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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



to fill them with honey at once, and will 

 do little or nothing in the surplus de- 

 partment until the brood-combs are full 

 of brood or honey. Very often they are 

 filled first with honey, and unless the 

 queen is an unusually smart one, this 

 honey stays there, reducing the brood- 

 rearing capacity of the hive, weakening 

 the energy of the bees for storing in the 

 supers, and lessening decidedly the 

 amount of marketable honey. If there 

 are empty combs enough, they may have 

 just as much honey put into them as 

 would be put into the supers — perhaps 

 more — but this honey will not be worth 

 nearly as much as if it had been stored 

 in sections. 



As previously stated, the value of 

 combs depends upon circumstances. 

 There are times when combs may be 

 very profitably used in hiving swarms, 

 while under other circumstances we 

 may find that we have used them at a 

 loss. To use them advantageously, cer- 

 tain rules must be followed. 



In the first place, if honey is coming 

 in freely, and this honey-flow is not 

 likely to last more than a month, which 

 is the case nine times out of ten, too 

 many combs should not be given. Noth- 

 ing could be more fatal to the chance of 

 securing a large yield of comb honey, 

 than to hive the swarm in a large hive 

 filled with finished combs. 



Ordinarily the swarm issues during 

 the early part of the honey-flow, which 

 does not last more than two or three 

 weeks longer — often a shorter time. At 

 such a time the brood-chamber should 

 be contracted to a space equal to five 

 Langstroth frames, and I think the 

 fewer finished combs are used the better. 



On the other hand, if swarms issue 

 very early, before the main honey-flow 

 begins, it will be found profitable to 

 give them as many combs as the queen 

 will occupy with brood before they are 

 filled with honey. 



As the honey-flow draws toward its 

 close, it again becomes profitable to hive 

 swarms upon finished combs, as other- 

 wise the colony may not be able to build 

 sufficient combs for its needs, in which 

 case brood-rearing is restricted, and the 

 colony rapidly dwindles. At this time, 

 too, all colonies that have been hived in a 

 contracted brood-chamber should be 

 looked over, and empty combs added as 

 fast as they can utilize them. In this 

 way colonies weak in numbers may often 

 be brought up to good working strength 

 in time for the fall crop. 



The time when empty combs are most 

 valuable, is when it is desired to increase 



\,he number of colonies as rapidly as 

 possible. With vigorous, prolific queens, 

 plenty of empty combs, and judicious 

 feeding when pasture is short, an apiary 

 may be increased in numbers at a very 

 rapid rate, and it is this very elasticity — 

 the ability to recover quickly from heavy 

 losses — that relieves bee-keeping of much 

 of the uncertainty and risk that would 

 otherwise make it a much more pre- 

 carious occupation than it is. 

 Dayton, Ills. 



The « Coming Bee " to be Ob. 

 tained by Crossing. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY PROF. C. L. STRICKLAND. 



Much has been said of late about the 

 arrival of a new race or strain of bees, 

 naturally called the " coming bee," yet 

 after several importations the coming 

 bee remains in obscurity, and we are 

 disappointed. 



I am pleased to say that I believe we 

 have at the present the best bees for all 

 purposes that the world contains, in the 

 Italians, Carniolans and blacks ; but, 

 gentle reader, I think that by proper 

 crossing of those three kinds, and using 

 their progeny judiciously, we might sur- 

 prise ourselves, if not the World, by 

 producing something. Those three races 

 are quite distinct, and all possess natural 

 points of excellence. Is it not possible 

 and reasonable to believe so — that by a 

 union of the good qualities we may pro- 

 duce a fac simile ? Why not ? Friends, 

 let some one try. Time generally tells 

 the destiny of affairs, but never before 

 hand. 



It really would be nice to produce a 

 bee with more real qualities combined 

 than are found in any one strain we now 

 have. Truly, none deny that there ex- 

 ists a possible chance for so doing, to be 

 done by a proper mating of pure queens 

 and drones of those three races, and 

 then working on the progeny. Who is 

 able to tell the results ? 



We are fully aware that improvements 

 have been made by a judicious mating, 

 and good points held in place; but let 

 me kindly whisper in your ear, that the 

 poor drone must play a very fine part in 

 this " game " of origin, or our chances 

 are gone. 



For example : Take a black queen — 

 "Egyptian darkness" — mate her to a 

 pure Italian drone; rear queens from 

 her progeny, save the one shewing the 

 most gold, mate again as at first ; repeat 



