THE AMERICAN BEE JOUR^fAL. 



83 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Producing Comb Honey— No. 1. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



By referring to the Weekly Bee 

 JouiiNAL for Dec. 7tli, I find that 

 notice was tlien given that Doolittle 

 " will write a series of articles during 

 18S2 on the production, care and sale 

 of comb lioney." Upon looking the 

 field all over, I believe I can please 

 the readers of the Bee Journal no 

 better than by telling them first what 

 1 do in my own bee-yard, and how I 

 do it, thus writing from a practical 

 standpoint rather than trying to theo- 

 rize, by telling you what might be 

 done. In order to write understanding- 

 ly, I will take up the te.vt luider the dif- 

 ferent heads: Production, Care and 

 Sale, separately, and give my mode of 

 treating each one. 



First, then, we have production : In 

 order to produce good results in comb 

 honey the first requisite is i)lenty of 

 bees when the honey harvest arrives, 

 for whatever else we may have, suc- 

 cess cannot be obtained witnout plenty 

 of bees. Again, as I said before, 

 these bees must be on hand in time 

 for tlie honey harvest, else they be- 

 come merely consumers instead of 

 prod\icers. IIow often we lind men 

 keeping bees on this (consuming) plan, 

 getting nothing from them in the line 

 of surplus honey, unless it is some 

 little buckwheat honey, or that gatli- 

 ered from fall flowers, which is gener- 

 ally of inferior quality, for the reason 

 that they do not have anything but 

 colonies weak in bees at the time the 

 harvest of white honey occurs. Such 

 bee-keei)ing does not pay, and for this 

 reason I have dwelt thus long on this 

 part to enable all to see that, of all 

 others, this is the most important item 

 in the production of comb honey. 



Our first stej), then, is to produce 

 plenty of bees in time for the honey 

 harvest. With mostof us white clover 

 is the main honey producing plant, 

 which blooms about June 1.5th to 20th, 

 and by J une 2oth is at the best ; hence, 

 our bees must be in readiness at that 

 time if we wish to succeed. From 

 practical experience I find that it takes 

 about 6 weeks to build up an ordinary 

 colony in the spring, to where they 

 are ready to produce honey to the best 

 advantage ; so I commence to stimu- 

 late brood-rearing about the first of 

 May. I have tried many plans of feed- 

 ing, both in the open air and in the 

 liive. to stimulate brood-rearing, but 

 finally gave them all up for the follow- 

 ing : When I have decided it is time 

 to commence active operations for the 

 season I go to each colony and look 

 them over, clipping all queens' wings 

 that were not clipped the previous 

 season, and equalizing stores so that 

 1 know each colony has enough honey 

 to carry them at least two weeks with- 

 out any fear of starvation. At this 

 ime I find, as a rule, each good colony 



will have brood in four or five combs, 

 the two center combs containing the 

 largest amount. I now reverse the 

 position of these combs of brood by 

 placing those on the outside in the 

 centerof the brood-nest, which brings 

 the combs having the most brood in 

 them on the outside. Thus, while the 

 colony has no more brood than it had 

 before, the queen finds plenty of empty 

 cells in the center of the brood- nest, 

 in combs having some brood in them, 

 and she at once fills tliese combs with 

 eggs, so that in a few days they will 

 contain more brood than those that 

 were moved to the outside, while the 

 bees have fed and taken care of this 

 as well as though its position had not 

 been changed. Tlius quite a gain has 

 been made in regard to increasing the 

 brood. 



In about 8 days, if the weather is 

 favorable, the whole yard is gone over 

 again, and this time a frame of honey 

 is taken from the outside of the 

 cluster and the cappings to the cells 

 broken by passing a knife flatwise 

 over them, when the brood-nest is 

 separated in the center and this frame 

 of honey, thus prepared, i)laced there- 

 in. As I go over the yard each time I 

 am careful to know that each colony 

 has abundant honey to last them at 

 least two weeks, for if we wish to ob- 

 tain the largest amount of brood pos- 

 sible, the bees must never feel the 

 necessity of feeding the brood spar- 

 ingly on account of scanty stores. It 

 is also necessary to know that there 

 are no cracks or open places at the top 

 of the hive to let the warm air pass 

 out of the hive, but tuck all up as 

 nicely as you would fix your bed on a 

 cold winter's night. 



After 7 days more have elapsed, I 

 again go over the whole yard and in- 

 sert another frame of honey in the 

 center of the brood-nest prepared as 

 before. If at any time 1 am short 

 of honey, I use sugar-syrup made by 

 taking confectioners' A sugar and dis- 

 solving it in hot water (at the rate of 

 one pound of water to two pounds of 

 sugar), by placing the two in an ex- 

 tractor can, which should be placed 

 some three or more feet from the floor. 

 Stir well till all is dissolved. Now, 

 procure an old pan of the ordinary 

 size and punch the bottom full of 

 holes about 1-16 of an inch in diame- 

 ter, punching the holes from tlie in- 

 side of the pan, when it should be 

 placed under the faucet to the can 

 containing the syrup. Immediately 

 under the pan place another can if you 

 have it (if not a wash tub will an- 

 swer), and you are ready for business. 

 Take an empty comb and lay it down 

 flat under the pan and on the bottom 

 of the can, when you will open the 

 faucet letting the syrup out in the pan 

 till enough has run out to fill one side 

 of your comb, when you will shut it 

 again. Turn over your comb and fill 

 the otlier side, and after hanging in 

 your tin comb bucket (wash boiler, or 

 some convenient tin thing which is 

 most always at hand) a little wliile to 

 drain, it is ready to be used in any 

 spot or place, the same :is a frame of 

 honey. I prefer this way of feeding 

 to any feeder in existence. If you 

 wish to make quick work of filling 



these combs, have an assistant to hand 

 you the empty combs and take the 

 filled ones ; roll up your sleeves and 

 hold the combsnearthe bottom of tlie 

 can, or low enough down so the falling 

 syrup will force the air out of the cells 

 so they will be filled ; turn your fau- 

 cet so the required amount of syrup 

 will be in the pan all the time, and you 

 can fill them (the combs) almost as 

 fast as he (the assistant) can hand 

 them to you. The sides of the can 

 keep the syrup from spattering about 

 tlie room, and what is caught therein 

 can be turned into the ujjper can again. 

 Well, 1 have taken some time to tell 

 you how to do this, but as I do not ex- 

 pect to tell it again, I thought I would 

 try to make it plain. 



The next time I go over the yard 1 

 generally reverse the brood as at first, 

 as well as to put a frame of honey in 

 the center. i5y this time the bees will 

 have hatched out of the combs which 

 were placed on the outside, and as the 

 queen does not lay as readily on the 

 outside of the cluster, these combs 

 will not be as well filled as the center 

 ones. 



After about a week more, the yard 

 is gone over again in like manner, and 

 if out 9 frames are used to the hive, 

 this time will conclude the stimulating 

 process, for at the end of about r, days 

 more, or about the 10th of June, all 

 our frames are full of brood, and our 

 colonies in good condition for receiving 

 the surplus boxes. 



My next will be about how I manage 

 the weak colonies, and also how I 

 would manage if I wished to keep 

 only a limited nuuber of colonies in 

 an apiary. 



Borodino, N.Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Yellow or Leather-Colored Bees- 



W. J. DAVIS. 



In the Bee Journal of Jan. nth, 

 page 22, Mr. Chas. Dadant publishes a 

 letter from Mr. Heddoii, in which he 

 expresses the opinion that I have 

 found something better than the yel- 

 low Italians, that is the leather-colored 

 Italians. As Mr. Heddon's letter has 

 been published, it follows that what I 

 have to ,say, in reply, should have the 

 same publicity. 



I take pleasure in saying that I con- 

 sider Mr. Ileddon a close observer of 

 everything pertaining to the apiary, 

 and when he takes a position in " good 

 earnest,"' and not merely for the sake 

 of provoking discussion, he is oftener 

 right than wrong, but to say that he 

 is always right, is what I cannot con- 

 cede to any one whose writings I have 

 ever read on bees or their man- 

 agement. 



Before discussing points ui)on wdiich 

 we do not agree, I will mention one 

 upon which we do agree, viz : that we 

 aim to keep bees for the honey they 

 can store for our benefit. I suppose 

 it matters but little whether the color 

 be yellow, black, green, blue or 

 leather, or that they vary in size from 

 that of the house-ily to the bumble 

 bee, if they bring in i)lenty of good 

 honey, and do not endanger human 



