248 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



the main point in the preparation 

 and practice. I also want plenty of 

 b-^es; though I have wintered three 

 frame nuclei, it does not pay to nurse 

 them. I attribute my success in win- 

 tering to good food ; plenty of bees, 

 which signifies a good queen ; a good 

 hive, and an even temperature. 



Feeding to breed young bees in 

 the fall is not necessary. I have 

 had swarms winter well that did not 

 raise a young bee after August ist. 

 I look with disfavor upon sugar feed- 

 ing. I shall stick to natural stores 

 until I cannot winter bees upon it ; 

 then, and not till then, I shall try 

 sugar. 



Hartford, N. K, Sept 23, 1886. 



For the American Apiculturist. 



THE PRODUCTION OF 

 FANCY COMB HONEY. 



W. M. WOODWARD. 



In all my work in the apiary, it is 

 my aim to produce a first-class arti- 

 cle, at the least cost of time, labor 

 and money. All my fixtures are made 

 with the above in view, and of 

 course hives and everything so con- 

 structed as to be interchangeable as 

 far as consistent with the use they 

 are to be put to in general. As to 

 surplus arrangement for comb hon- 

 ey, after many trials I have found no 

 surplus case in all respects equal to 

 Heddon's (as used on his L. hives) 

 but with the divisions flush with the 

 sections, leaving a :|-inch bee-space 

 on the top. I believe this case is by 

 far the strongest and most durable 

 case in use, and is the cheapest in 

 the end. 



Nothing need be said of sections, 

 except the thinner, stronger and 

 nicer, the better. As to foundation, 

 I make my own, and dip but once as 



light as possible for surplus honey, 

 and run the rnill pretty close, so that 

 usually the bees add some wax to 

 the septum. I aim not so much to 

 furnish wax as to furnish a " founda- 

 tion" for their comb. 



I have experimented much to find 

 a method of operation mvolving the 

 least amount of time and labor on 

 my part and also for the bees, con- 

 sistent with the largest and best re- 

 sults. As a result, I have found 

 that full sheets of foundations, in 

 both frames and sections, have 

 doubled my crop of honey from year 

 to year. In the brood-chamber I 

 use full sheets on wired frames, and 

 with a narrow bottom-bar attached 

 at on% side of the centre and wired 

 through a corner diagonally to the 

 bar, and foundation attached at the 

 bottom to the side of the bar. This 

 gives the best result. You see I 

 want to do my work at once for all 

 and know that all is always right 

 without continual watching. 



So, when I put a case on a hive 

 for comb honey, I want to know that 

 the bees are going to do their work 

 right, if they work at all. For this 

 purpose I use a full sheet of founda- 

 tion cut as large, horizontally, as will 

 fit in, and the other way, two rows of 

 cells longer than the inside of the 

 section and attached at both top atid 

 bottom. This is the only plan by 

 which I have been able to "attain 

 unto perfection" even when using 

 separators as I should alwajs do. I 

 have tried "reversing," but usually 

 I find some sections past and others 

 not yet up to the point of advance- 

 ment at which it is safe and profita- 

 ble to reverse. Another objection 

 is that at best the bees seldom fill 

 the section out perfectly at the cor- 

 ners, and unsightly holes are left as 

 bee passage ways. In fact, the 

 cheapest, best and only perfect way 

 to reverse sections is to reverse 

 them on the foundation fastener and 

 place them between separators and 

 give the bees "their own sweet will." 



