1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1007 



ONE OF THE ROPED-OFF IN CLOSURES (AFTER THE CROWD LEFT) AT OUR 



JENKINTOWN YARD. THE ONE HERE SHOWN WAS USED BY 



GRANT STANLEY. 



have attempted to get the bees to build comb 

 and store honey where they do not like to. 

 Bees like to store honey by the side of and 

 near their brood 



Bat right here I hear some one say, " There 

 are difficulties which arise with the use of 

 brood." 



Yes. that is all true; but all these difficul- 

 ties can be, and are, turned to our favo — 



1. By the use of drone comb in the sections 

 the exclusion of pollen is effected; and, 2, by 

 the use of frames of foundation in securing 

 orood to be used with the comb-honey at- 

 tachment, you avoid darkened combs in the 

 sections. In this you have eliminated the 

 two great difficulties; viz.. soiling of the 

 comb honey by dark combs of brood, and ex- 

 cluded the pollen from sections, and also 

 gained a point; for when bees are strong 

 ihey like to build drone comb when honey id 

 coming in. This gives the bees a chance to 

 build just what they like to, and serves to 

 keep them more contented— a factor too oft- 

 en overlooked in control of swarming. 



Thus by having all worker comb below the 

 excluder, and drone comb in the sections, 

 you have excluded the pollen, made your 

 oees take to the super more readily, and 

 this goes a long way toward getting more 

 honey, and, consequently, more money. 



Mr. L. A. Aspinwall, in the Bee-keepers' 

 Review for March, 1906, has truly said that, 

 "In prevention of swarming we must pre- 

 vent a development of the factors which in- 

 duce it. These hinge mainly on a crowded 

 condition of the colony. This condition re- 

 sults in the clogging of the brood-apartment 

 with honey, and impeding the queen in her 

 work of laying." Mr. Aspinwall relieves 

 this condition largely by the use of slatted 

 frames and plenty of room. This will in 

 most cases prevent swarming; but I prefer 

 to accomplish this same result in a more 



practical way and at less expense. Instead 

 of using slatted frames for the bees to clus- 

 ter in I induce them to enter the super and 

 spend their time in drawing out comb. In 

 this way I have accomplished a double object 

 as you will notice, by the use of what I call 

 a "comb-honey attachment." 



With brood by the side of the sections, the 

 nurse-bees and comb-builders, which are the 

 young and hatching bees, are drawn into the 

 super by the most powerful inducement, and 

 they are kept there busy building comb. 

 This is one way in which the shook- swarm 

 system fails. They have to take bees, that 

 otherwise would be gathering honey, to do 

 the work of comb-building and nursing. 



By using two queens until the flow begins, 

 and only one after, we have less brood rear- 

 ed through the flow; still, there is enough 

 hatching all the while to furnish nurse- bees 

 and comb builders, so that, just as soon as 

 the bees are old enough, they are at liberty 

 to enter the field for honey. On the other 

 hand, comb is constructed so rapidly, where 

 full sheets of foundation are used in the sec- 

 tions, that the same amount of honey is pro- 

 duced as would be if the hive were run ex- 

 clusively for extracted; yet from 50 to 75 

 per cent is comb and therefore brings a much 

 higher price. 



BEE-KEEPING IN CALIFORNIA. 



Some of the Sources of the Light and Dark 

 Honey. 



BY FRANCIS J. COLAHAN. 



Perhaps it may be of interest to your read- 

 ers to know something in regard to the con- 

 ditions here in this section. As all know, 

 the main crop and the best is sage, black 

 and white; but there is as much honey gath- 



