630 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



frames, with starters. He will get more 

 sections with less trouble. I believe the 

 Ideal super is slightly too small, but it will 

 do very well for a trial trip. 



The conditions of success are these: Full 

 sheets of foundation so that the queen will 

 lay in all the combs as soon as possible; for 

 as soon as a comb has eg-gs in it the sec- 

 tions immediately above it will be filled out 

 plump and fat. I could never succeed in 

 having- the outside sections well filled or 

 filled at all when only five combs were 

 used. The bees invariably worked in the 

 middle only. If the nights are cool, the 

 Ideal super is far ahead. 



The same issue in which Mr. Gill's letter 

 appears, some remarkable testimony along- 

 this line is also given. One item alone will 

 bear me out, and that is contained in Mr. 

 A. I. Root's account at Bellaire, Mich. 



PREVENTION OF SWARMING. 



This whole subject was discussed as usual; hut I got 

 a uew idea, or one that is new to nie. We all agree 

 that, by the use of the extractor, swarming can be dis- 

 couraged much better than whete we work for comb 

 honey. If you give the bees plenty of room to store as 

 near the brood-nest as possible, or better still, right in 

 the heart of the brood-nest, you -s/ill discourage swarm- 

 ing. vVell, now, instead of using the extractor in 

 throwing the honey out of the combs in the brood-nest, 

 suppose we have half-depth stories and half depth 

 frames. In this way we can get a case of sections, 

 either empty (or, where the bees have partly drawn 

 out and filled the combs), not only close to the brood- 

 nest, but we can get it right in the brood-nest. Our 

 friend Bingham, and others who advocate these very 

 shallow frames, perhaps can tell us more about this. 

 Mr. Fred Somerford, of Cuba, produced a very fine 

 crop of comb honey which was secured on half-depth 

 frames, if I am correct. In fact, he had so large a crop 

 he himself went with it to New York to make a sale. 



Mr. Root does not seem to know that a 

 number of persons have been recommending 

 and practicing this same method for years. 

 Several fine articles on this method have 

 appeared in Gleanings, written principal- 

 ly from Texas. I have advocated it for sev- 

 eral years, and probably lots of bee-keepers 

 use it. 



Mr. Stachelhausen advocates similar 

 plans and practices; but.. if one may judge 

 from the symposium on forced swarms, his 

 idea does not seem to "catch on." Both 

 forced and natural swarms entail a great 

 deal of unnecessary work just when time is 

 precious in an apiary. Dr. Miller, in his 

 usual way, has a slap at the forced swarms 

 without awakening any one, apparently. 



Mr. Clare, who is so strongly in favor of 

 starters, must be a Britisher, for he wishes 

 me to exhibit my pedigree before swallow- 

 ing any thing. I may say, and the way he 

 sticks out for the old-fashioned way is 

 thoroughly British in every respect, I have 

 kept bees much further north than Rideau 

 Ferry, in Ontario, and that, too, in shallow 

 hives, with good results. As a matter of 

 fact, this idea is old. Over 150 years ago 

 the Scotch adopted a hive much like the 

 Heddon, with shallow chambers, which 

 were often added from below. And swarm- 

 ing may be totally prevented by adding 

 from below; which, being the case, enables 

 the bee-keeper to get very good yields. The 

 idea works as well north as south. I work- 



ed it 3000 miles south of Mr. Clare; and Mr. 

 Harry Lathrop, in Wisconsin, works it all 

 right. No, comb foundation is a grand 

 invention when its use is rightly understood. 

 The business of cutting out pieces of comb, 

 slicing off drones' heads, etc., does not suit 

 me. It all takes time; besides, to make 

 drone comb takes time and honey; and to 

 raise young drones takes lots of food right- 

 fully belonging to the working party. Al- 

 together it is a costly experience. I have 

 tried it. 



Another thing is this: Persons who use 

 starters have to handle combs with the 

 greatest care; the3' can't ship colonies any 

 distance; in fact, the beginner who does not 

 use full sheets carefullj^ wired commits a 

 grave error; for if he decides to sell his 

 bees later on he can sell all right; but if he 

 does not, woe to him when he attempts to 

 ship. Good combs well wired are the best 

 recommendation in selling an apiary, north 

 or south. I have had bees shipped to me 

 3000 miles on wired combs, without the loss 

 of a colon3^ If the comb is shallow, how- 

 ever, and well fastened to the bottom-bar, 

 it is all right; but that is only another ar- 

 gument in favor of shallow frames. 



In the same issue in which Mr. Clare's 

 letter appears, Mr. Orel L. Hershiser ad- 

 vocates a shallow frame, and Doolittle hints • 

 about the drone comb. I will bet a cooky 

 he has but very little drone comb about his 

 apiary that is not wanted for queen-breed- 

 ing. Mr. Danzenbaker has covered this 

 ground very well in his "Facts about 

 Bees." I hope Mr. Clare has a copy. No 

 starters, but broad shallow hives, are ne- 

 cessities for comb honej'. 



[I have for several years used shallow- 

 depth supers filled with extracting-frames 

 to put on colonies of moderate strength in 

 place of putting on supers of sections. Su- 

 pers of Ideal depth, or those of the right 

 depth to take 4X5 sections, were used for 

 the purpose. A. I. R. possibly was not 

 aware that I had been using them in this 

 way. With these shallow extracting-su- 

 pers one can very often get some honey from 

 moderately weak colonies when he may not 

 be able to get comb hone}' from them at all. 

 They also serve the excellent purpose of 

 giving just enough room, and no more, to 

 accommodate the capacity of the colony. 



You speak of one disadvantage of using 

 starters, that the combs are too frail to han- 

 dle from lack of wires. Starters may be 

 used in wired frames, and the bees will 

 build natural comb over the wires very 

 readil}', so that natural-built combs ran be 

 just as secure as those built from founda- 

 tion. 



I can not imagine why any one should at- 

 tempt to use combs of any kind unless they 

 are wired. In buying up bees we get such 

 combs; and to say that they are an intoler- 

 able nuisance is putting it very mildly in- 

 deed. They have to be handled just so or 

 they will tumble out of the frames in hot 

 weather. — Ed.] 



