532 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



Milne-Edwards report the increase of fatty 

 substances in the bodies of the bees analyz- 

 ed. That should be added to the amount of 

 comb built, since it is nothing but wax in 

 course of formation. Each individual ex- 

 periment lasted only a few days. Now, it is 

 well known that the wax scales do not ap- 

 pear before the third or fourth day after 

 the feeding has begun or the flow has open- 

 ed. This should be taken in consideration. 



Another way to get at it was undertaken 

 and discussed some time ago by Messrs. 

 Sylviac, Maujean, Devauchelle, and others, 

 and reported in the Apiculteur and the Re- 

 vue Internationale during 1901 and 1902. 

 The principle is this : During the first two 

 or three days after a swarm is hived, quite 

 an amount of comb is built, but very few 

 bees go to the field— that is, when neither 

 built comb nor foundation is given. Assum- 

 ing that the few bees that go to the field 

 gather enough to keep the colony alive, 

 knowing approximately how much honey a 

 given swarm will carry, and taking for 

 granted that this honey goes to the amount 

 of wax produced, or an equivalent amount, 

 the ratio between the two can be ascertain- 

 ed. I say the * ' equivalent amount ' ' pur- 

 posely. The bees of a swarm carry a cer- 

 tain amount of wax scales, and wax in course 

 of formation in their wax-producing organs 

 when they come out of the old hive. But 

 this is offset by what scales and wax in 

 course of production they may have at the 

 end of the three days. 



Quite a discussion took place in regard to 

 the correctness of these assumptions, and 

 what corrections should be introduced. The 

 upshot of the whole thing was an estimate 

 of from two to four pounds of honey for a 

 pound of wax produced under such circum- 

 stances. That is a good way off from the 

 twenty or thirty pounds estimated by some 

 other processes. 



During the discussion Mr. L. Maupy sug- 

 gested that, chemically speaking, 100 grams 

 of wax contain about 82 grams of carbon, 

 13 of hydrogen, and 5 of oxygen. On the 

 other hand, 100 grams of honey contain 

 about 8 grams of hydrogen, 64 of oxygen, 

 and 28 of carbon. There is, however, quite 

 a variation in the different qualities of hon- 

 ey. Anyhow, it is evident that, to furnish 

 the 82 grams of carbon contained in 100 

 grams of wax, not less than 2J or 3 times 

 that amount of honey must be used. 



I am inclined to think that, so far as the 

 transformation of honey in wax is concerned, 

 that is all that is needed. But there is the 

 extra warmth needed to be considered. To 

 make it plain, let us consider a colony 

 having no super. All the warmth needed is 

 enough to keep up the temperature of the 

 brood-nest. But let us add a super. Then 

 this super will have to be kept warm enough 

 to insure a rapid production of wax and the 

 building of the combs, and, of course, an 

 extra quantity of honey will have to be con- 

 sumed to that end. 



Prof. Bruner. at the National Agricultural 

 School of Cordoba (Argentina) , has made a 



specialty of wax-production for several 

 years. The wax there is worth 54 cts. per 

 lb. Dark honey can be bought in unlimited 

 quantities for 6 cts. per lb. Briefly speak- 

 ing, the process is to feed the bees all they 

 will take during the whole season, cutting 

 out the combs from time to time, and melt- 

 ing them. The honey contained is returned 

 to the bees. He says it takes 68 lbs. of 

 honey to make 10 lbs. of wax. But, of 

 course, this 68 lbs. includes all that the bees 

 consume for living, brood-rearing, etc. To 

 this 68 lbs. we should add what may be 

 gathered in the field. If Prof. Bruner's 

 bees behave like mine, that must be very 

 little. With me, bees abundantly fed, and 

 having to build their combs, abandon the 

 field work almost entirely. For further de- 

 tails of Prof. Bruner's work, see the Api- 

 culteur, Feb., 1904, page 55, a.nd the Ameri- 

 can Bee-keeper, April, 1904, page 75. 



BROOD-REARING. 



Very little can be said on this subject. 

 The Hon. R. L. Taylor said once in the 

 Bee-keepers' Review that some experiments 

 he made show that it takes 2 lbs. of honey 

 to raise 1 lb. of brood; but he does not give 

 any detail. It might be interesting to note 

 here that the food given to the larvge varies 

 according to the age and sex, but contains 

 between one-fourth and one-third of honey. 

 If Mr. Taylor's assertion is correct, a colony 

 raising 1000 bees a day would use J lb. of 

 honey daily to feed them. 



FEEDING BACK. 



Perhaps the honey that the bees consume 

 while they are ' ' fed back ' ' can give us the 

 nearest estimate obtainable. This amount 

 is exceedingly variable. In a bee-keepers' 

 convention Dr. A. B. Mason said that he 

 had tried once, and obtained more honey in 

 the sections than he had fed. Very likely 

 the brood-nest was full when he began feed- 

 ing, and the bees removed some of it "up 

 stairs" to make room for rearing brood, as 

 they invariably start a considerable amount 

 of brood when fed. At the other end of the 

 line we find Niver, who says that he once 

 fed 30 lbs. and got 3 sections for his feed 

 and trouble, and then thought best to quit. 



In the A B C of Bee Culture are found A. 

 I. Root's experiments in the same line. He 

 said that the bees when fed back always be- 

 gin by cramming all they can in the brood- 

 nest, often something like 25 lbs., but after 

 that the loss is only one-tenth of the amount 

 fed. He does not state how much was fed 

 daily; but in the context he speaks of hav- 

 ing feeders large enough to feed 15 or 20 

 lbs. a day. With 10 lbs. fed per day, the 

 consumed honey would amount to one pound 

 daily. I think it is more than one-tenth. I 

 have had but little experience in feeding 

 back, but I found out that, after first crowd- 

 ing the brood-nest, the bees take a portion 

 of that honey in the supers, and start a con- 

 siderable amount of brood. 



The only carefully conducted experiments 

 we have are those made by the Hon. R. L. 

 Taylor. The first was made in 1893, when 



