JANUARY 15, 1916 



53 



CONVERSATIONS with DOOLITTLE 



At Borodino, New York. 



PRESERVING FRAMES OF COMB. 



" Having sold quite a share of 

 my bees I have on hand more 

 combs than I am liable to use be- 

 fore Augaist, 1916. I feel that it 

 would be better to preserve these 

 combs than to melt them for wax 

 and then buy foundation to replace them 

 when I want combs again, as most of them 

 are nice and straight. But during the 

 spring and summer months I have had poor 

 success in keeping such combs from the 

 lain'a of the wax-moth. How may this dif- 

 ficulty be overcome?" 



Straight all-worker comb, built true in 

 frames, is of greater value bj' far than the 

 wax will bring which can be gotten from 

 them, to say nothing about the cost of ren- 

 dering. Experienced beekeepers think it 

 very profitable to purchase comb founda- 

 tion at the rate of ten cents for enough to 

 fill a Langstroth frame, besides the cost of 

 transporting it and the labor of putting it 

 into the frames. So I have considered such 

 L. frames of comb worth at least twelve 

 cents each. But the wax that can be gotten 

 from such a comb will not bring, as a rule, 

 more than five or six cents. Therefore I 

 have always made it a point to preserve all 

 the spare combs I had for future use. 



Combs on which the beej die during win- 

 ter and early spring can be kept by placing 

 them over strong colonies during the latter 

 part of May and June, s that the bees, but 

 not the cjueen, can have access to them. In 

 this way they can be kept for any increase 

 that may be desired, and used for colonies 

 set apart for extracted honey. This plan 

 has also an advantage by way of keeping 

 down the swarming fever liable to occur 

 with strong colonies too early, and will 

 more often than otherwise stop all swarm- 

 ing entirely, if these combs are allowed to 

 remain till the surplus flow of nectar from 

 clover is fully begTin and the sections on. 



Another effective way is to hang the 

 combs up to the light and air with a space 

 of IY2 to 2 inches between them. For con- 

 venience in practicing this plan, when I 

 built my shop and honey-room I placed the 

 joists overhead so as to admit the top-bar 

 of a frame crosswise, then by nailing com- 

 mon lath near the lower edge of neighbor- 

 ing joists, each space made a convenient 

 place for keeping all frames of comb not 

 occupied by tlie bees, the ends of the top- 

 bars or arms resting on the lath. However, 

 with combs not toughened with the cocoons 



of many generations of brood, or where the 

 brood has not reached parts of the comb 

 near the upper corners of the frames, the 

 light seems to have a deteriorating effect 

 upon the wax, causing it to become brittle 

 and crumble when thus left more than a 

 season or two. 



Where it is desired to keep combs for an 

 indefinite period I have found the following 

 to be the best way : Exposed to cold in 

 which the mercury touches zero or below, 

 everything of the wax-moth nature has to 

 succumb and die. Therefore, if the mature 

 female moth can be kept from such combs 

 ever afterward they will be in perfect con- 

 dition, even should ten or fifteen years 

 elapse. After the combs have been thus 

 frozen, lay two thicknesses of newspaper 

 upon a level and out-of-the-way place on 

 the floor of any building, setting a hive of 

 these combs thereon ; and after covering the 

 hive with two thicknesses of the paper, put 

 another hive of combs covered with paper 

 on that, and so continue the operation until 

 the pile is of the desired height, when the 

 top hive should be protected with paper 

 and a close-fitting coyer. As these combs 

 are packed close together and so tightly 

 enclosed, they must be reasonably dry, and 

 put away only in a dry place. 



It is important, also, that they be not 

 allowed to stay in any place after the zero 

 freezing (and warm weather comes on be- 

 fore they are packed) where the millers 

 have an opportunity to deposit their eggs 

 on them. As all of our older beekeepers 

 know, the female moth or miller which pro- 

 duces the eggs from which the larvas hatch 

 is furnished with a long ovipositor which 

 she can insert in almost any crack or small 

 opening — something which she can very 

 easily find between almost any two hives 

 which have been used for a little when one 

 is set upon another. I would not say that 

 these twa thicknesses of paper close every 

 crack or cranny, but for some reason the 

 miller seems to shun them. 



Whether the paper is repulsive, or be- 

 cause the paper extending outward from 

 the hives all around two inches or so does 

 not allow her to take a position to use her 

 ovipositor, thin paper seems proof against 

 her eggs. Tarred roofing-paper might be 

 a certain insurance that, should there be 

 any warping, or from any other unforeseen 

 cause, worms should get in any one hive, 

 they would be impeded from spreading to 

 other hives in either direction. 



