February, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



97 



HEADS OF GRAIN 



FROM'm 



'^sM.- 



DIFFERENt FIELDS iP 



the foundation is put in and the horizontal 

 wires are imbedded. No. 3 is the empty 



FiR. No. 2. 



-After the horizontal wires liave been 

 imbedded. 



comb after the bees have drawn it out. 

 Doosn 't it look perfect? 



The foundation is fastened in the frames 



L 



irwiiiiiiLiLiuBBWWwwmwwi 



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Fig. No. 3. — After the bees have drawn out the 



comb, 

 with melted wax. That is what makes the 

 spots shown beside the top-bar. 



Brush, Colo. Daniel Danielsen. 



.s»= 



How to Get Rid of In the elimination of 

 Drone Comb. drones, I have observ- 



e d three principal 

 causes of the bees building drone comb at 

 the sides of the frames: 



(1) Whenever the foundation is not im- 

 bedded properly, but becomes separate from 

 the wire, the bees promptly cut it away, as 

 they will not allow a space between the wire 

 and the foundation. 



(2) Also drone comb results whenever the 

 foundation is imbedded too deep, so that 

 it is weakened. 



(3) Further, if foundation is given the 

 bees when no honey is coming in, they cut 

 below and above the wire, and thus gradu- 

 ally make holes. 



I overcame the excess of drone comb by 

 daubing a little hot wax over about two 

 inches of the two lower wires at the corners. 

 This covers the wires and braces the foun- 

 dation. I have used thousands of such 

 frames of foundation. My frames are wired 

 with five wires, and the lower wires daubed 

 with wax. Four wires are placed as in the 

 ordinary vfuy, and the fifth wire is half- 

 way between the upper two. This braces 

 the weakest part of the t-omb. 



Medina, O. J. E. Thompson. 



Louisiana a We have one of the 



GoodField. best States in the 



Union for honey pro- 

 duction on a large scale, but up to the pres- 

 ent time there are very few large producers 

 in the State. 



The lower portion of the State is our best 

 part. Here are hundreds of honey-producing 

 plants, including willow, tupelo gum, black 

 gum, red gum, white clover, persimmon, 

 scrub palmetto, maple, pepper vine, golden- 

 rod, heartsease, and late blooming thorough- 

 wort. Any of these plants are in abundance. 

 This flow of honey begins about the first of 

 February, and continues thru the season, un- 

 til killed by frost. I have just returned 

 from this district; and on the 10th of Decem- 

 ber found asters, goldenrod, mistflower, and 

 elderberry, all blooming. This district is 

 anywhere from Morgan City to Des Alle- 

 mands. La., on the Southern Pacific Ry., out 

 from New Orleans, and this particular terri- 

 tory extends north and south from here for 

 50 miles or more. One beekeeper in here 

 this season made 571 gallons of honey from 

 42 colonies, and another made 28 half-bar- 

 rels from 58 colonies. 



The only drawback is the Argentine ant, 

 which gives the beekeeper much trouble. 

 But there are ways of overcoming and con- 

 trolling this pest. E. C. Davis. 



Baton Rouge, La. 



QC 



A Scale House for A scale house should 

 Protecting Scales. have the following re- 

 quirements: (1) Suf- 

 ficient floor space for the scale; (2) sound 

 construction; (3) enough super room above; 

 (4) a suitable bee-entrance; (5) good venti- 

 lation; (6) a small opening for weighing 

 only; (7) easy access to the hive for manipu- 

 lations; (8) easy opening and closing of the 

 house, with little disturbance to the bees; 

 and (9) easy means of placing and removing 

 scale. 



The accompanying views show a scale 

 house which conforms to these requirements. 

 The frame work is of 2x4's, and the sides 



Frame work of scale house. 



