1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



427 



to suit the size of the little colony they will 

 fill them very quickly, especially when 

 honey is coming- in from the fields, and each 

 comb will be filled with brood as fast as 

 built." 



"How long- will they continue to build 

 all worker comb? " 



" If not too strong the}' will generallj' 

 build comb of the worker size of cell until 

 the bees begin to emerge from the eggs first 

 laid in the newly built combs b}- the queen; 

 but as soon as man}* bees emerge they will 

 change to the drone size of cells: or if the 

 little colony is quite strong in bees they 

 may change the size of cells sooner than 

 this." 



" How do you tell about this? " 



" As soon as the first frames given them 

 are filled with comb I look to see how many 

 bees they have; and if they are still well 

 stocked with bees, or in a shape where I 

 maj' expect that they maj' change the size 

 of cell before thej- reach the bottoms of the 

 frames, should I spread those apart which 

 the}- already have and insert other empty 

 or partlj' filled frames, I take out the combs 

 thej' alreadj' have built, and thus put them 

 in the same condition they were in when I 

 started." 



" Will they still work just as well? " 



"No, not quite. They will not build 

 combs quite as freelj- this time as thej' did 

 before, unless there can be some young bees 

 emerging; so, if I can conveniently, I give 

 them a comb containing mostly honey and 

 a little brood (if they have such a comb it 

 is left with them, which is more often the 

 case than otherwise) from some other colo- 

 nj', when they are read}' to work the same 

 as before. In this way a colony can be 

 kept building worker comb all summer, or 

 till the bees are nearly used up from old 

 age, the colony becoming so small as to be 

 unable to build comb to any advantage un- 

 der any circumstances. But if just the right 

 amount of brood is left, or given them, so 

 they stay in about the same condition, they 

 will build worker comb all summer by the 

 apiarist supplying honey or feed when none 

 is coming from the fields." 



" But suppose }'Ou do not find them ver\' 

 strong on your examination — what then? " 



" If not so strong but that I think they 

 will still continue to build worker comb, 

 instead of taking the brood away I spread 

 the frames of comb (now built) apart and 

 insert one or more frames between them, 

 when these will generally be filled with 

 worker comb before enough 3'oung bees 

 emerge for them to change the size of cell." 



" I think I understand now, and so will 

 be going." 



" Hold on a minute. Don't be in too big 

 a hurry." 



" Why? What is the trouble? " 



" There is one thing I do not think you 

 take into consideration as fully as you 

 should." 



" What is that? " 



"You should always keep this in mind, 

 whenever j'ou find these colonies building 



drone comb: The combs they then have, all 

 except the one mostly filled with honey, are 

 to be taken awaj' so that they may feel 

 their need of worker brood again, when 

 they will build cells of the worker size the 

 same as they did on the start." 



" Thank you for this part. I should 

 hardly have known what to do when they 

 commenced to build drone comb had you 

 not stopped me to tell me this. And now, 

 in parting, how man}' combs have you ever 

 had built in this way? " 



" I have had hundreds of frames built 

 full of worker comb in this way; hundreds 

 completed as you are proposing to do, and 

 hundreds and thousands 'patched,' where 

 I had cut out small pieces of drone comb 

 which had gotten in in one way or another. 

 If you ever have a mutilated comb you wish 

 to have fixed so it will be a surprise to you, 

 just give it to one of these little prepared 

 colonies, and see what nice work they can 

 do at ' patching ' with all worker comb. 

 This last is an item the bee world does not 

 seem to take in fully, and it is something 

 which gives me the most pleasure of the 

 whole, especially where, through mice in 

 winter, or otherwise, comb has been de- 

 stroyed in spots where said comb was in 

 wired frames." 



COLORADO ANTI-HONEY-ADULTERATION 

 LAW, 



Colorado has now a pure-food law which 

 was secured through the influence and 

 prestige of the Colorado State Bee-keepers' 

 Association. This law provides that no 

 person shall sell any adulterated or imita- 

 tion honey or beeswax unless properly la- 

 beled with the percentage. Any violation 

 of this law will mean confiscation of the 

 goods, and a fine of from S25 to S500 on the 

 offender. There is no doubt that the Col- 

 orado Association will see that the law is 

 enforced. It has money, men, and power 

 back of it. Score another point in favor of 

 organization. 



I happen to know, from private sources 

 that can not be questioned, that adultera- 

 tion, in spite of a good law against it, is 

 flagrantly and openly carried on in San 

 Francisco; but "any thing goes in that 

 town," for it is a wide-open place. Gam- 

 bling, drinking places, houses of ill-fame — 

 every thing goes there without let or hin- 

 drance. A large amount of honey is adul- 

 terated in California, and the new Califor- 

 nia organization will do a great work if it 

 can enforce the pure-food law, which is 

 stringent enough if men can be found who 



