1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



45 



hives are queenless. Hives having old combs 

 will be more likely to produce whiter combs 

 with a laying queen than without, especially 

 if the colony is quite populous. Of course, 

 when honey is abundant the combs will be 

 capped whiter, as bees appear to dislike to 

 change honey into wax when it is coining in 

 slowly, and will "rake and scrape," as the 

 saying is, to get wax with which to seal their 

 nearly finished combs, and do not object to 

 brood - cappings or small chips of old wax 

 from the brood-chamber, or yellow foundation 

 wax, or even a little propolis or bits of cloth, 

 for tbis purpose. 



I believe bees will make wax and weld it 

 into comb faster when they can cluster to- 

 gether in large numbers than when compelled 

 to cluster in small bodies ; hence, the larger 

 our receptacle the whiter our combs, other 

 things being equal. The value of the open 

 fence for separator conies in here ; for, while 

 the combs are built between slats of wood, in 

 small receptacles, yet the partition is so open 

 that the bees can cluster in a whole row, and 

 can communicate with each other almost as 

 freely as though there were no fence between. 

 The past season I had 2000 or more plain sec- 

 tions that were filled between fences, and I 

 know it would not require an expert to see 

 that they would average whiter than those 

 built between solid separators. I believe the 

 fence may be safely recommended as being 

 helpful in procuring the whitest combs. 



Without doubt a young queen would be 

 useful, as the bees would be more likely to use 

 the bits of soiled wax they might find in the 

 brood-nest for sealing up the brood than to 

 carry it above for use in surplus combs. Of 

 course, combs should be removed from the 

 hive as soon as possible after they are finished, 

 to prevent dark wax being added to the cap- 

 pings. 



Conditions may vary in different sections of 

 the country. I have written what seem to be 

 the facts in these parts. If others will study 

 this subject in other sections we may be able 

 to establish rules that may be very helpful to 

 us all. 



Of the photographs I send you, one is a 

 brood-comb from a hive with new foundation 

 in which a strong colony of bees was placed 



X*X*^5r%^. 



early in July. Evidently the queen was in 

 some way lost, as no brood was reared. It 

 was broken up in November, the combs show- 

 ing very little or no travel-stain, after being 

 four months in a populous hive. 



The photo of a section shows a case of what 

 I suppose to be the so-called travel stain, but 

 not an exaggerated case. The stain was slight, 



but quite apparent. The piece of comb shows 

 stains in center of comb instead of cappings. 

 Middlebury, Vt., Nov. 26. 



[When Mr. Crane was in Medina recently 

 we talked a good deal about this matter of the 

 so-called travel-stained honey. I confess that 

 I myself had believed that discoloration was 

 due to dirt that the bees had carried in on 

 their feet. Of course, I was aware of the fact, 

 as all bee-keepers have been, that comb honey 

 produced next to an old brood-comb is quite 

 liable to be discolored ; but I was under the 

 impression that this discoloration was alto- 

 gether different in character from that of the 

 ordinary travel-stain, so called. 



After writing the article Mr. Crane looked 

 over considerable of our honey, with the re- 

 sult that his convictions were, as set forth 

 above, confirmed. Indeed, he showed me the 

 cappings that he had taken from several boxes 

 that showed the discoloration going clear 

 through. 



This year there has been more travel-stainc d 

 honey on the market than usual, owing, no 

 doubt, to the poorness and lateness of the sea- 

 son. In fact, nearly all the honey we have 

 purchased has been rather off in color, al- 

 though the flavor was good. 



There may be some wiseacres in our profes- 

 sion who knew all these facts before ; but I 

 am sure that at least a general impression has 

 prevailed that the bees had a fashion of run- 

 ning through their supers with soiled feet, and 

 that it was not wise to leave honey on the hive 

 for too great a length of time. 



I have often wished myself that we could 

 leave our comb honey on the hive a little 

 longer, and have been in the habit of leaving 

 that for our own home consumption on the 

 hives longer ; and it is a fact past gainsaying 

 that the honey so left acquires a richer flavor. 

 I can not now remember particularly whether 

 the honey that I had reserved in this way for 

 our own use had darker cappings ; but if Mr. 

 Crane's theory is correct, the off color, if any, 

 would not be due to the prolongation of the 

 time the honey was on the hive. — Ed] 



"DOOLITTLE'S LATEST FEAT IN QUEEN-REAR- 

 ING." 



Doolittle's Method of Queen-rearing, in a Nut-shell. 

 BY G. M. DOOMTTXE. 



Before me lies the following letter : " I read 

 in November 15th Gleanings Doolittle's latest 

 feats in queen-rearing. I have his book on 

 queen-rearing, 1889 edition. Has he any im- 

 provement over plans there suggested ? I 

 practice many of his plans ; but my experi- 

 ence nine years ago, in rearing queens in hives 

 containing queens, was not very satisfactory. 

 I want the latest. R. Wilkin. 



"Newhall, Cal., Nov. 30, 1898." 



The above is a letter written to The A. I. 

 Root Company, and forwarded to me to 

 ' ' draw me out, ' ' as there seems to be a thought 

 on the part of many that Doolittle is not now 



