1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



91 



age emerging- from combs from 15 to 25 

 years old." 



"But, does not each bee leave a shed-off 

 skin in the cell at the time of emerging?" 



"It is true that each emerging bee leaves 

 a slight cocoon or lining in the cell; but as 

 this cocoon is much thicker at the base of 

 the cell than at the sides, and so thin at 

 any spot that it is hardly perceptible, no 

 bad results seem to arise therefrom." 



"Then you think I will be all right in 

 using these eight to ten year combs which 

 I have?" 



"Yes. I believe it is always safe to use 

 combs as long as they are in good condition, 

 and old combs have the advantage of being 

 better for the bees during the winter than 

 new; consequently I have no thoughts of 

 throwing away my 25-year-old combs at 

 present." 



"Well, I am glad I had this talk with 

 you, for it has saved mj' combs, which I 

 had hated to destroy. But some of them 

 have much pollen in them. How am I to 

 get that removed?" 



" I find that the bees will do this the best 

 of any thing; and unless the pollen is old 

 and hard, it will help them much at early 

 brood-rearing if j'ou give each colony one 

 of these combs containing pollen early in 

 the spring before they can secure it from 

 the fields. This is the way I dispose of all 

 combs heavj' with pollen which are carried 

 over winter." 



"But a part of the combs containing pol- 

 len have been off the hives for three or four 

 years, and it seems to have hardened in 

 the cells, so I judge the bees can not remove 

 it." 



"I have had a few combs like these, and 

 I place such in tepid water, and allow 

 them to remain thus for a few days, when 

 the pollen will all be soaked soft; and by 

 putting them in the extractor after this, 

 the most or all of it can be thrown out. I 

 have so few that I do not wish to dirty up 

 the extractor for them. I shake what I can 

 out of the combs after the soaking process, 

 when the combs are put in sweetened water 

 for a few hours, and then given to the bees, 

 which will clean them up as good as new. 

 In fact, I think this the better way to work 

 at all times, as it incites the bees to activi- 

 ty, cleans the combs, and produces more 

 brood than would otherwise be reared." 



"I thought of throwing these combs con- 

 taining old pollen into the solar wax-ex- 

 tractor, and not trying to save them, even 

 if I did preserve those having no pollen." 



"I would not do this, even did I intend 

 to melt these combs." 



"Why? Is not that the best way to get 

 the wax from them?" 



"It is the best way to get no wax from 

 them. I find that where there is much 

 pollen in combs thus melted, said pollen 

 will absorb all the wax there is in these 

 combs, and quite a little more from other 

 combs which may be in with this. Since 

 discovering this fact I am careful how any 

 pollen is allowed to go into the solar wax- 



extractor, as pollen is a great absorbent of 

 melted wax." 



"How would you render such combs 

 then?" 



"If combs containing much pollen are to be 

 rendered for wax it should be done by 

 means of boiling water, as the water in 

 agitation from boiling dissolves the pollen 

 as well as to liquefy the wax, thus allow- 

 ing the wax to escape without being absorb- 

 ed by the pollen." 



On page 104 of this issue our readers will 

 find a picture of the Chicago Northwestern 

 Bee-keepers' convention held last Decem- 

 ber. Those who have never seen a large 

 crowd of men so enthusiastic on the subject 

 of bees that they almost begrudged the 

 time spent in taking the picture can not re- 

 alize how much they have missed. It is a 

 pleasure to shake hands with those just 

 starting in; but it is a greater pleasure to 

 meet the old veterans whom we know so 

 well by reason of the bee-papers. Go and 

 find out. 



DEEP SNOWS AND CLOVER. 



We are getting an old-fashioned winter — 

 fine sleighing everywhere, deep snow — quite 

 like the weather we used to have in our 

 younger days; and don't you remember 

 when we used to have those old-fashioned 

 winters we had old-fashioned clover-honey 

 crops? Some one has said that heavy deep 

 snows continuing over a good portion of the 

 winter means a heavy and luxuriant growth 

 of clover, and that means honej' of course. 

 I believe myself there is an intimate rela- 

 tion between heavy snows during winter 

 and a crop of clover honey in summer. 



THE DROUTH IN AUSTRALIA; THE INHAB- 

 ITANTS OF THE RAIN-BELT. 



Mr. H. L. Jones, of Goodna, Aus., one 

 of the representative bee-keepers of that 

 countr3% writes that his people are having 

 the most disastrous drouth they have ever 

 known, and that at least 80 per cent of the 

 cattle have died ; so also have the forest-trees 

 by the thousands, from lack of moisture. 

 Bees, as a natural result, he sa3's, have 

 had a fearful time. While we S3'mpathize 

 with our friends on the other side of the 

 globe, we hope that condition will not swing 

 around to this side. After all, when we 

 compare the drouths in Texas, California, 

 and Colorado, it seems as if the portion in 

 the eastern and central part of the United 

 States thsough that part of the country 



