarists tell us that, where we make in- 

 crease by division, this should be done a little 

 before the honey harvest, or at its commence- 

 ment. The will) of such advice, I have never 

 been able to understand. It is argued that. 



