1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



251 



out removing also the cocoon ; hence the rap- 

 id thickening of the bases. 



Four or five years ago, at a time when little 

 or no honey was coming in, and when many 

 colonies were without laying queens (having 

 been unqueened, and young queens not yet 

 laying), I noticed that about some entrances 

 there was a great litter as if a mouse were in 

 the hive gnawing at the combs. So great 

 was the resemblance, with only a casual 

 glance, that, had it been at a time when the 

 hive would not be full of bees, and at a season 

 when mice were likely to be in the hives, I 

 should have decided at once that it was the 

 work of a mouse. I determined at once to 

 know what was going on there, and on open- 

 ing the hive I found the bees tearing down 

 the cells of old brood-combs right in the heart 

 of the brood -nest, no brood being there be- 

 cause the queen was not laying. 



Here was a case in which the bees were re- 

 newing their old brood-combs. The cells were 

 gnawed down to the base and being rebuilt. I 

 think I have a faint recollection of previously 

 seeing the evidence of this work at hive en- 

 trances ; and now having caught on to the 

 fact I have many times since observed it in 

 many colonies. Sometimes even the bases of 

 cells are removed and a patch of new comb 

 built in, though I think the rule is to rebuild 

 just the cell- walls. This work must necessa- 

 rily be done a little at a time, and so as to be 

 easily unobserved. There is usuall\- but a 

 comparatively small portion of the comb at 

 any one time free of honey, pollen, or brood, 

 so that it can be operated upon, and often the 

 bees may be too busy at other work to accom- 

 plish the job. I have most frequenth' ob- 

 served it in the interval between the unqueen- 

 ing and the fertilizing of the young queen, 

 and to the extent of probably 25 to 50 square 

 inches at one time. 



Lest you may think I am mistaken in this 

 I will give ver}' strong corroborating evidence. 

 Just one week ago, while at our State conven- 

 tion, our secretary, Mr. Frank Rauchfuss, put 

 the question as to how long a brood-comb is 

 good without renewing. He detailed exactly 

 the experience I had gone through with, say- 

 ing that he and his brother, who is associated 

 with him in the business, discovered the 

 mouse-like cutting on and about the alight- 

 ing-board, but found, as I had, that it was just 

 the bees renewing the old heavy brood-combs. 

 I think some writer has previously referred 

 to this, though I can not now recall certainly 

 the matter. 



Since, then, bees do renew combs, is it not 

 probable that these very old combs we so fre- 

 quently read about are not nearly so old as 

 thoiight to be ? I am now firmly convinced 

 that the bees will renew any comb that be- 

 comes too much reduced because of the co- 

 coons. In the comb I have just been dissect- 

 ing, the cells seemed to be lined with from 

 five to ten cocoons, approximately. I exam- 

 ined both dry comb and cooked, and thor- 

 oughly water-soaked comb, and in both cases 

 I could peel off the cocoons till I came to the 

 original wall. Five months' breeding in a 

 comb would mean 20 weeks — time for six 



broods to have hatched in it, leaving six co- 

 coons. Multiply this by 20 years, and you 

 can see at once that at a very conservative es- 

 timate there would accumulate at least 120 

 cocoons in at least a part of the cells in a 

 brood-nest center, which means that the di- 

 ameter of that cell is reduced by 240 thick- 

 nesses of cocoon. I know they are very thin, 

 but not so thin as to be invisible to the naked 

 eye, and must very materially reduce the size 

 of a cell if allowed to remain. Here is a job 

 for scientists who possess delicate tools. 



SPACING BROOD-COMBS. 



It seems that the majority now use 1^^ as 

 the distance from center to center. I under- 

 stand that the Root goods go out that way 

 unless otherwise ordered; and if so, that 

 means that a large per cent in use are so 

 spaced, even if no other manufacturers use 

 that distance. If loose hanging frames can be 

 a success, spaced 1 Sg, why can not self-spacing 

 frames with true combs be a success, spaced 

 even to 1 '4 ? 



1 have about 100 chaff hives built for 9 

 frames spaced lyi, the hive being 13 }i wide. 

 Practically, 9 frames in lo}4 inches is a trifle 

 less than 1 W spacing, because a trifle more 

 room is needed on the outside of the outer 

 combs, counting from centers, else the spac- 

 ing at these points would not be the same as 

 between two combs. Instead, however, of 

 using the 9 frames in the ].'>'^ inches, I have 

 culled out crooked combs, and, when not full 

 of honey, have crowded straight ones till I 

 have in either the tenth comb or a dummy. 

 Yes, I have even crowded a number till I have 

 in a dummy, made by nailing common shin- 

 gles on the outside of an ordinary ?jj-thick 

 frame, in a few instances iising two of these 

 thick dummies and eight combs. 



These dummies are not less than 1 '4 thick, 

 and a bee space of '4 or more behind them, 

 leaving 12 inches for 9 frames, just l',-incli 

 spacing. Some of the dummies are even 

 thicker than 1 '4 , and sometimes crowded in, 

 leaving quite a space behind them. By ac- 

 tual measurement by rule I found many 

 frames spaced not a bit over 1 '4 inches. For 

 several seas, ns I have in this way used many 

 of these hives spaced anywhere from less than 

 1 '4 to 1^. I spaced so closely for two or 

 more reasons. The frames are old-style ^x^/g 

 bars, cut from ordinary lumber. So long as 

 the combs were built in the center, and true, 

 and had brood only in them, they worked all 

 right. A brood-comb, when sealed, is from ^-s 

 to a plump inch in thickness; so, when occu- 

 pied by brood, the comb was fully as thick as 

 the top-bar was wide. 



Now, whenever honey was stored in these 

 combs the cells were lengthened until comb- 

 faces were usually not over '4 inch apart, thus 

 making the average thickness of the combs of 

 sealed honey 1 '4 inch thick, projecting y^ past 

 the top-bar on either side. If, however, a 

 comb filled with honey joined one with brood, 

 the honey-cells would be still more lengthen- 

 ed, until, with the 1 y^ spacing, the comb con- 

 taining honey would be 1 ^ inches thick, 

 making the honey-cells stand out flush from 



