1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



387 



they were clipped the last of May, and so are 

 two years old. Should one of these hives 

 swarm (and they are the ones that will 

 swarm to renew their queens), kill the 

 queen and allow them to issue with a 

 voung' queen) and you will have but little 

 drone comb to prune out of your hives. I 

 have seen such bunjjling work made out of 

 full sheets, either in not fastening^ founda- 

 tion securely or improper wiring, that I 

 feel like cautioning- beginners, or at least 

 advising- them to try foundation starters in 

 a restricted brood-chamber before they set- 

 tle down to the conviction that full sheets of 

 foundation are indispensable to success. 



That the building of comb is a stimulus 

 to the colonj-, and that the combs built bj' 

 early swarming- are a clear gain to their 

 keeper, all bee-keepers (are supposed to) 

 know. Why should we ignore the experi- 

 ence of such men as Hutchinson, Doolittle, 

 etc., and part with our hard-earned money 

 for what we can do as well without? 



In recommending- 30ur ten-frame Jumbo 

 hives I have wondered that you never men- 

 lion the eight-frame. As the eight-frame 

 Jumbo is the equivalent of the-frame L., I 

 tind it a good hive for out-3'ards that are run 

 for extracted honey, giving lots of room for 

 '.he queen while using the standard bottoms 

 and covers. Trj' a few and be convinced. 



Bees have wintered better that usual. 

 We lost but one out of 229, and one was 

 queenless this spring. 



Rideau Ferrj*, Ont. 



[It used to be the custom, some years ago, 

 t > have writers indicate the number of col- 

 onies the}' were operating; but it so often 

 happens that a man with a few colonies, a 

 c ose observer, is able to contribute much 

 of value to those who own several hundred 

 colonies that I have come to believe that a 

 man's abilitj' to give information does not 

 i.ccessaril}' aepend on mere bigness or num- 

 ber of his apiaries. Doolittle, for example, 

 itoquired most of his experience from a com- 

 paratively small apiarj-; and yet during 

 ihat ver}- time there were hundreds of bee- 

 1 eepers owning five times as many as he, 

 who were sitting at his feet as the Gama- 

 liel of modern beedom. E. E. Hasty, the 

 bright and versatile writer of the Ainejican 

 Bee Journal, has only a few colonies; and 

 yet I venture to say there is not a more 

 practical man in all our ranks. On the 

 other, hand an extensive bee-keeper maj' so 

 deputize his labors to others that he maj' 

 know but little about the details. 



As to how many colonies Mr. Morrison 

 has, I can not saj-; but he has kept bees in 

 various climates, and has had an opportuni- 

 ty for observation that many of us have not 

 had. He is educated, and trained to draw 

 conclusions from the standpoint of the scien- 

 tist, as well as a practical man. 



As intimated by Mr. Gill, in the article 

 preceding, this question of foundation ver- 

 sus full sheets hinges largely on local itj', 

 but not altogether, I suspect. It is possible 

 that Mr. Gill and Mr. Morrison might trade 



localities, and each still be of the same opin- 

 ion, after trying full sheets and starters. 

 Hello again! But here comes an old corres- 

 pondent, a practical bee-keeper, one of the 

 veterans, who indorses full sheets, and 

 strongly supports Mr. Morrison. 



FULL SHEETS OF FOUNDATION ; MORRISON 

 INDORSED. 



I wish to indorse all that W. K. [Morrison 

 says on page 233 in regard to using starters 

 in the brood-chamber. I have not used any 

 for several 3-ears, for the reason that the 

 bees would fill all or nearlj' all below the 

 starter with drone brood. I prefer full 

 sheets, but would use empty frames instead 

 of starters, although all bees do not work 

 alike. One of m\' neighbors told me that he 

 did not need an}- foundation in his sections 

 ^that his bees built combs all right with- 

 out any — a new experience to me. 



J. T. Van Petten. 



Washington, Kansas. 



[Bj' way of variety we have still another 

 advocate for starters. — Ed.] 



FOUNDATION STARTERS. 



What to Do with the Surplus Combs. 



BY GEO. W. STRANGWAYS. 



Mr. Morrison, on page 233, takes a very 

 extreme view with regard to the use of 

 foundation starters. Taking his discussion 

 as a whole, I have to saj' that, if you give me 

 a colony able to raise good healthy drones, I 

 will give 3'ou a colonj' able to give you a 

 good suppU' of honej-. Bj" this, don't take 

 me to mean that the more drones j-ou have 

 the better the results. But who ever heard 

 of a colon}' of bees swarming without their 

 drones, and, consequently, what will they 

 do with full sheets of foundation? If the 

 colony be a strong one they will certainly 

 convert considerable of the brood founda- 

 tion into drone comb, and thus foundation, 

 with the bus}' bees' patience and valuable 

 time, is wasted. 



I have always used starters with the ex- 

 ception of a few trials with full sheets, and 

 in those trials I was annoyed, not merely 

 by having the bees convert some of it into drone 

 comb, but by finding the combs warped, and 

 that even with wired frames; and often when 

 a hot spell would occur I would find the 

 foundation leaning one comb into another, 

 making very crooked combs, caused, of 

 course, by the heat and weight of bees. 

 My object in using foundation is to get 

 straight combs, not brood- combs, for I don't 

 think you can compel the bees to build all 

 brood-comb. Of course, our object should 

 be to have as much brood-comb as possible 

 built; and to obtain that you must have col- 

 onies in condition for this work. All small 

 colonies with young queens, and even me- 

 dium to strong colonies, will build little 

 else than worker comb. I get the greater 

 portion of my combs built from such colo- 

 nies. 



