THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



211 



penses with foundation entirely, tliis time, 

 in the brood frames, and at quite a saving, 

 too. 



During a moderate, late honey flow is the 

 most favorable time to secure good natural 

 combs. If we wish to have natural combs 

 built by means of feeding, the betrt condi- 

 tions are secured after the sw aiming season 

 is over and the swarming impulse has sub- 

 sided. With a good queen no drone comb is 

 then likely to be built. 



I have made some experiments in feeeding 

 to produce combs ; or, in otlier words, in 

 manufacturing natural combs by the feed- 

 ing of sugar i-yrup, and I know about what 

 can be done. When I made my experi- 

 ments, sugar was about Ave cents a pound. 



A good swarm weighing live pounds placed 

 on empty frames and led sugar syrup 

 moderately for twenty days, will build an 

 eiglit-frame hive full of periect worker 

 combs. I have obtained the be^t results in 

 comb building by feediug-about thiee pounds 

 of syrup daily, in the proportion of two i)arts 

 sugar to one of waier. A large part of this 

 feed is sealed and becomes valuable winter 

 stores. A considerable of it is converted 

 into young bees — a very good investment — 

 and a small portion, about 25 per cent, be- 

 comes waste. 



Let's see. We now have for our $2.00 

 (the amount of sugar fed) eight frames of 

 comb worth, as compared with foundation, 

 f 1.00. At a low estimate, thirty pounds of 

 sealed sugar stores, worth as mtich as choice 

 honey, say six cents, or $1.80, making a total 

 of $2.80 for our $2.00 worth of sugar and 

 our labor. Besides this, there is tlie im- 

 proved condition of the colony from the 

 addition of young bees, and an extra queen 

 reared in the old colony from which the bees 

 were taken. I have made these figures too 

 low, but they serve to show the compartive 

 cos I of natural comb and foundation. 



If I put a dollar's worth of foundation in 

 the brood chamber, it makes only a dollar's 

 worth of comb when drawn out. I inti- 

 mated that natural combs were not- only 

 chsiiper but better than those drawn from 

 full sheets of foundation. We know if full 

 frames of foundation are given a colony, 

 the bees go to work at once upon the whole 

 surface. The result is that the soft wax 

 stretches and sags, pulling the cells out of 

 shape, thus making imperfect combs. Bee- 

 keepers have almost universally decided 

 that in order to get anything like perfect 



combs drawn from foundation, it must be 

 strengthened by wiring. In natural combs, 

 built as I iiave described, the queen closely 

 follows the comb builders, and a silken lin- 

 ing IS woven in every cell occupied by a 

 young bee, which strengthens the comb in a 

 more perfect manner than any device hu- 

 man ingenuity could invent. 



The notion is quite prevalent that all nat- 

 ural comb is built at a great expense of 

 food. I think not. I am almost certain 

 that this is a mistake. ^Vax secretion is in- 

 voluntary during a honey yield, and if not 

 used in comb building is lost. Whenever 

 comb is buik considerably in advance of the 

 honey stored, I am satisfied that it is at very 

 little expense of food. Duriug the nights 

 and rainy days of a honey harvest, bees will 

 build comb, if allowed the opportunity, at 

 very little expense. 



East Townsend, Dec. 1, 1890. 



The Special Number Idea is Good, but a Re- 

 view of Bee Literature is Needed. — 

 Discussion Too One-Sided.— Ex- 

 planations Called for. 



SAMUEL CUSHMAN. 



[RIEND HUTCHINSON,— The Nov. 

 Revjew received to-day and its con- 

 tents noted. As you have had such a 

 talking to I think it might be a good time 

 for me also to take a hand in it. \ 



When you first came out with the Review 

 I thought, from the producer's stand- 

 point, we are now to have just what I 

 have been longing for and thinking of start- 

 ing for so many years. Here is a man who 

 has got the right idea. He also has head 

 enough to see the good things in the English 

 (language) bee periodicals, and will set them 

 before us and save us the trouble of taking 

 every one just because we are afraid that if 

 we don't we shall miss something new and 

 valuable in one of them. But W. Z. is capa- 

 ble of picking for us and has started out 

 with that as the principal feature of his 

 magazine. 



Somehow it didn't pan out : once in awhile 

 there would be a number that seemed about 

 the thing, then again it would drop down 

 where we again felt that we did not dare 

 drop it lest we should miss something 

 once in awhile. The "review" part has 

 amounted to but little, and we have 

 often thought that we would like to run a 



