430 



GI.EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



[Well, now, friend Jones, I do not know 

 that I have any desire to try to convince you 

 that the Doolittle queen-cell cups are better 

 than the drone-cells, as so much depends on 

 what one is used to ; and while perhaps the 

 majority of queen-breeders in this country 

 use the Doolittle method, yet I find there is a 

 great variation in the use of that method. 

 One prominent queen-breeder tried to convince 

 our Mr. Wardell, our queen -breeder, that his 

 own method was better than Mr. Wardell's. 

 Said Mr. W., " Perhaps his method is better ; 

 but I Vnov^ just how to work my plan, and i 

 get good results. Now, please, Mr. Root, don't 

 ask me to try some new-fangled way that I am 

 not familiar with, and which might not work, 

 when I think my way is good enough, both as 

 to quality and quantity of queens." 



I stand corrected as to the matter of get- 

 ting drone-cells accepted in colonies having 

 queens ; and from what experience we have 

 had later, I am convinced that both the drone- 

 cells and the Doolittle cups can be used much 

 in the same way. But now that we are en- 

 abled to make Doolittle cups "by the peck," 

 and so easily, it strikes me that for conven- 

 ience the artificial cups are to be preferred to 

 those made out of drone -comb. But here 

 again I suspect you and I will not quite agree. 



As to royal jelly vs. larval food, our own ex- 

 perience is right in line with yours. 



Referring to the picture, I am a little afraid 

 some mistake has been made, for your de- 

 scription does not quite tally with the plate. 

 For instance, you ask us to observe " the top 

 row of queen- cells," when for the life of me I 

 can not see any queen cells there, although 

 there is a possibility they are all covered up 

 by the comb. I have gone back and looked 

 up the original photo, and find this plate was 

 taken from the photo you sent us at the time 

 you sent the manuscript. If you sent two pic- 

 tures, and one failed to arrive, then we shall 

 have to take your word for what you say. 



If there is any advantage in having cells 

 covered up with comb to protect them, it is a 

 very easy matter to have the Doolittle artifi- 

 cial cups covered the same way. All that is 

 necessary is to attach them to a piece of work- 

 er comb at regular intervals, and they will be 

 almost completely obscured, just as shown in 

 the bottom row at the left side of the cut. 

 You see, friend Jones, drone-cells have no ad- 

 vantage over the artificial cups ; and in one 

 important point they lack one important fea- 

 ture ; namely, that the cups can be made 

 heavy so as to stand rough usage. Our Doo- 

 little queen-cells can be shoved right bodily 

 into the face of almost any comb without dan- 

 ger of mashing or crushing, and this is a 

 matter of great convenience. 



Later. — Since writing the foregoing I have 

 had a talk with our Mr. Wardell, and I was 

 surprised to learn he has lately been trying 

 pieces of drone-comb, and more surprised that 

 he is inclining to the opinion that the drone- 

 comb method may be all right. But there is 

 the one point that the Doolittle cells are 

 stronger, larger, and look more like peanuts. 

 If plenty of room makes good queens, the 

 Doolittle cells offer that advantage. — Ed.] 



WHAT TO DO WITH SOILED COMBS. 



The Advantage of Hiving Swarms on Solid Combs 



of Honey; How to keep down Grass around 



Hives ; Belgian Hares, etc. 



BY F. GREINER. 



We had quite an experience a year ago with 

 soiled combs from colonies having died the 

 winter before, and very many bee-keepers are 

 more or less troubled with such combs every 

 year. The question then arises, " What is 

 the best use we can make of these combs? " 

 I have seen it recommended within a short 

 time to give them to young swarms. In my 

 experience I found that to be the worst use I 

 could put them to, and that in the face of the 

 fact that sometimes young swarms will select 

 for their home a hive that had been previous- 

 ly occupied by a colony, and is filled with 

 soiled combs of the very worst character. 

 Many a time have I hived swarms into hives 

 full of comb, and not very bad comb at that ; 

 but in by far the most cases the bees would 

 not stay, and could not be made to stay, not 

 even by caging their queen. With me the 

 bees seem to prefer to go back to their old 

 home minus a queen ; or if the queen was at 

 liberty the whole company would respectfully 

 bid me good-by. If one really wishes to util- 

 ize old combs for his young swarms, as good a 

 way as I know of is to first let them go 

 through a cleaning process on top of a good 

 strong colony ; and the more honey is stored 

 in them by that colony, the better the result 

 will be. It will nearly all be carried up into 

 the sections, or used up some way. A young 

 swarm hived on solid combs of honey will as- 

 tonish the owner in the amount of section 

 honey it will produce. A few soiled combs 

 may be given to a young swarm at a time, aft- 

 er the same is well established in a new home, 

 the same as is admissible or advisable in case 

 of old colonies. 



Grass and weeds around bee-hives and walks 

 may be effectually killed by a solution of sul- 

 phate of copper — one pound of the chemical 

 to one or two gallons of water. This mixture 

 is poured around hives, etc. I take this reci- 

 pe from the Xational Stockman and Farmer. 

 Carbolic acid, I find, also answers for this pur- 

 pose. I do not now remember how strong a 

 solution I used. I found it out accidentally. 



Tanbark is also being used for keeping down 

 any vegetable growth about hives and the bee- 

 yard. I first saw it recommended in the Am. 

 Agriculturist last summer. The picture of an 

 apiary was shown in the American Bee JoJir- 

 nal a short time ago which looked very neat. 

 The whole yard had been covered with the 

 bark, and the hives were placed thereon. 

 Where tanbark may be had, no doubt it could 

 be used in this fashion to good advantage, al- 

 though I should be a little afraid of fire. Salt 

 is also used for killing weeds around hives ; 

 but if any stock ever finds it out there will be 

 no end of trouble, and much mischief may be 

 done in a little time. I have had some un- 

 pleasant experience in that line. No more 

 salt on my — bee-yard. 



Colonies contracting the swarming fever at 



