SEPTEMBER 1, 1914 



CO .MI! JIONKV I'liODUCED AND SOhU IN 

 SHALLOW FRAMES. 



The tirst picture shows the same y:u'd 

 during a heavy honey-flow. In this yard a 

 good deal of comb honey is i^rodueed in 

 shallow, unwired extraeting-frames, and 

 sold, frame and all, at 15 cts. per pound. 

 Usually a frame weighs about four pounds, 

 and 1 find this an extremely popular sort of 

 package for the local trade in comb honey. 

 Twenty-five cents is too much for the ordi- 

 nary purchaser to pay for a section of hon- 

 ey, if he has good sense. I doubt if many 

 beekeepers would eat much at that i^rice. 

 On our own table a single section lasts 



Part of F. L. Pollock's apiary buried under snow 

 in April. 



hardly long enough to see it, and I should 

 not like to have to supply the demand at 25 

 cents apiece. It is a certain fact, however, 

 that section honey cannot be profitably pro- 

 duced at a much lower price, in this country 

 at least, considering the number of unfin- 

 ished and No. 2 sections. By the use of the 

 shallow frames nearly as much comb honey 

 can be secured as of extracted, and they are 

 a good tiling for the . consumer and the 

 producer alike. 



I use either light brood or heavy super 

 foundation in these frames, and do not find 

 any perceptible midrib in either case. As a 

 general thing sectional hives are employed. 

 I get three stories full of brood and bees by 



673 



the opening of the honey-flow, raise up I he 

 top one, and put the super of foundation 

 under it, with an excluder underneath. The 

 bees will start almost at once, and a little 

 sooner if an empty comb is put in as a bait. 

 Such a comb also catches pollen. The upper 

 story or section of brood may be left, and 

 afterward extracted, or it may well be used 

 to make increase in ten days, on the Alex- 

 ander principle. Two of these sections will 

 make a strong colony for the fall flow. 



The scheme of cutting up combs to fit into 

 sections seems to have struck a good many 

 persons simultaneously. It dawned upon me 

 two years ago, and I was convinced that I 

 had liit upon the greatest apieultural dis- 

 covery of recent years. I did not, however, 

 contemplate putting sealed comb into the 

 sections, but getting the combs about half 

 drawn out in shallow frames first, and then 

 cutting them up. I tried this to a limited 

 extent, and it worked very well. I found 

 no trouble in getting the bees to fasten the 

 half-drawn combs solidly into the sections, 

 and they afterward fiUed and sealed them 

 perfectly. It is much easier to cut up the 

 combs when about i/4 inch deep on each side, 

 and put them in sections, than it is to put 

 foundation in the same sections; and I did 

 not find any thing to prevent the plan being 

 a success. I did not carry it any further 

 because I discovered that I could sell the 

 shallow frames full of sealed honey about as 

 well without cutting them up at all, and 

 could get nearly as much for them. But 

 where there is no market for comb honey in 

 bulk, I tliink it would pay to give most of 

 the sections filled with freshly drawn comb 

 instead of foundation, and it is not at all 

 difficult to manage this. If a little honey is 

 in the combs when they are cut up I tMnk 

 it causes the bees to set to work on them 

 more rapidly. I did not have any swarming 

 from colonies that were given section-supers 

 of drawn comb in this way, but there was 

 not much swarming that season anyhow. 

 Stouffville, Ontario. 



SOLID COMBS OF STORES VERSUS A WINTER NEST 



BY J. L. BYER 



During the first week of October, 1913, 

 the editor of Gleanings wrote to me, ask- 

 ing that I conduct some experiments in 

 outside wintering of bees. I surmised that 

 he wanted me to try out the solid combs of 

 sealed honey in some colonies, and in others 

 to leave them in the orthodox (or at least 

 common) way, viz., the outside combs fairly 

 well filled with honey, while the central 



combs would have but a rim of two or three 

 inches of honey over the top, and the rest of 

 the combs emj^ty for bees to cluster on in 

 cold weather. However, the notice came too 

 late to have any colonies in the latter condi- 

 tion, as at that time my feeding for the fall 

 was about all done. A number of colonies 

 were fed almost altogether on sugar syrup, 

 while at one yard in particular all weie 



