104 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



during a honey flow, whether they are 

 building comb or not, and if they are 

 not employed building comb, this wax- 

 is most certainly lost. 



Although not having the experience 

 that Mr. Dooliltle has, my own agrees 

 with his ; it is an undecided question 

 as to whether it pays at the high price 

 of foundation, to use it exclusively. 

 During the past season I had quite an 

 experience in the matter of comb 

 building— my supply of foundation 

 running out— and as I could not get 

 any tor about two weeks, I was 

 obliged to use frames with only very 

 narrow strips of foundation, from }^ 

 to 1 inch in width, both in building up 

 nuclei, and in full colonies. I found 

 that nuclei could be profitably em- 

 ployed,- and built nice straight worker 

 combs where they would have done 

 nothing if left to themselves. 



With the full colonies comb was 

 built very fast, but was nearly all 

 drone comb, which I think of no value 

 to the bee-keeper onljf to melt into 

 wax. Tlie building of an excess of 

 drone comb seems to be the only 

 drawback of getting nice straight 

 combs, and I think fully as cheap as 

 by the use of full sheets of founda- 

 tion. There seems to be a large 

 quantity of bees in the hive at all 

 hours; would they not be building 

 comb if comb was lieeded V Bees also 

 build great quantities of comb at 

 night ; large sheets being built in a 

 single night by new colonies. I would 

 also like to say, while on this subject, 

 that I tliink it unwise for bee-keepers 

 to demand so flue a quality of founda- 

 tion, especially for brood frames, for 

 the dark is as good, and will be re- 

 ceived and be built out by the bees as 

 soon as the bleached, and is undoubt- 

 edly tougher and less apt to be adul- 

 terated, and it will be often noticed 

 that when the bees build natural 

 comb, it will often be far from wliite 

 in color. 



Cato, Mich., Jan. 4, 1884. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



A ftueen Eleven Years Old. 



S. II. IIAKEISON. 



I am a reader of the Bee Journal, 

 and I must say that I have been many 

 times repaid for time and money in- 

 vested. I am an amateur in bee-cul- 

 ture, and have no lengthy theories to 

 advance. 



In the spring of 1882, I had one 

 good colony of bees, which I had win- 

 tered in the cellar. In the fall I had 

 5 colonies. I put them in the cellar 

 to winter ; 1 colony proved to be with- 

 out a queen, and perished soon after 

 placing on the summer stand, leaving 

 me 4 colonies, which were in good con- 

 dition last spring. They have in- 

 creased to 10, which are now in the 

 cellar in apparently excellent condi- 

 tion. I got some surplus comb honey. 



I purchased the first colony of J. T. 

 Godding, now residing in Washing- 

 ton County, Kans., \^-lio started his 

 apiary in A'ebraska, where he pur- 

 chased an imported Italian queen 

 with both her wings clipped very 

 short, and said to have been three 



ye.ars old when he purchased her. He 

 has now owned her eight years, and 

 she fills her hive with young bees now 

 just as well as she did eight years ago. 

 He claims that there is no mistake as 

 to her idenity, for he knows her when 

 he sees her just as certainly as he 

 knows a horse or a cow which he has 

 owned for that length of time. I saw 

 him a short time ago, and he said : 

 '■ The old queen went into winter 

 quarters with as strong a colony as he 

 had in his apiary."' He claims that 

 the queen I purchased is from the old 

 queen ; at least nine years old when 

 she laid the egg from which my queen 

 was reared. Is not this a little out of 

 the regular order of theories ? 

 Mankato, Kans. 



[There surely is some mistake about 

 it.— Ed.] 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



The Use of Comb Foundation. 



F. M. TAINTOK. 



On page 612 of tlie Bee Journal 

 for 1883, Mr. James Heddon says "that 

 bee-keepers are now the greatest con- 

 sumers of this, one of their own pro- 

 duction, beeswax. In getting their 

 wax to the foundation mills and back 

 home, does it pay them to have the 

 groc'er, peddler, commission merchant 

 and general dealer in wax, each take a 

 margin of it V Just think the matter 

 over and form correct conclusions." I 

 think Mr. Heddon just right in regard 

 to tlie peddler, commission merchant, 

 etc., each taking out a margin. I be- 

 lieve, and would advise every one who 

 has 20 colonies or more, to own a foun- 

 dation machine, for I think that 

 foundation fresh from the mill is 

 worth nearly double that which is 2 or 

 3 months old, besides having it when 

 you want it. I believe that everybody 

 can afford to use foundation, even at 

 a dollar a pound, if it could not be ob- 

 tained for less. 



There are several good machines 

 made, but I prefer the Vandervorl, 

 although I think the Given press has 

 many good points. I was as much 

 surprised as was Mr. Caldwell to know 

 that Mr. Doolittle did not use founda- 

 tion. I guess Mr. Doolittle will think 

 that I am extravagant, when I say 

 that as long as I can buy beeswax for 

 a dollar a pound or less, I shall use 

 foundation. 



Elm Grove, Mass. 



For the Ametican Bee JournaL 



Rabbets for Hives, etc- 



TUGS. GOKSUCH. 



On page 28, Mr. Heddon gives J. W. 

 B. a very good way to put in metal 

 rabbets," or rather strips of tin. I 

 have tried Mr. H.'s plan, and I will 

 tell you in what way I have improved 

 on it. In place of using a Ji strip of 

 tin, I use a strip IJa wide, and fold or 

 turn down one edge % of an inch flat ; 

 then nail it on with the folded side 

 next to the rabbet. The advantages 

 are, it makes the tin stronger, and 



leaves no cutting edge to cut one's 

 fingers and the chaff division-boards 

 where used (we use no other kind), 

 and it is much easier to put on, as the 

 folded edge serves for a rest until it is 

 nailed. 



Is this not something unusual ? On 

 July 2, colony No. 24 swarmed out, or 

 rather sent out a swarm, but before 

 the bees all clustered, they commenced 

 to go back, and soon all were home. 

 On July 9 I found a cluster under the 

 hive (our hives are all placed on 

 stakes) that appeared to lie working ; 

 on close examination we found three 

 combs the size of a man's hand, and 

 the centre one filled with eggs. This 

 must have been the old queen, as it 

 was the first swarm. We tried to 

 hive them, but the bees, when we ap- 

 plied the smoke, went into the hive 

 and remained there. Every bee-keeper 

 should get an apiary register and see 

 how easily it is to keep rim of the 

 queens, etc. 



Gorsuch, Pa., Jan. 29, 1884. 



To Bee-Keepers of Illinois and Iowa. 



The regular annual meeting of the 

 Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois 

 Bee-Keepers' Association will be held 

 at Moore's Hall, No. 110 East Thii-d 

 street, on Thursday, Friday and Sat- 

 urday, Feb. 21, 22 and 2.S, 1884. 



Mr. T. G. Newman, of Chicago, 

 editor of the Weekly Bee .Journal, 

 will be with us, and has been engaged 

 to give two lectures on " Bee-Keep- 

 iiig '' on the 22d and 2.3d. 



It is hoped that the members of the 

 Association, and others will bring or 

 send honey, apiarian supplies, etc' 

 Any shipment of these, sent to Mr. 

 Israel Hall, Treasurer of the Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, Davenport, will 

 be taken from the express office, re- 

 moved to the Hall and cared for. 



Also be ready to report results of 

 last season's work. 



Invitation is liereby extended, not 

 only to tlie members, but also to their 

 friends. 



We want you to just swarra. 



J. V. McCagg, Pres. 



I. J. Nagle, iSec. 



t^ Columbus Bean, of Cape Girar- 

 deau County, Mo., says about five 

 years ago a swarm of bees took up 

 their abode in a hollow tree that stood 

 a short distance from his door. They 

 have gathered honey from year to 

 year since that time without molesta- 

 tion. The other day, when the snow 

 on the ground afforded a good chance 

 to cut the tree and save all the honey, 

 Mr. Bean rallied a party and soon had 

 the biggest lot of honey on hand that 

 a bee-tree ever afforded. There was a 

 deposit ot honey for 14 feet up the 

 hollow of the tree, the " take " 

 amounted to about 17.5 pounds. — Mis- 

 souri Republican. 



^- For $2.75 we will supply the 

 Weekly Bee Journal one year, and 

 Dzierzon's Rational Bee-Keeping, in 

 paper covers ; or the Monthly Bee 

 Journal and the book for $1.75. 



