DECEMBER 1, 1914 



9?9 



the frames, and they went rigiit to woik and 

 filled it. The comb-lioney super was put on 

 another colony, and the bees entered it at 

 once. 



There were other colonies nearly as bad 

 as this one, so you see it is necessary to run 

 them for extracted honey to get any thing 

 from them; and by having drawn combs 1 

 can som.etimes get some fall honey that 1 

 could not get otherwise. Then, too, a person 

 can sort out the combs having much drone 

 comb, and use them for extracting by using 

 them over a queen-excluder. 



Extracted honey does not seem to sell as 

 readily as comb honey. 



Bulk comb honey sells well, and provides 

 a good way to get rid of sections that are 

 light weight or have imperfect combs or 

 dark cappings. Comb badly stained with 

 ])ropolis will make the honey taste strong 

 and bitter. Be careful Avhat 3'ou pack if 

 you want to build up your trade. 



So far I have never been able to put 

 much over six pounds of comb honey into a 

 ten-pound pail; therefore I sell about four 

 pounds of extracted with every six of comb. 

 That is not such a bad way to sell extracted, 

 is it? 



I have never tried to sell bulk comb honey 

 outside of my own community, because the 

 home 1i-ade has taken it all; but I have had 

 people come fifteen miles to buy it, and 

 there were beekeepers in their neighborhood 

 too; but they said they did not like extract- 

 ed honey, and the honey in sections costs too 

 much. There was only a few cents a pound 

 difference between the bulk comb and that 

 in sections, but a cent looks pretty big to 

 some people. 



I have had considerable trouble with the 

 bees putting pollen in the comb honey in 

 frames. Can some one tell rs wl.at lo do 



Examining one of the tombs of a matiiig-hive. 



about it? I am using shallow extracting- 

 supers for it. 

 Brookville, Ind. 



[See that tl'.ere is room for pollen in the 

 b'ood-ehamber, and, if necessary, use an 

 c:ccluder under the super. — Ed.] 



BEES SECRETING BMIGHT YELLOW WAX 



BY P. E. WAUGH 



Although most observers are of the opin- 

 ion that bees at times secrete wax involun- 

 tarily, a nucleus which I kept during the 

 winter of 1914 has proved it to me so 

 conclusively that I thought it might be of 

 interest. This nucleus, because of the small 

 number of bees, early stopped brood-rear- 

 ing. They were on four combs two-thirds 

 full of fall honey, and I fed some syrup. 

 Notwithstanding the mild weather of fall 

 and early winter, these bees were in distress 

 before Jainiary and would all have died of 

 dvsentery had not some warm days come, 

 giving them a flight. After January I placed 



the hive on a screen and brought them in- 

 doors every time the temperature was below 

 freezing, setting them out again when the 

 weather was favorable. 



On a paper under the screen I noticed 

 wax scales; and upon examining the dead 

 bees that fell on the screen quite a number 

 of them had wax on their bodies. This was 

 repeated several times, so I have saved a 

 few of the bees with the scales attached — 

 also a few of the scales, which I am sending 

 you by this mail. These bees had no occa- 

 sion to build wax, even in the fall, having 

 more comb space than they could fill. 



