262 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 1. 



The so called Florida freeze has not aflFected 

 this island at all, though a stiflF wind from the 

 northwest blew for 48 hours, dropping the 

 mercury down to 52, while at Jacksonville it 

 was 16, and Tampa 2t5. The natives tell me 

 that ice half an inch thick was formed here in 

 1856. 



American bee-keepers will never succeed 

 here while the natives carry it on in a slipshod 

 way by using log gums open at both ends. 

 When a swarm is hived in one of those logs 

 it takes up its abode in the center of the log, 

 and builds its comb at one end ; and when 

 this is full the native smokes them to the other 

 end, and in that way the queen is supplied 

 with new comb every three months. While 

 the log is open on both ends the foul brood 

 can not overtake it as in an American hive, 

 where the queen makes her home on eight or 

 ten combs at all times. 



I have tried to cure the disease, both with 

 medicine and by transferring, but have made 

 a failure so far. Probably some of our foul- 

 brood doctors will give me some light on this 

 question, as I have not read any bee-periodi- 

 cals since 1897. 



A crack shot puts the question thus : 



How far should one lead a cross-flying quail 

 if the gnn is swung as rapidly as the bird is 

 flying, and the shooter is reasonably quick on 

 the trigger ? A Canadian apiarist once asked 

 me how far one should lead a cross- flying foul- 

 broody swarm with a McEvoy hot-blast smok- 

 er. 



Santa Cataline, Cuba, Mar. 3. 



[This seems to be quite in line with the pre- 

 vious article by Mr. Harry Howe ; and it 

 would look as if for the present, at least, Amer- 

 ican bee-keepers had better keep off the island 

 until conditions are materially improved. — 

 Ed.] 



SOMETHING ABOUT USING EMPTY COMBS. 



COMBS VS. FULL SHEETS OF KOUN- 



DATION. 



" Good morning, Mr. Doolittle. I came over 

 to have a little talk with you about combs. 

 Can you give me some idea in regard to them, 

 how to use to the best advantage, etc., as I am 

 a beginner in bee-keeping? Did you have all 

 the combs you desired at first ? " 



" Glad you called, Mr. N. When I first be- 

 gan keeping bees there was no such thing as 

 comb foundation, hence whatever comb we 

 had had to be built from the start by the bees. 

 My bees at that time would persist in building 

 more or less drone comb, which I would not 

 tolerate in the hives to any extent beyond a 

 piece as large as the hand, therefore I was 

 short of combs, and was often obliged to work 

 colonies for comb honey with as few as six 

 Gallup frames in a hive." 



" How many do you now use ? " 



"Nine. But in those days it was thought 

 that a hive should contain at least 2000 cubic 

 inches in the brood-apartment in order that 

 the best success might be had." 



" What success did you have ? " 



" My bees increased so fast, which, with my 

 determination to allow little drone comb in the 

 hive, kept me for years so I did not average 

 seven Gallup frames to the hive, this being less 

 than one frame more than half required to fill 

 a hive of 2000 cubic inches ; and tor this rea- 

 son I was compelled to lay the foundation for 

 what is now known as " the contraction sys- 

 tem." The success obtained by the use of 

 these few all-worker combs led me to give the 

 matter in print, and from such beginnings we 

 have the contraction system of to-day, prac- 

 ticed by many bee-keepers who hive their 

 swarms in a brood-chamber containing only 

 about half the comb space of those used by our 

 fathers." 



" How did you manage this comb-building 

 matter? " 



" As I wished to make the most of my bees, 

 they were allowed to build comb in the brood- 

 apartment of the hive till the yield of honey 

 came on plentifully, at which time the sec- 

 tions were put on, after shutting the bees, by 

 means of division-boards or dummies, on to as 

 many combs as they had completed up to that 

 time. Thus, in 1874 and '5 I obtained an av- 

 erage of over 100 pounds of box honey in each 

 of the two years, per colony." 



" What did you do with the drone comb you 

 took away ? " 



"The drone comb was taken away before 

 any bees had matured in the cells ; and in 

 this way I obtained my starters for the sec- 

 tions, filling some of the sections entirely full 

 where I had enough of such nice white drone 

 comb to do so." 



"And you used these filled sections as 

 ' baits,' did you not ? " 



" You have guessed it exactly ; for these fill- 

 ed sections were placed in the center tier of 

 sections for each hive, and in this way the bees 

 were coaxed into the sections much sooner 

 than they otherwise would have en tered them . ' ' 



" What did you do where frames were part- 

 ly filled with both worker and drone comb? " 



" Where frames were partly filled with drone 

 and partly wdth worker comb, I bought up all 

 the nice clean worker comb which I could 

 find, from parties that killed their bees in the 

 fall for honey, and from those which died dur- 

 ing winter, often paying as much as 25 to 30 

 cents per pound for it ; and, after cutting out 

 the drone comb from my frames, I fitted work- 

 er in its place, thus preventing the bees from 

 filling the same space again with drone. Aft- 

 er this, if any I had bought was left, I fitted it 

 in frames for use where most needed, often us- 

 ing pieces not more than four inches square, 

 soldering them together, and holding them in 

 place in the frames, with melted beeswax, till 

 the bees fastened all securely together." 



"Do you think such a plan would pay at 

 this time?" 



"In these days of comb foundation it is 

 doubtful whether it would pay to fuss with 



