1883 



GLEANINGS IN B£E CULTURE. 



581 



for comb honey nearly failed; the five best I ran 

 for increase, and increased IT; this makes 47(1 will 

 sell 20 IF I can). 1 have adopted a plan for winter- 

 ing-, and have succeeded well so far; and if I succeed 

 as well for three more winters, then I shall begin to 

 think I can winter bees. 



COM15 AND COMB-BUII.DING. 



One thing I learned this season that 1 have never 

 heard mentioned in the bee-journals, and that is, 

 how the bees get the wax to build their comb. I 

 had a swarm working in a l'/2-story Langstroth hive, 

 witb a honey-board and the old-fashioned boxes on 

 with glass in one side. I put starters of comb in 

 the boxes, and the bees went to work. When they 

 got the box nearly full I took considerable time 

 watching them work. I haveamagnifying-glass that 

 draws the bee as large as my thumb. This gave me 

 a good chance to see what they were doing, and how 

 they did it. I could see the tield bee give his load of 

 honey to the young bee, and could see bee No. 1 go 

 to bee No. 3, and with his head he would raise No. 2 

 up and get his load of wax, then hurry back to his 

 place on the comb, and pass on his load of wax to 

 the cells. I saw the comb-builder go to four dif- 

 ferent bees before he got his load of wax. The last 

 one he went to, he seemed to get mad, and tried to 

 sting him. No. 4 curled up, then straightened out, 

 and No. 1 got his load. I feel pretty sure that drones 

 build comb, and what I saw in one of those boxes 

 that had drone comb in compels me to say at least 

 they help. I know that comb-building by drones is 

 denied by our best apiarians; but if the drones were 

 watched closely, they would get more credit, I think, 

 than they srenerally do. At s-^me future time I may 

 explain what I saw. Tell me if j'ou ever saw bees 

 get the wax in the way I have mentioned. Please 

 tell, if you can, whether the black bees can make 

 whiter comb than the Italians, or not, when work- 

 ing from the same Howers. I can't see any dif- 

 ference in color, but I can see a big differerce in the 

 amount of honey gathered, in favor of Italians. 



Oakley, la., Oct. 8, 1S8H. Wm. Malone. 



Our readers will remember friend M. as 

 the one who gave us the wonderful report 

 about a j'ear ago. We are very glad to know 

 that he continues to be successful. — In re- 

 gard to the comb-building, and the part the 

 drones have to do with it, I believe we shall 

 have to decide pielty generally that friend 

 M. is mistaken. He saw the bees go around 

 for wax to other bees, without doubt; but if 

 he intends to carry the idea that this wax 

 was carried in from tiie fields, he is surely 

 mistaken, we think. The wax scales which 

 exude from between the rings of the body 

 are, without question, the source from which 

 wax is obtained ; and if he will again look 

 with his magnifying-glass he will see them 

 picking: for these scales. Pollen is often 

 taken from the legs of field bees as soon 

 as they bring it in, and doubtless he has got 

 the two things mixed. Friend Carroll has 

 declared that drones assist in comb - build- 

 ing; but until older and more careful ob- 

 servers shall be able to see something of that 

 sort, I presume we shall have to think they 

 are mistaken. No offense intended toward 

 friends M. and C; but drones have been very 

 carefully studied by those who have made it 

 almost the business of a lifetime, and the gen- 

 eral decision is, that they do no work of any 

 sort whatever. They are simply drones, and 



nothing but drones. — I believe it is general- 

 ly agreed that black bees do make whiter 

 comb honey than the Italians ; but it is also 

 agreed that the reason is, that the black bees 

 cap the cells of honey before they are quite 

 full, while the Italians fill the cells com- 

 pletely full, making a solid tight job of it. 

 The unfilled cells look whiter on account of 

 the air-space between the caps and the 

 honey. 



SOME FACTS (?) ABOUT BEES. 



Here are two facts I have seen nothing like about 

 bees. A reliable neighbor tells me, that last spring 

 a swarm of bees passed over him; he and another 

 man gave chase, and soon saw them approach and 

 join an immense cluster of bees on a tree. They cut 

 the tree and divided them, putting them indis- 

 criminately into three empty hives, which they filled 

 to overflowing. Next day there were found to be 

 more bees than could work in the three hives, and 

 two other hives were filled, making five, and they 

 were taken indiscriminately, without regard to 

 queens, and all five did well. No brood or comb was 

 supplied any of them at any time. There was an 

 old gentlenifin with 50 or 60 hives near by, who for 

 years has given them no attention, letting them 

 swarm and go to the woods when they liked. He is 

 near 80, and without help. I suppose some dozen 

 swarms had settled there with their queens. 



BEE.S AMONG THE LIMBS OF A TREE, WITHOUT A 

 HIVE. 



Last Dec. a young man was in the woods hunting. 

 Observing something peculiar in a scrubby tree, he 

 examined it and found it was honey-comb securely 

 built among the limbs and vines. He cut it down 

 and got a flue chunk of nicely capped honey. The 

 bees were an immense swarm, and he is of opinion 

 they would have wintered there with no protection 

 but their comb. J. H. Burrow. 



Lynnville, Tenn., Oct. 9, 1883. 



Friend B.,no doubt your neighbor who 

 tells you the first fact is reliable ; but either 

 he or somebody else has made a mistake, I 

 should say. Five swarms might easily 

 cluster together ; but when they come to be 

 divided, without finding the queens, and a 

 queen happened to get into each of the five 

 divisions, it would be something quite 

 improbable, if not impossible. Your other 

 fact is nothing particularly new, and the 

 l)ees might possibly have wintered, provided 

 they were very strong, and had an abund- 

 ance of honey. 



HOW TO GET COMBS BUILT CLEAR DOWN TO THE 

 BOTTOM-BAR. 



I have thought a good many times, that if the bees 

 would build their combs down to the bottom-bar it 

 would make it much more solid in the frame, and 

 would therefore be much better for extracting. 

 Well, I have found out how to take advantage of 

 them, just a Utile, by putting the foundation down 

 to the bottom-bar, and leaving the space above; and 

 as they don't seem to like the idea of having the 

 space left above, they go to work and build up, and 

 so hereafter I shall put all my fdn. in, in that way. 

 I also want to saj' a word with regard to new swarms 

 leaving their hives. Some who have given their 

 experience claim that a new swarm will not leave, 

 if given eggs and uncapped brood, and others that 

 this will cause them to leave. Now, I claim that 

 there will te exceptions to both these rules. I 



