156 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



so only because the combs were old, and 

 probabl}' therefore were unfit for brood. 

 Please tell me how old combs of the brood- 

 nest should be allowed to become brfore be- 

 ing- removable? When are they too old? 



2. What shall I do to get the best result 

 in rearing, now and then, some good queens, 

 for my own use? What season is the best 

 to do this, and must or should bees be fed 

 with something while the}' are engaged in 

 rearing queens? I find that some hives are 

 far superior to others in gathering honey, 

 and I suppose that this depends most on the 

 queen. Now, if I take a comb with fresh 

 brood with the bees thereon and place them 

 in a small box adapted to the purpose, do 

 you think the bees will or can rear a good 

 queen, provided those eggs are from a good 

 queen? Alphonse Veith. 



St. Meinrad, Ind. 



[1. I do not know why bees should bite off 

 the ceils of the comb unless the frames are 

 spaced too closely. The age of a comb 

 would cut no figure in the matter. I don't 

 know when a comb is too old for use. The 

 late R. Wilkin, and I believe Doolittle, said 

 they had some 30 years old, and they were 

 still doing good service in brood-rearing. I 

 do not think there is any thing in the state- 

 ment that brood-cells grow smaller; for 

 bees reared out of either old or new comb, 

 with the same queen, are the same size. 



2. If you desire only a few queens I would 

 advise you to take swarming-cells during 

 the swarming season — those that are at 

 least 9 days old — and insert them in nu- 

 clei, or, perhaps, better still, insert them 

 in queen-cell protectors and then in a colo- 

 ny from which the queen has just been 

 killed. If the cell is given to the colony at 

 the height of the honey season, swarming 

 will be checked, at least for the time being. 



No, I would not advise taking a comb 

 with young brood, with bees thereon, and 

 putting them in a small box for the purpose 

 of rearing queens. The bees would go to 

 work, of course, and rear cells; but a small 

 nucleus will not do as good work, as a 

 rule, as a strong colony. — Ed.] 



IS THE FORCED-SWARM METHOD OF NO 



VALUE TO PRODUCERS OF EXTRACTED 



HONEY? 



I have never worked bees for comb hone}'. 

 I am interested onl}' in extracting. Mr. 

 Stachelhausen saj's, p. 893, that, when he 

 produces extracted honey, he does not de- 

 pend on forced swarms. He has other 

 ways, some of them preferable. Now, if 

 all this forced-swarm writing in Glean- 

 ings is not for my class of bee-keepers, will 

 you please tell me how to inform myself 

 about these other methods he speaks of? 

 Frederick DuBois. 



Sanibel, Florida, Dec. 15. 



[Forced swarming is, perhaps, an unnec- 

 essary procedure in the production of ex- 

 tracted honey. The method Mr. Stachel- 

 hausen refers to related, probably, to hav- 



ing large hives or two small ones, one on 

 top of the other. A large brood-nest, wheth- 

 er in one or two stories, extracted every 

 week or ten days, will not be inclined to 

 cast a swarm. Perhaps a better plan, in- 

 stead of taking off the honey too early, is 

 to raise the super that is filled with honey, 

 and put under it a super of empty combs. 

 In the mean time, the bees in the super 

 above will have an opportunity to ripen the 

 honej' thoroughly, after which it may be 

 extracted. There are other methods, but 

 they are more thoroughly explained in the 

 text-books than I can do it here. — Ed.] 



OLD COMB vs. new; DO QUEKNS PREFER 



EITHER, OR IS IT ONLY A WHIM OR 



NOTION OF DIFFERENT QUEENS? 



It is strange the differences we bee-keep- 

 ers find, or seem to find, in the manner of 

 work of our bees. For instance. Dr. Miller 

 has for years been stating that, in his ex- 

 perience, queens prefer old comb, and yet 

 there are contradictions of this, and 3'ou 

 yourself are inclined to side against him. 

 Now, if j'ou watch this matter next season, 

 as you propose, you will find, if your queens 

 act as do Dr. Miller's and my own, that 

 they most decidedlj' prefer old comb to new. 

 I have had queens, both in nuclei and full 

 colonies, skip a bright new comb until they 

 had filled the old black combs on either 

 side with eggs, and this not once butmanj' 

 times, and every season. Is it lack of ob- 

 servation with others, or a peculiarit}' of 

 Dr. Miller's and my own queens? I am sat- 

 isfied that locality is accountable for many 

 differences, but scarcely for one like this. 



C. S. Hams. 



Holly Hill, Fla., Dec. 16. 



[The apparent conflict of opinion in this 

 matter, I think, is explained verj' satis- 

 factorily on page 105, Feb. 1. — Ed.] 



HOW TO KEEP OLD TRANSFERRED COMBS IN 



A NEW FRAME WITHOUT THE USE OF 



WIRE OR STRING. 



I have never seen (in print) my way of 

 fastening combs when transferred to frames. 

 It's easy. First prepare a bundle of nice 

 smooth corn or cane stalks, about 9 inches 

 long, to reach across the frames. The top 

 joints, which are ^s to J2 an inch in diame- 

 ter, are all right. Larger pieces may be 

 split. Now take a strip of pine, /2 inch 

 wide, and just long enough to reach across 

 the inside of the bottom-board. It should 

 be just as thick as the side rails, so as to 

 form a rest for the middle of the bottom-bar 

 of each frame. This will prevent heavy 

 combs from sagging till fastened by bees. 



When the hive-bodj' is placed on the bot- 

 tom, the first comb fitted in the frame may be 

 placed at the side of the hive with a corn- 

 stalk or two between them. If frames are 

 of the self-spacing kind, after fitting the 

 combs they maj' be all set in with sufficient 

 cornstalks between to keep each comb in 

 place. Then put in a division-board and 



