46 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Queries ajid Replies. 



Snmlns Siers for Comli-Honey. 



Query 747. — What kind of cases do you 

 use in working for comb honey ? — L. J. 



T-supers.— C. C. Millek. 

 T-supers. — J. M. Hambaugh. 

 T-supers.— H. D. Cutting. 

 Heddon cases. — Mrs. L. Haerison. 

 Wide frames. — G. M. Doolittle. 

 Surplus cases, of course. — C. H. Dib- 



BERN. 



4^x43=^x1% inch, in broad frames. — 

 J. E. Pond. 



I use the Doolittle surplus arrange- 

 ment for comb-honey. — P. L. Viallon. 



The Heddon case, and also a case 

 holding single-tier wide frames. — R. L. 

 Taylor. 



I have used a good many. I like the 

 simplest T-super that can be made. — 

 Eugene Secor. 



The Heddon case and the T-super ; 

 and I like them both. I have also used 

 some of Heddon's supers with broad 

 frames. — A. J. Cook. 



The old-style Heddon case without 

 separators, the Heddon wide-frame case, 

 and the T-tin case with separators. I 

 use all of these every year. Where no 

 separators are used, I think my old style 

 case unexcelled. — James Heddon. 



The Nonpariel section-case for wide 

 frames and wooden separators. The 

 separators are put in loose, and the re- 

 movable side of the case is clamped by 

 the use of clasps, so as to bind all to- 

 gether solidly.— G. L. Tinker. 



My surplus cases are made J^ inch 

 deeper than the heighth of the sections, 

 in order to allow a bee-space under 

 them. I can tier up one case on top of 

 another, if required. By this arrange- 

 ment sections of different widths can be 

 used in the same case. — J. P. H. Brown. 



I use a section-case just the size of. the 

 top of the brood-chamber of the hive 

 used. So that it fits on top of the brood- 

 chamber with a square joint. The case 

 is made % of an inch deeper than the 

 depth of the section used. Some of the 

 cases have skeleton wood partitions, and 

 some of them have T tin rests. The 

 latter I always use, if separators are to 

 be used ; otherwise I prefer the skeleton 



wood partition support. I divide the 

 mechanical bee-space half at the top and 

 half at the bottom of the sections. This 

 enables me to put the section-case either 

 top or bottom down, without smashing 

 the bees or soiling the sections. — G. W. 

 Demaeee. 



On the bottom of the case, slats, the 

 width of the sections, are nailed, with 

 openings like those between the sections. 

 On these, strips of wood are laid, for the 

 ends of the sections to rest on, leaving a 

 bee-space between the slats and the bot- 

 toms of the sections. This arrangement 

 is equivalent to a break-joint slat honey- 

 board, and works very well. — M. Mahin. 



Pollen-Gathering Drones. 



On page 811 may be found a question 

 propounded by the writer, relative to 

 drones gathering pollen and honey. At 

 the time the question was asked, I was 

 well assured that practical bee-keepers 

 would smile at the apparent verdancy of 

 the questioner — it being a well-estab- 

 lished fact that drones gather no pollen 

 or honey. My attention was called to 

 an unusual noise in my apiary, about the 

 middle of the honey flow, during the last 

 season, and, upon an examination, I 

 found a large number of drones (as I sup- 

 posed) going from and coming to the 

 hive ; and upon a close examination I 

 discovered, to my surprise, that they 

 were heavily loaded with pollen on their 

 thighs ; they also had w^hite scales under 

 their wings. I reported the fact to Mr. 

 J. C. Hendricks, a practical bee-keeper, 

 wiio said it could not be possible. But I 

 still affirm that I am not mistaken ; for 

 wiiat I have seen, I know. The bees 

 were at least a third larger than the 

 worker-bees, hence they are pronounced 

 pure drones by Mr. Hendricks. 



Decatur, 111. R. T. Davis. 



We have often seen worker brood in 

 drone cells, and once at least,'' we 

 remember witnessing 'the emerging of 

 worker bees from such comb. 



It is not very uncommon to find drone 

 cells (where drone-comb is too abundant) 

 with the cells somewhat contracted by a 

 heavy rim of wax around the mouths 

 thereof. These cells are of course used 

 for worker eggs, and the bees hatched in 

 them are sometimes larger than ordinary 

 workers, and may have been taken for 

 drones in the above peculiar case, 

 noticed by Mr. Davis. It may rightly be 

 called "a freak of nature," in any case. 



