716 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



new. but old and well-known to us all, 

 and is a theory of effects and not 

 causes. 



To show the ground whicli Mr. 

 Clarke must take to get up an opposi- 

 tion with me, or any legal claims to 

 newness of theory, I will quote one 

 paragraph from the Kansas Bee- 

 Meeper for April 1S84, which is several 

 months older than his first article on 

 the hibernation subject. 



"Xow, for the 'pollen theory.' 

 What is it V In short it is this : The 

 Toee, unlike many other insects, exists 

 in two different states during its life, 

 viz : The fully-animated, and the 

 ' semi-hibernatious.' It would seem 

 that any animal, existing at different 

 times, in such extremely different 

 states, would require for success, ex- 

 tremely different conditions and food. 

 This is just what we find to be the 

 facts in the case. In summer the bees 

 are active, and require a home and 

 food adapted to the needs of activity ; 

 In winter, when in the quiescent 

 state, they require surroundings and 

 tood adapted to that condition. As 

 above stated, these conditions differ 

 •widely." 



Xow, I would like to know what is 

 new in Mr. Clarke's theory. 



Dowagiae, Mich. 



For the American Beo JuumaL 



Too Much Drone-Comb. 



G. M. DOOLITTLLE.Q 



A party writes, saying. "I have many 

 frames of comb in which I find both 

 drone and worker comb. How shall I 

 proceed to get rid of the drone-comb, 

 and not have the bees build the same 

 kind in again ':' Please answer in the 

 Bee Journal. " 



Too much drone-comb in the brood- 

 chamber is a very serious damage to 

 the honey crop, as drones are only 

 useless consumers, being of no value 

 ■except to fertilize tlie queens ; and in 

 these days of progression, no person 

 can afford to allow a promiscuous pro- 

 duction of drones. One or two square 

 inches of drone-comb is all that 

 should be allowed in any hive, except 

 in one or two containing the choicest 

 •colonies, which should have enough 

 drone-comb to rear all the drones that 

 are needed in the apiary. 



As all colonies will have a little 

 drone-brood, anyway, even if they 

 have to cut down worker-comb to get 

 a place to build comb for it, it is 

 well to let each colony have about 2 

 square inches of drone-comb, which 

 should be all in one frame. This 

 frame should be marked so that where 

 the production of all kinds of drones 

 is not wished, it can be lifted from 

 the hive every 20 days, and the heads 

 ■of the drones shaved off. 



From the above it will be seen that 

 our correspondent has asked a very 

 pertinent question, as the bees will 

 nearly always again fill the place, 

 where drone-comb has been cut out, 

 ■with comb of the same sort. The 

 ■only way I know of to stop their doing 

 this, is either to give the combs hav- 

 ing drone-comb removed from them, 

 to nuclei having a young queen (as 



such nuclei will always build worker- 

 comb), or after cutting out the drone- 

 comb, fit worker-comb in its place. 

 While the latter does not give as per- 

 fect combs as the former, it has in its 

 favor the immediate use of the combs 

 in full colonies ; for it is often mid- 

 summer before many nuclei are strong 

 enough to build combs at the bottom 

 of the frames, where most drone-comb 

 is found. Hence, I generally use the 

 fltting-in plan, in doing such work. 



If there is a large patch of drone- 

 comb in a frame, I cut it out with a 

 narrow-bladed, sharp knife, after 

 which the frame is laid over another 

 frame of comb, which has some 

 drone-comb in it also, so as not to 

 spoil a good comb. I lay it so that 

 the empty space comes over the 

 worker-comb, when the lower comb 

 is worked a trifle larger than the 

 space to be filled, after which the 

 marked piece is cut out and pressed 

 into the place where the drone-comb 

 came from. If the piece should hap- 

 pen to be a little small, a few drops of 

 melted beeswax will hold it in place 

 till the bees fasten it. 



For small patches, from an inch to 

 i inches in diameter, I use punches 

 of the proper size, made of old fruit 

 cans. These can be found about 

 hotels if canned fruit is not used in 

 your own family, and need not cost 

 anything. "When you have collected 

 your different sizes, place the ends on 

 a hot stove when the solder will melt, 

 thus letting the top and bottom off, 

 as you place either end on the stove. 

 After the tops and bottoms are off, 

 make the wliole circumference of one 

 end sharp, with a file or grindstone, 

 sharpening wholly from the outside. 

 Xow lay the comb down fiat on a 

 smooth "board, and with the right- 

 sized punch, cut out the patch of 

 drone-comb bv twirling the punch or 

 can around as you press down on it. 

 Xow push out this drone-comb, and 

 with the same punch, and in the same 

 way, cut out from some discarded 

 frame a piece of worker-comb, which 

 will, of course, exactly fit the place 

 you took the drone-comb from. In 

 this way it is no great task to rid all 

 the frames of drone-comb. If any 

 have lionev in them so you cannot 

 tell where the different kinds of comb 

 commence or leave off. you will have 

 to wait until the honey is taken out 

 by the bees, when these can be fixed 

 also. 



In this way I go over all my combs, 

 nearly every spring, just after pollen 

 becomes plenty, getting out the drone- 

 combs. " But,"' says one, " your plan 

 cannot be effectual, or you would not 

 need to thus go over your combs every 

 year." To such an one I would say, 

 that combs are not always like a piece 

 of iron which will stay for years as 

 first made; but with me the mice 

 sometimes will get in a hive in the 

 winter, in spite of all precaution, and 

 gnaw a hole into the combs, which 

 hole the bees fill with drone-comb 

 unless I get the start of them and fill 

 it with worker-comb, as above de- 

 scribed. 



Then, again, the moth-larva will 

 get in while extra combs are stored 

 away, or the bees, in cutting down 



old queen-cells, or removing old, 

 moldy bee-bread, will cut out the 

 comb also ; and by numerous ways 

 drone-comb will get in after the 

 combs are comparatively perfect ; 

 hence, it requires vigilance in this as 

 well as in other things, if we would 

 reap a reward. One ot the objections 

 I have to wired frames, is their liabil- 

 ity, from some of the above cau^es, 

 to get drone-comb in them, in which 

 case it is not as easily replaced with 

 worker-comb as is the case where no 

 wire is used. 

 Borodino, X. Y. 



^B£S^2M^>// 



?£F3 



liB'O'X"^ 



Report of Honey Crop for 1884. 



I commenced tlie season with -52 

 colonies, spring count, and increased 

 them to 56 colonies. I have taken 910 

 pounds of comb lioney from 34 colo- 

 nies, IGO pounds of extracted honey, 

 and 10 pounds of beeswax. Every 

 colony is in good condition, and each 

 has at least 30 pounds of good, cap- 

 ped honey to winter on. To-day I 

 covered all the brood-chambers with 

 old rags, and I will winter my bees on 

 the summer stands. The bees have 

 failed to bring me in a profit this year, 

 the cause of the failure being beyond 

 their or my power, so I prepared them 

 for another winter, hoping for brighter 

 prospects in the season of 1885. 



R. M. OSBORN. 9 



Kane, 111., Oct. 22, 1884. 



Getting Sections Completely Filled. 



At the Chicago Convention, Mr. 

 Ileddon is reported to be working out 

 a plan to get sections completely filled 

 with honey. Some years ago, when I 

 was engaged in the bee-business, I 

 used to let my bees build and store in 

 the ordinary frames ; then, with a 

 sharp knife I cut the combs from 

 these frames, laid them gently on a 

 piece of clean blanket, re-cut them to 

 the sizes required, slipped the sec- 

 tions over the pieces, and in the even- 

 ing placed them in the hive to have 

 the bees dry tliem off. Early on the 

 next morning, I removed them. The. 

 plan worked well, was not much 

 trouble after I got used to it, and the 

 sections looked neater and cleaner 

 than I could get them in any other 

 way. Perhaps this may be Mr. Hed- 

 don's plan. A. Maloxe. 



Garden Island, Ont., Oct. 2-5, 1884. 



Cure for Bee-Stings. 



At the late meeting of the Xorth- 

 western Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 we notice various remedies for bee- 

 stings, nearly all of which we have 

 tried, but have found nothing so ef- 

 fective as the following : Take equal 

 parts of the tincture of aconite, laud- 

 anum and chloroform, bathe the 

 wound once or twice, and the pain 

 and swelling will leave. For many 

 years as druggist, I have known of 



