200 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 1 



Conversations with 

 Doolittle 



At Borodino 



USING OLD COMB FOUNDATION. 



"I am planning to get my sections ready 

 for the coming season, as my time is fully 

 occupied during the summer months. I 

 had intended to put the foundation in the 

 sections as folded and put in the supers, 

 ready to go on the hives when the honey 

 season opens, for when the busy season 

 comes I can not attend to every thing with- 

 out slighting something. Some think 

 that the bees, to do the best work, must 

 have the foundation almost new from the 

 machine. But I have several hundred sec- 

 tions filled with foundation left from last 

 year. Do you think it would be necessary 

 to cut out this foundation and replace it 

 with new?" 



"If it were more convenient I would put 

 foundation in sections and have it on the 

 hives in 24 hours after it left the mill. But 

 each apiarist would then be obliged to have 

 a mill, which is something many do not 

 care for. Not having a mill compels most 

 of us to order of a supply house or of some 

 one having a mill. Now, even if the one 

 we order of has the foundation on hand, 

 and sends it promptly, it is some time before 

 we can have it to put in the sections, espe- 

 cially if we ordered in quantity and had it 

 shipped by freight. In any event, founda- 

 tion from the mill to the hi\e in 24 hours is 

 practically out of the question. Some, 

 though they realize the difficulty connected 

 with this theory of using only fresh-from- 

 the-mill foundation, maintain that the fresh- 

 er it is the better. An old bee-keeper who 

 has used hundreds of pounds of section 

 foundation admits that, although he be- 

 lieves it makes a slight difference to have it 

 fresh from the mill, he himself, as a matter 

 of convenience, puts it in at any time dur- 

 ing the w inter and spring. The experiments 

 I have made during the years which have 

 passed since I began to use thin foundation 

 in the sections have convinced me that 

 foundation five or even ten j ears old is just 

 as good as when it first came from the mill, 

 if it has not been on the hives during the 

 latter part of the season through a period of 

 scarcity If sections are left on the hives 

 after the harvest, and propolis enough is 

 gathered so that the unused foundation is 

 varnished over, this propolis painted foun- 

 dation should be cut out of the sections, 

 melted, and replaced by fresh." 



"But the claim is made that foundation 

 gets old and hard so the bees can not work 

 it to good advantage." 



"foundation on cold wintry days does 

 seem that way; but on a hot summer day in 

 the upper room of the building where your 

 furnished supers are stored away (some of 

 which may have been there as long as five 

 years) the foundation in the sections is soft 



and pliable, and handles as easily as if fresh 

 from the mill. An attic on a warm day 

 will be at about the same temperature as 

 the inside of a cluster of bees during the 

 working season, and the foundation will 

 not appear at all as it does in winter. Any 

 foundation, in a heat of from 95 to 100 de- 

 grees Fahr. has a yellow, oily appearance. 

 You will not be able to detect any difference 

 between the old and new under such a tem- 

 perature. Fresh from the mill, foundation, 

 if taken into a cold room, will assume a 

 whitish, hard appearance. If on some very 

 cool day in June, a frame of old foundation 

 is lowered into the center of the brood-nest, 

 left for five minutes, then compared with 

 that fresh from the mill, it will be seen that 

 the old and new have become alike. Leave 

 the old for two hours, and if it is at a time 

 the bees will work any foundation they will 

 begin as quickly as if it had bten fresh from 

 the mill. When bees cluster on foundation 

 during a honey-flow, the temperature with- 

 in that cluster is brought up to from 92 to 

 98 degrees, rendering both old and new 

 foundation alike, soft and pliable. Under 

 these condiiions no one can tell the new 

 from the old, unless marked in some way. 



"All the foundation used in both sections 

 and broud-frames in my apiaries during the 

 past twenty years has been placed in those 

 sections and frames during December, Jan- 

 uary, February, and March, and both the 

 supers of sections and hives of frames so 

 filled are stored away ready for use when 

 needed. This matter of old foundation not 

 being as good as new is like many another 

 theory advanced without due consideration. 

 Once started, it keeps on its rounds, until 

 multitudes think it must be a fact." 



The Bee-veil. 



BY KATE LOWE GRAHAM. 



O bee! I can hear your loud humming; 



I want to get close to you, dear; 

 But the sting in your tail keeps me fussing — 



The tale ol a sting is what I much fear. 



The little gold bands on your back, dear. 

 Your eyes in such crowds on your head, 



And those lively antennae so black, dear, 

 Are so nice — but the sting's what I dread. 



The baskets you wear on your thighs, dear, 



Are big, and so goldenly packed; 

 And your wings are as fine as y< ur eyes, dear. 



And the honey's so perfectly sacked. 



When you're sailing up close to the hive, dear, 

 And the landing's not easy to make. 



It's fun to see just how you dive, dear — 

 Like an air-ship not sure of its brake. 



Now the cactus and greasewood are blooming. 

 And the sun's steering northward again; 



You are working all day till the gloaming- 

 Each one of you working like ten. 



I've seen you dive down in the lilies; 



I've seen you sail off on the wing; 

 But I am not going to be one of the sillies. 



Walking around with a terrible sting. 



That's why I sit on the fence, dear, 

 And watch you flock up from the place 



Where pricklies and gold-balls are dense, dear. 

 With this funny bee-veil on my face. 



Socorro, Mexico. 



