342 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



dation has beeu made very thin— so 

 thin that, according to the experi- 

 ments of Mr. Doolittle, it offered less 

 resistance than the base of natural 

 comb— but foundation so thin as this, 

 is, I believe, seldom made, although I 

 will admit that some foundation very 

 nearly approaches it, perhaps near 

 enough for practical purposes, but 

 there is the color. Natural comb is 

 white, while comb foundation is yel- 

 low. Right here it would be very un- 

 fair not to admit that there is a great 

 difference in the color of foundation, 

 some manufacturers seem to have the 

 faculty of so purifying the wax that it 

 is a very light straw color, and it 

 shows but very little even in the 

 whitest honey. 



Of course the thinner and lighter 

 colored the foundation the less ob- 

 jectionable its use, but I doubt if 

 foundation could be made so that an 

 experienced bee-keeper could not de- 

 tect its presence in honey. I hope I 

 am mistaken, but there is a toughness 

 about foundation that stands out in 

 such bold relief when compared with 

 the brittleness of natural comb, that 

 I fear I am in the right. 



Perhaps some bee-keeper will say : 

 " Mr. H. if you believe as you say you 

 do, why do you use foundation ?" Be- 

 cause I am compelled to, or be left 

 behind in the race. No, let me modify 

 this. It is because I think I would be 

 left behind. Perhaps I can best ex- 

 plain by quoting part of a paragraph 

 from " The Production of Comb 

 Honey : 



"When bees are gathering honey 

 slowly, the natural wax secretion prob- 

 ably furnishes sufficient material, and 

 there is probably abundant time for 

 the building of comb in which to 

 store the honey. As the flow of honey 

 increases, the wax secretion is in- 

 creased by an increased consumption 

 of honey. Whether it is proHtable to 

 allow this increased consumption of 

 honey, depends upon the price of wax 

 compared with that of honey, and the 

 amount that is required of the latter 

 for the production of the former. But, 

 as the flow of honey increases, a point 

 is finally reached where the bees can- 

 not secrete wax and build comb with 

 sufficient rapidity to enable them to 

 store all the honey they might gather. 

 When this point is reached, and pos- 

 sibly a long time before, it is profit- 

 able to use full sheets of foundation 

 in the sections. But the flow of honey 

 can be, and sometimes is, so increased 

 that the bees cannot keep pace with 

 the bountiful harvest, even with foun- 

 dation in the sections,and these drown 

 comfes would be an advantage. (It is 

 possible that it would be more profit- 

 able to keep so many bees in one 

 apiary that this latter point would 

 never be reached.)" 



Following the above come direc- 

 tions for securing natural combs for 

 filling sections. 



In reply to Mr. Whitford's first 

 question, I would say that it depends 

 ■ upon whether the flow is light and 

 lengthy, or heavy and short. When 

 the harvest comes, as it often does 

 here in the North, in the shape of a 

 short, sharp " honey-shower, " it is 

 impossible to secure it unless founda- 



tion or drawn combs are used in the 

 sections, and I am decidedly of the 

 opinion that the securing of natural 

 combs for use in the sections during 

 a honey-shower is a most profitable 

 one for investigation and experiment. 

 At present I shall use in the sections, 

 for my main crop, the thinnest and 

 lightest-colored foundation I can find, 

 but, in the meantime, I shall make 

 some experiments in the line sug- 

 gested by Mr. Whitford's first ques- 

 tion. 



To give a definite answer to his sec- 

 ond query would, of course, be im- 

 possible. When foundation was in- 

 troduced, many were the arguments 

 brought against its use in the sec- 

 tions, but bee-keepers found that they 

 could secure more honey by so using 

 it, and the arguments had to stand 

 one side, and it will be ever thus, 

 unless we find some way of securing 

 natural comb with no more expense 

 and trouble than attends the use of 

 foundation. Let us try. 



The making of first-class foundation 

 is an art and a science, and must be 

 learned the same as any trade or pro- 

 fession. Many bee-keepers, as soon 

 as they have 30 or 40 colonies of bees, 

 and often before, think they must 

 have a foundation machine, in the 

 same sense that they need a honey- 

 extractor, and the result is a vast 

 amount of bunglingly made founda- 

 tion. Beekeeping, and the manufac- 

 ture of comb foundation are two en- 

 tirely distinct trades. Not one bee- 

 keeper in one hundred — yes, I think 

 it would be safe to say not one in one 

 thousand— knows how to purify wax 

 and make first-class foundation. 



Rogersville, (5 Mich. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



My ExprieDce i itli Laying Worien, 



RANDOLPH GRADBN. 



As I have had a very obstinate case 

 of these little pests, I thought I would 

 describe the course I pursued, and in 

 which I was finally successful. 



In the latter part of July, 1886, I 

 had a small third swarm issue, and, 

 wanting increase, I hived them in a 

 hive of the Doolittle style. In a few 

 days I examined the hive to see if the 

 queen was laying, when I found 

 neither queen nor eggs. I closed the 

 hive, as it was about noon, thinking 

 the queen might be out, and not as 

 yet fertilized. But about three days 

 later I again looked for the queen, 

 which I could not find; but upon 

 looking over the combs carefully I 

 found eggs in an irregular manner, 

 and from one to nearly a dozen eggs 

 in a cell; also some queen-cells 

 started, which I cut out, and in one 

 of the places I put a queen-cell that 

 was about ready to hatch; but the 

 bees destroyed it the first night. 



I then introduced a queen, first tak- 

 ing all the frames and shaking the 

 bees on the grass about 30 feet from 

 the hive ; in 24 hours I opened the 

 hive and found the bees trying to 

 •'ball" the queen in the cage. So I 

 cut out all the queen-cells and closed 

 the hive, first adjusting the cage in 



such a manner so as to release the 

 queen with very little disturbance to 

 the bees. I left it 24 hours longer, 

 when I found that the bees had made 

 a hole under one side of the cage and 

 killed the queen. As I was deter- 

 mined to know if a queen could be 

 introduced, I procured another un- 

 tested queen, and as there was now 

 only about one pound of bees left, I 

 also procured a half pound of bees. 



I now opened the hive and took out 

 two of the outside frames, after shak- 

 ing off all the bees ; these two combs 

 being partly filled with honey, and 

 none of the abnormal brood. I then 

 closed the hive, and taking the two 

 combs into my shop, I secured the 

 queen into the cage on one of the 

 combs, and then took a new hive, and 

 placed the frame of combs containing 

 the queen in the centre of the hive, 

 and put frames of foundation on each 

 side. I now took the hive having the 

 laying workers from the stand, first 

 closing the entrance, and put the hive 

 containing the queen upon the stand 

 where the other hive stood, and shook 

 the half pound of bees into it ; and as 

 soon as the bees became quiet, I 

 closed the hive-entrance and all. 



I then carried the hive containing 

 the laying workers about 10 rods away 

 from where it stood, opened it, and 

 shook all the bees on the grass, and 

 let them " shift " for themselves. In 

 about half an hour I found the bees 

 spread all over the front of the hive 

 containing the queen. I then opened 

 the entrance, and as soon as most of 

 the bees were in, I blew in smoke at 

 the entrance until the bees began to 

 roar, when I left them, and in 24 

 hours I carefully released the queen. 

 In about six davs I found the queen 

 laying and filling the combs with eggs. 

 On account of the lateness of the 

 season I had to feed about 10 pounds 

 of sugar syrup. I then wintered them 

 in the cellar, and on May 20 I took out 

 the division-boards. They are filling 

 the hive rapidly, and are quite strong. 

 My bees are all quite strong except 

 one colony. One of my colonies cast 

 a large swarm on May 11, being 12 

 days earlier than in former years. 

 Taylor Centre, o, Mich. 



Iowa Homestead. 



Relation Of Bee-Keening to Horticnltnre 



EUGENE SECOR. 



The true horticulturist, like the 

 successful bee-keeper, is an enthu- 

 siast. I need not remind any one who 

 -plpnts trees and grows fruits, of the 

 genuine pleasure that thrills the soul 

 when nature responds to his intelli- 

 gence, thought, and careful direction. 

 He then lives in a world of his own. 

 He needs no other intoxicant to com- 

 plete his happiness. 



The latent iorces around us are ever 

 ready to be sst in motion, and only 

 await the waving of the magic wand 

 in man's skillful hand. Whoever 

 touches the secret spring of this un- 

 seen power, and helps to develop 

 wealth and beautv in place of poverty 

 and ugliness, is adding to the general 



