1184 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



snow in the alleyways between the rows of 

 bees." 



To he continued. 



THE FERRIS SYSTEM OF PRODUCING 



COMB HONEY. AND SWARM 



CONTROL, 



A Cheaper Comb-honey Device. 



BY A. K. FERRIS. 



Before eonelnding this series of articles on 

 the two-queen system I wish to call attention 

 to two other comb-honey attachments. The 

 wire-cloth attachment is expensive and diffi- 

 cult of mamifaeture, and, therefore, high in 

 price; yet. taking this all into consideration, 

 it is much cheaper than the common single- 

 depth super. 



In Fig. 21 we have illustrated the comb- 

 honey attachment as described before, but 

 using glued wood separators. The slats, \ 

 inch wide, are separated a bee-space apart. 

 This still retains the four-mesh-to-the-inch 

 wire cloth on the sides next to the brood 

 where the greatest tendency to bulging oc- 

 cui's, and also retains the greatest possible 

 comb-building influence ol)tained from the 

 comb of brood. In Fig. 32 we have a still 

 cheaper form of attachment taking glued 

 wood separators and outside slats \ inch 

 wide, separated by a bee-space. This makes 

 an exceedingly cheap comb-honey device: 

 and, ))eing mostly glued, is very easily and 

 quickly made. In most cases this will do as 

 Avell as the wire-cloth attachment: but where 

 you have a market for extra- fancy honey this 

 can be produced better by the use of the wire- 

 cloth attachment. The all-wire-cloth device 

 costs more, and is the thing for the man who 

 is willing to put forth a little effort in order 



FIG. 21. 



to produce the fanciest of fancy comb hon- 

 ey, and the largest amount of it. But with 

 the average bee-keeper the cheaper form is 

 the one to use. 



A point I wish to emphasize is that the at- 

 tachment should not be given till the flow is 

 on, as there is more of a tendency to travel- 

 stain where brood is used in connection with 

 comb honey, either above or by the side of 

 it. But by a little care this difficulty is en- 



tirely overcome; for with the two-queen sys- 

 tem the colonies are so large and strong that, 

 with any kind of flow at all, it is only a very 

 few days before every thing is full, and 

 ready to be either tiered iip or removed al- 

 together — at least that is my experience. 



CONCLUSION. 



Let us now take a backward glance and 

 see what is really accomplishetl ))y the two- 

 queen system. In the first place, wc build 



up a mammoth colony, and all our hives are 

 extra strong when the flow comes on clover 

 or raspberries. In the second place, we turn 

 this mammoth colony to producing either 

 comb or extracted honey without loss by 

 swarming or sulking, either of which means 

 much loss of honey. Third, the coml) honey 

 is produced without the great expense gen- 

 erally entailed in fitting up for it. Fourth, 

 the queens are reared and tested at a time 

 when it can be done the easiest, and all 

 queens are young and vigorous for early 

 spring In'ood rearing; and last, and best of 

 all, these large colonies are so easily operat- 

 ed that bee-keeping is a real plea.sure as well 

 as very profitable financially. 



LATER. 



We have now had a heavy flow on rasp- 

 berries and white clover; and with honey 

 coming in like i"ain I find that comb-liuilding 

 goes on so fast that, even in a very heavy 

 flow, comb in sections is kept way ahead of 

 what is needed. I am now more enthusias- 

 tic in saying that as many pounds of coml) 

 honey can be produced as can he produced 

 from the same colony, provided the honey is 

 allowed to be capped over Ijefore removing 

 from the hive, and at the same time swarm- 

 ing is completelv controlletl. 



Kockmont, W'is., July G, ]9U(3. 



COLONY USED FOR DEMON.STKATION NOT IN- 

 JURED. 



It may be interesting to note that the col- 

 ony of bees that I used for demonstration 

 (see page 356) last fall wintered well, though 

 they had no more l)rood or young bees hatt-li- 

 ing at the time, being enclosed in cage, and 

 mauled over for nine days. L. F. Wahl. 



Chili Center, N. Y., May 23. 



