THE AMEBIC AI^ APICULTURIST. 



209 



For the American Apiculturist. 



NICE WHITE COMBS : HOW 

 PRODUCED. 



Chester F. Savory. 



The way 1 keep combs white in 

 the hives is this : I take and lay 

 thin pieces of sponge over the 

 brood-sections of the hive and 

 cover the sponge with wire cloth 

 on a frame, and as my bees are 

 right in the centre of the hive, I 

 put a thick bed-quilt over the brood- 

 chamber and shut down the cap 

 which is hung on hinges. The 

 bees live all winter splendidly. 

 The sponge absorbs the moisture, 

 so the comb is kept clean and 

 white. The combs in my hives are 

 one year old, and as clean and 

 white as if they had been made 

 this year. 



Taunton, Mass. 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWEBS. 



Roxhorough, PMla., Aug. 2, 1SS6. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE, Esq. 

 My Dear sir: Of all the answers to ques- 

 tions that have appeared in the "'Api" since I 

 readers, nothing has have been one oiits given 

 me more information and pleasure than your 

 answer toAlr. Cushman in this mouth's (Aug.) 

 number. 



Would it be presuming in me— a beginner— 

 to ask two questions ? 



QUESTIOXS BY J. H. JONES. 



1. What plan could I adopt to make 

 the change ef frames in brood-chamber 

 if I were away when the bees swarmed ? 



I use Alley's trap and clip wing-. 



2. What style section- cases are to be 

 preferred, and do you practise ''tiering 

 up"? 



I am prompted to ask the latter ques- 

 tion troni the lact that I am using a lull 

 story (56 sections) on my hive and the 

 bees work only in lower row of sec- 

 tions. If at any time you will kindly 

 favor me with a few lines, I will sin- 

 cerely thauk you, and remain 



Very truly, 

 John II. Jones. 



ANSVyERS BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



1. No plan of course could be 

 quite equal to being oh hand when 

 the colony swarmed, but I have 

 often proceeded like this. When 

 I am absent from home at any time, 

 when swarms are expected, I re- 

 quest Mrs. D. to watch the bees, 

 or if both of us go, I ask a neigh- 

 bor's boy or girl to look after them, 

 giving them so much an hour, for 

 as yet I have not bought a drone 

 and queen-trap for every hive, as I 

 am so seldom away from home that 

 it would hardly pay me. Were I 

 away a great deal it might, for of 

 course the trap would catch the 

 queen as well as Mrs. D. or the 

 boy. Well, whoever watches is in- 

 structed to go to the hive which 

 swarms and catch the clipped queen 

 b}^ letting her run into a wire cloth 

 cage, after which the cage is placed 

 near the entrance to the hive and 

 the hive marked so I can at once 

 go to it on my return. Sometimes 

 I find half a dozen waiting for me. 

 I now go through the same opera- 

 tion described on page 182, Aug. 

 No., except that as I took out each 

 from the hive, I shake oti' the bees 

 in front of the hive till about the 

 same number is left on each frame 

 as there would have been when 

 the swarm was in the air, leaving 

 rather more if any difference, when 

 all will work the same as described 

 on page 182 with this exception : 

 more bees are apt to return to 

 the old stand, and if care is not 

 used to have rather more bees on 

 than would be while the swarm is 

 in the air so manj^ will return that 

 should it be cool or suddenly turn 

 so, some of the brood would sutler 

 or die of exposure. All know that 

 a swarm of bees when first hived 

 mark their location so that more 

 return to the parent hive, while 

 bees otherwise taken to a new loca- 

 tion do not so mark, but return to 

 the old stand. Well, for years I 

 have noticed that a pecidiar trait 



