MAY 15, 1914 



Part of this is due to faulty hives and part 

 to careless spacing, though the self -spacing- 

 frames have largely overcome the latter. 

 But it is of the quality of the combs that I 

 am more particularly to write. 



The standard L. frame of commerce has 

 an area within bars of approximately 132 

 square inches, which, if filled wth worker 

 cells, would contain approximately 6600 

 cells on the two surfaces. If we accept as a 

 working hypothesis the figure of 3000 eggs 

 in 24 hours as a queen's capacity, then one 

 such comb will take two days' egg's, and 10 

 such combs (66,000 cells) will just do her 

 for the 20 days and a fraction necessary 

 for one cycle of brood. 



But relatively very few " L " combs con- 

 tain any such brood-cell area, either worker 

 or drone, and very many contain a waste- 

 fully high per cent of drone. To illustrate 

 these points I append photographs showing 

 perfect, good, medium, and poor combs. In 

 speaking of areas in what follows, I shall 

 refer to one surface only. The good comb 

 shown in No. 1 is nearly perfect. Inciden- 

 tally I will say that I have hundreds as 

 good or better. It not only costs no more 

 to produce such combs, but it actually costs 

 one less to produce them than it does other 

 beekeepers to obtain poorer ones. 



Com.b No. 2 will be classed by most bee- 

 keepers as perfect, as almost the best they 

 can ask for. It is a good comb, but it is not 

 well fastened in, and there are nearly 30 

 square inches of waste space within the 

 frame. Part of such is in the unfilled space 

 next to the bottom and end bars, and part 

 is in the shortened cells comprising the 

 rounded edges of the comb. Under right 

 conditions the space at the ends will be 

 built in. 



Comb No. 3 will pass for good by many. 

 It is straight, firmly attached, fills the frame 

 better than No. 2, but has about 20 square 

 inches of stretched cells and drone comb, 

 besides the short cells at the bottom edge, 

 and the space next to the bottom-bar. All 

 together it has only about 86 square inches 

 of surface available for worker brood. Ten 

 such combs are equal to little more than six 

 like No. 1. 



Comb No. 4 will be called poor by almost 

 any one, yet the inspector finds- many such, 

 and many even worse, as he goes his rounds. 

 It would take forty combs like that to equal 

 No. 1 for worker-brood production. 



Combs No. 1 and 2 are profitable to use; 

 and if it were not easy to have combs like 

 No. 1 then No. 2 would be almost good 

 enough. But you may ask, " Why aren't 

 they, any way? " Well, I never throw such 



away, you may be sure, but I am taking 

 pains to get No. 1 type now. 



Ten combs like No. 1 and 2, with a good 

 queen and proper conditions, will furnish a 

 beekeeper with a rousing colony. Ten combs 

 like No. 3 and 4 will not. At best they have 

 many per cent less available worker-brood 

 area; and not only that, they contain an 

 excess of drone comb, besides having stretch- 

 ed cells near the top-bar which will be filled 

 with honey which should be in the supers. 

 You hear of men advocating twelve-frame 

 hives, two eight-frame or two ten-frame 

 bodies for one brood-chamber. Exanaine 

 their hives and you will, in most cases, find 

 their combs are many per cent below what 

 they should be. In other words, they are 

 using double equipment in bodies, frames, 

 and comb, or buying wide or deep hives at 

 special prices, merely to get what they 

 should and could have by proper attention 

 to the production of their combs at the 

 start. 



Invested capital is too often lost sight of 

 in the efforts to get results by manipulation 

 of one kind or another. Do you hear the 

 man who is talking two bodies for a brood- 

 chamber mention that one body with combs 

 represents a flat cost (without labor) of 

 about $1.60, and that to get his desired 

 results he proposes to invest $3.20 for each 

 colony? He does not figure it that way. 

 Those figures are based on his using full 

 sheets of foundation in the ordinary way; 

 and if his combs are of the average from 

 full sheets, his two chambers will give more 

 room than is needed. 



If he chances to have tried to economize 

 by using startere or half-sheets his double 

 story may give him plenty of workers, but 

 it will also give him a horde of costly drones. 

 I know one extensive beekeeper who, to 

 economize, makes his own foundation, say- 

 ing he cannot afford to sell his wax for 30 

 cents and buy foundation at 60 cents. He 

 makes six L. sheets of foundation from a 

 pound of wax, and then economizes( ?) still 

 further by using but half a sheet in a frame. 

 His combs are only about 60 per cent effi- 

 cient on a worker-producing basis. His 

 foundation costs him five cents a sheet for 

 wax; labor, he says, is nothing, for other- 

 wise he would be idle in the winter. I buy 

 foundation from the manufacturer at five 

 cents a sheet, and have no labor in making, 

 and get a better product than the man re- 

 ferred to. Who is the better off? 



I use full sheets in nine of each ten 

 frames, and a half-depth sheet in the tenth. 

 I get the combs shown in No. 1 in nine 

 frames, while the tenth is half drone. Why 



