THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



201 



with ray locality and methods, a case 

 of sections dlled with combs is worth 

 nearly as much in the spring as a case 

 of finished sections of honey ; and the 

 honey stored in these halt-tinished 

 combs has always been sealed over as 

 quickly as any other, and of as good 

 quality and tine appearance. 

 Rogersville,(5 Mich. 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



Using Sections witli Olfl Comli. 



C. THEILMANN. 



I have read Mr. Dibbern's article 

 on page 150, and would like to say a 

 few words in justice to myself and 

 other prominent bee-keepers whose 

 experience does not agree with Mr. 

 D's ; also to bring out more fully the 

 unquestionable benefit and use of 

 partly-filled or unfinished sections 

 after the honey harvest is over. 



I was ranch surprised after reading 

 Mr. D's article, as my experience of 

 late years with partly- Bnished sec- 

 tions is the reverse of his, though 

 some years ago I had the same trouble 

 as he has had. He says : '■ I found 

 after these sections of honey built 

 from old comb had been on the racks 

 a month or two, they would show a 

 sweaty appearance with indications 

 of souring, such as bulging the caps, 

 and the honey running out." 



It appears that Mr. D. is not mak- 

 ing the best use of nice comb built in 

 sections, by melting the comb and 

 burning the sections, else he would 

 value such combs in sections very 

 highly, and secure No. 1 honey with 

 them every time, and which would 

 not sour on that account. I used to 

 get such honey from old sections, but 

 I have overcome all the difiiculties he 

 refers to, and now I get as good and 

 as nice appearing comb honey, by 

 using the sections and combs left 

 over, as can be produced ; at least it 

 sells for the highest market price, and 

 has also the best reputation at home. 



For the benefit of those who do not 

 know how to make the best use of old 

 sections filled with nice comb, I will 

 describe my method, which is as fol- 

 lows : 



After the honey harvest is over, I 

 hasten to take from the hives all the 

 surplus arrangements (I have only 

 one kind of them, which hold 24 one- 

 pound sections each), and sort out all 

 the sections which are not marketable 

 or finished ; as a rule these are the 

 latest put on, and contain fall or dark 

 honey. When all are sorted out I ex- 

 tract them as clean and as soon as 

 possible. While taking them out of 

 the extractor, I shave off all the 

 bulged or uneven combs, if there are 

 any, also the outer edges of such 

 combs as are nearly full size (this 

 latter operation takes off the thick 

 rim on the end of the cells, and the 

 comb will he finished and capped with 

 new wax, which makes a nicer ap- 

 pearance). At this extracting the 

 combs can be shaved with the honey- 

 knife to any size without breaking or 

 crumbling. After they are fixed up, 

 I place the empty sections in the sur- 



plus arrangements, and in the even- 

 ing I place them (sometimes three or 

 four of them tiered up) on some 

 strong colonies, and let the bees clean 

 up everything nicely over night. The 

 next morning I take them off and 

 store them in the honey-house, when 

 they are ready for another harvest. 



I presume Mr. Dibbern would call 

 this "puttering," but I can assure 

 him that I can do this more quickly, 

 and with more benefit financially, 

 than he can cut out and melt the 

 combs and burn the sections ; not for- 

 getting the time it takes for putting 

 foundation into new sections. I alone 

 extracted and fixed up over 1 ,000 sec- 

 tions, as above described, in two days 

 last fall. To burn old sections is non- 

 sense for an experienced bee-keeper ; 

 mine never get old in appearance as 

 long as I have control of them, and I 

 am aware that there are many more 

 bee-keepers whose old sections are 

 kept as clean as mine, but it appears 

 that the "progress" of some bee- 

 keepers has not as yet reached that 

 point. 



When I am ready to market my 

 honey, hardly any one, as a rule, can 

 tell which are old or new sections, 

 and by letting the bees clean out 

 every particle of honey, after the sec- 

 tions are extracted, the combs will 

 keep sweet and nice, and the new 

 honey put into them will keep as good 

 as if new combs had been built. I 

 can secure much more honey when 

 the combs are already built ; many 

 times the bees will fill a case before 

 they would enter one with only foun- 

 dation in the sections. Even com- 

 paratively small colonies enter and 

 fill the sections with combs, that 

 would not touch them with only fouu- 

 nation ; neither will the queens be apt 

 to deposit eggs in such sections sooner 

 than they will otherwise. I use no 

 excluding honey-board, and out of 

 over 10,000 sections filled with honey 

 last season there were only nine with 

 some brood in them, and five of which 

 had foundation only. 



To show that my bees will still do 

 like Mr. D's bees did, and like mine 

 have done years ago (by my manipu- 

 lation); and that locality or climate 

 has nothing to do with it, when they 

 finish up old combs with some honey 

 left in them from the previous year, 

 which will look bad, will sour and 

 burst open, 1 will give the following 

 experience : 



A year ago last fall, by an over- 

 sight, a case of unfinished sections 

 which were partly capped over, and 

 ready for the extractor, got in under 

 some surplus arrangements in my 

 honey-house. 1 did not discover it 

 until last spring. I then took the 

 opportunity to experiment with 12 

 sections in the case that were finished 

 the most. I put them on a hive in a 

 surplus arrangement, with 12 new 

 sections with foundation ; the bees 

 filled and capped them all with clover 

 and linden honey, but the difference 

 between the new and the old sections 

 was like white and black — the white 

 was the same as all my clover and 

 linden honey of late years, but on the 

 old combs the bees (or rather 1) had 

 played the same " trick " as years ago; 



the honey was unsalable, and in every 

 way as Mr. Dibbern describes his 

 honey in old combs. 



The reader can see by the above 

 that the nature of bees does not 

 change, and that they cannot make 

 spoiled honey good ; and in order for 

 the bee-keeper to secure nice comb 

 honey in old combs, he must extract 

 the honey from them and let the bees 

 clean out every bit before it gets old 

 and sour. By doing this we can get 

 just as good honey, in every respect, 

 in old combs as in new ones. 



Theilmauton,o« Minn. 



for tne AmencaD Bee Journal. 



Have Bees llie Sense Of Hearing? 



ELIAS FOX. 



In reference to Mr. Brimmer's arti- 

 cle on this subject on page 121, I 

 would like to make a few suggestions. 



We are all well aware that the 

 sound of bees' wings vary, and also 

 that their odor varies, which is 

 equally as well demonstrated when 

 they are angry. The same difference 

 that there is in the vibration of the 

 bees' wings is as plainly noticeable in 

 the sound of the cylinder of a thresh- 

 ing machine, which, as the speed is 

 increased, emits a sharper sound ; it 

 is also the same of the wind — there is 

 a vast difference between the sound 

 of the gentle breeze, and the raging 

 cyclone. 



If a few bees lead a colony to a tree 

 a mile or more away, it is on the same 

 principle that wh^re one or two sheep 

 of a flock go, there also will the rest 

 go ; or the same as a covey of prairie 

 chickens— if one flies, the whole flock 

 follows, which is nothing but natural, 

 and is caused wholly by sight. I 

 would like to know how Mr. Brimmer 

 knows that the tree a mile away was 

 previously selected. In making a 

 noise to stop absconding swarms, if 

 they stop at all on account of it 

 (which I very much doubt), I would 

 rather think that it was more the 

 movements that attracted their atten- 

 tion than the noise. I presume the 

 bees would have stopped just where 

 they did, if he had not made any 

 noise, unless it was the movements 

 that caused them to stop ; and it is 

 altogether likely that those colonies 

 that were brought back two days in 

 succession, would have remained just 

 the same if the queen's wing had not 

 been clipped. If such was not the 

 case, they surely would have come 

 out of the hive again and indicated 

 their intentipu just the same. 



I have had one new colony come out 

 after being hived two days, and at a 

 time when I was away from home ; 

 when I returned I found them clus- 

 tered on a fence-post toward a forest. 

 I returned them to the same hive 

 without clipping the queen's wing, 

 and they remained contentedly. If I 

 had been at home and pounded the 

 bottom out of a tin-pan, I might have 

 thought that the noise saved my bees. 

 Thus it goes; we should not jump at 

 conclusions, " but prove them as we 

 go." 



