1^8 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



says, we should blush to see in our journal. 

 Still farther, a feeling of repugnance will 

 come over us when, in turning the advertis- 

 ing pages of a bee journal, we find them be- 

 plastered with great staring cuts and huge 

 black letters. So far, bee keepers have not 

 indulged in this ''circus poster" style of 

 advertising. We may be hyper-critical, per- 

 haps "cranky," but we do delight to find 

 the advertising pages of a magazine neat, 

 clean and pure, free from "trash," and in 

 keeping with the reading matter. 



This discussion has been very interesting 

 to us. While all have been out-spoken, no 

 unkindness has been shown, and we now 

 have the views of several of our leading bee- 

 keepers upon this important subject. The 

 Review will try and profit thereby. 



THE USE AND ABUSE OF COMB FOUNDATION. 



This is to be our special topic for Decem- 

 ber. To some it may seem that no discus- 

 sion is needed upon this subject : that there 

 can be no question as to the advisability of 

 using foundation at all possible times. 

 Having found it profitable to use founda- 

 tion in some places and at some times, the 

 majority of the bee keeping world seems to 

 have decided, with almost no experiments, 

 that bees ought never to be allowed to build 

 comb. 



That foundation has been a boon to bee- 

 keepers no one doubts ; that money expend- 

 ed in its purchase is often returned many 

 fold is equally true : but, is such always the 

 case? That is the question we wish discuss- 

 ed. Shall we always use foundation ? If 

 not, when shall its use be avoided, and what 

 shall be used in its place V Shall it be emp- 

 ty combs, or shall the bees be allowed to 

 build combs ? 



All through the working season, wax is 

 being secreted to a greater or less extent. 

 If not utilized it is lost. Mr. Heddon says : 

 " A clear understanding of the works of evo- 

 lution must, I think, convince one that, 

 where, for ages, comb building has, from 

 necessity, gone hand in hand with honey 

 gathering, the secretion of wax has become 

 a.2ihysical necessity; and, if we do not give 

 room and opportunity for comb building, 

 material for that purpose is wasted." Mr. 

 E. E. Hasty says : " I also heartily agree 

 with the idea, first advanced, I think, by Mr. 

 Doolittle, that much of the comb actually 

 Ijuilt in an apiary is built at no cost at all in 



honey. Just as the blood in an animal sup- 

 plies material for the growth of what hair it 

 needs, and little or nothing would be gained 

 by obviating it, so the blood of the bee prob- 

 ably supports the growth of a moderate 

 number of wax scales without causing a 

 special demand for food." We believe Mr. 

 Doolittle sets his weak colonies to building 

 comb in brood frames ; and, in his estima- 

 tion, combs so built cost less than founda- 

 tion. 



When we were engaged in queen rearing 

 there were frequently nuclei that were left 

 undisturbed for a week. For division boards 

 we often used chaff cushions. These cush- 

 ions had enameled cloth on one side and 

 were quilted and drawn up quite firm, yet 

 they would occasionally sag or bulge out 

 away from the combs, leaving a space in 

 which the bees would build comb. Several 

 times we found that an ordinary, two-frame 

 nucleus had, in one week, built a piece of 

 comb as large as a man's two hands. Now 

 comes the point. So far as we were able to 

 decide, by comparison with other nuclei, the 

 building of this comb did not lessen the 

 amount of honey to be found in the combs 

 nor the amount of Ijrood. As we looked at 

 it, this piece of comb was clear gain. Tak- 

 ing a hint from this, we furnished most of 

 the strongest nuclei with an empty frame, 

 each, in which to build comb. The time re- 

 quired for tilling a frame with comb varied 

 from ten to twenty days, according to the 

 strength of the nucleus, the temperature and 

 the honey fiow, but, in all cases, it seemed 

 to us that there was no loss in bees, brood or 

 honey by having the combs built. 



When "feeding back" honey to secure 

 the completion of unfinished sections, we 

 have noticed that the bees of a colony that 

 has been fed lavishly for a week or two show 

 an abundance of large wax scales, and that 

 they soon begin to daub the wax upon the 

 wood work of the sections and cases and 

 upon the inside of the feeder. We have 

 seen the latter completely beplastered with 

 wax. The handling of such large amounts 

 of sweets caused a large secretion of wax 

 for which the bees had no use, as no combs 

 were being built. In such instances the 

 cappings were very thick. Sometimes, by 

 way of experiment, we have given such a 

 colony four or five empty sections, and oh ! 

 how quickly they were filled, and with such 

 white combs, but the walls of the comb were 

 very thick. 



