1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



571 



producers). The first flow that shows up in 

 our sections will be that lovely red raspberry 

 — rarely enough of it to more than color the 

 center ; then white and alsike clover and bass- 

 wood. We are not put out by having a large 

 lot of half-finished sections at this stage of 

 the game, for we confidently expect all such 

 to be finished with a rich border of buckwheat 

 honey, making our '"Fancy Mixed" brand, 

 which commands as high a price as the 

 " Fancy White." We can spread out as mucu 

 as we like in the early part of the season, re- 

 serving our caution for August 20. 



R. — But, see here, Niver. The honey that 

 I saw at Morton's would grade higher than 

 the middle box you are talking about. 



N. — But, brother Root, you must remember 

 that Morton did not work for Morton's pocket- 

 book emiiely, but he worked to obtain the 

 highest results possible, as an artist; and you 

 know how freely he gave the results of his 

 experiments to the fraternity. Ttie pocket- 

 book was with him a secondary matter ; and 

 his motto was, "The bet>t is none too good." 



R.- — Tuen he did not lun to fatten his 

 pocketbook, but to benefit his customtrs. 



N. — It was a pride with him to get the very 

 best possible results, and the box at the right 

 was what he aimed for all the while. Another 

 thing, the retailer finds it much easier to sell 

 the middle box at 10 than the right-hand one 

 at 15. 



Concluded in next issue. 



DROXE-CELLS VS. D00L1TTLE CUPS. 



The Barber Method of Producing Comb Houey. 

 BY W. C. GATHRIGHT. 



I was intending to keep still; but when you 

 say, on page 458, in regard to raising cells in 

 a hive containing a laying queen, that " with- 

 out artificial cups nothing could be done," I 

 can not keep quiet any longer. I have been 

 raising cells by the Doolittle plan for three 

 years, in upper and lower stories, with the 

 laying queen in the hive all the time. I have 

 not made an artificial cell for two years, and 

 would not think of going back to that plan. 

 I use strips of drone comb with the cells cut 

 down half depth, and place a larva in every 

 other cell. This gives room to cut them apart. 

 I often get every cell accepted, and as many 

 as 22, though I destroy all but about 12 or 15. 

 I make a frame with top-bar and ends only % 

 inch wide, and do not put on a bottom-bar, 

 but put in a bar about Y% square, half way 

 between the bottom and top. This middle 

 bar is to fasten the strips of drone comb to. 



I next cut my drone comb in strips about y% 

 wide and 4 inches long. I use three pieces 

 for each frame. To fasten them to the bar I 

 use melted wax. I dip each piece into the 

 wax, first letting the edge of one side touch 

 the wax, when it is placed on the bar, and it 

 is fixed perfectly solid in a moment. I can 

 fasten a strip of drone comb in the same time 

 it would take to fasten one artificial cup. 

 This, I believe, is the same plan given by H. 



L. Jones, of Australia, some time ago in 

 Gleanings. 



As stated above, I have used this plan for 

 two years, and with perfect success at all 

 times, from early spring till late in the fall. 

 Before I began using the strips of drone comb 

 I used the artificial cups; but I have been 

 much more successful with the drone comb 

 than with the cups, and it is so much less 

 trouble to prepare the strips of comb that I 

 would not think of fussing with cell-cups. 



It seems the Barber plan of using shallow 

 frames in comb honey, supers to get the bees 

 started working above, is gaining favor rapid- 

 ly. No doubt many were working along the 

 same line at the same time. In an article in 

 the Progressive Bee-keeper for Jan. 1, 1898, 

 I recommended this plan of getting the bees 

 started above; also in Gleanings, Nov. 1, 

 1898, I recommended this plan to Dr. Miller 

 (see his comments in that number). 



My experience in using bait sections is the 

 same as Mrs. Barber described in June 15th 

 Gleanings. If the season is poor they fill 

 the baits and leave the other sections untouch- 

 ed. 



This season I filled supers full of drawn 

 comb the same as I had been using as baits 

 before. I do not practice using the shallow 

 frames above sections. I can use them another 

 way, which is more profitable to me. After 

 they are partly filled, and the queen has filled 

 a few of the central combs with brood, they 

 are taken off and placed on those not yet 

 strong enough to work in supers. I thus keep 

 on till all are strong and working above. 

 When the supers are taken off and the hon- 

 ey extracted, the combs are put away until 

 the fall flow of dark honey, when they are 

 put on the hive again in place of the section 

 supers. 



There is one point just mentioned by Mr. 

 Louis Scholl (page 431) that needs more em- 

 phasis. When a set of shallow frames are 

 placed on the colony just before the flow, the 

 queen will occupy all the cells below, clear 

 up to the top-bar ; whereas, if no combs were 

 given them above there will be \ l / 2 to 2 inches 

 of honey stored between the top-bar and the 

 brood, which is the case every time, in this 

 locality at least. It is the point so often em- 

 phasized by Mr. Doolittle, that, if the bees 

 once get to storing below, it is hard to get 

 them into the notion to go above; and, by the 

 way, this seems to be the strongest point 

 against deep frames for comb honey. 



Dona Ana, N. M , June 23. 



[If you have a method by which you are 

 getting drone-cells, as you describe, started 

 into queen-ce\\s, in a single-story colony hav- 

 ing a good fertile queen, you have done what 

 no other queen-breeder has accomplished here- 

 tofore. H. L. Jones, J. D. Fooshe, and others 

 who use drone-cells in lieu of queen-cups, are 

 obliged to put these strips of drone comb first 

 into a queen/ess colony to get them started; 

 then when " once started " they can be trans- 

 ferred to colonies having fertile queens. 



Well, now, if 'you are obliged to put these 

 drone cells into queenless colonies to get them 



