!i26 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



a Doolittle, or any other writer. Don't be a 

 machine, but be the niasfer of a machine , or 

 of anything else that you may take hold of. 

 So when you find yourself confronted with 

 the swarming problem, or any other, master 

 it, if it " takes all summer," and do it by 

 your own planning, or the modifying of 

 some plan that you have read or heard 

 about." 



How Many Pounds of Honey Does a Pound 

 of Wax Actually CostT 



Of all the experiments for deciding this 

 question, we know of none that appear more 

 satisfactory than the one made in 1885 by E. 

 E. Hasty, and reported on page 642 of Glean- 

 ings for 1886. We make the following ex- 

 tract : — 



" Now for the experiment which you re- 

 quested me to write up : July 4th, 1885, a 

 good but rather small prime swarm of bees 

 was hived on a delicate scale which will 

 weigh ounces, in order that their income 

 and wax product might be estimated as 

 closely as possible. The swarm weighed 

 just three ounces less than four pounds, and 

 was hived about sundown. During the night 

 they decreased in weight two ounces. The 

 average decrease in weight at night during 

 the experiment was aliout twice this, or four 

 ounces per night. 



The plan of the experiment was to let 

 them work undisturbed four days (as long 

 as they could without eggs hatching), and 

 then cut out the products of their labor, 

 weigh the amount cut out. render the wax, 

 and weigh that. From these data a ratio 

 can be approximated. After this they were 

 to be undisturbed four days more, and then 

 be fleeced again. Then a third trial of the 

 sarne period was to be put upon them, after 

 which the experiment was to be closed. 

 The colony was weighed every morning and 

 night. 



The plan leaves several things not quite 

 positive. How about the honey they had in 

 their sacs to commence with ? A four-pound 

 swarm may have over a pound of honey. 

 At other times they have only a very few 

 ounces. This swarm evidently had a small 

 supply, as they weighed seven ounces more 

 after the first cutting was made than they 

 did the morning after hiving. At any rate, 

 the honey they had in their sacs at the close 

 of the experiment offsets what they had to 

 begin with ; and I make an allowance in the 

 separate trials for the change in weight of 

 the bees. Did they have any wax already 

 secreted ? I think not. The evidence is that 

 they did better the second trial than they 

 did the first. I make no attempt to estimate 

 the daily mortality. The uf<ual loss of a 

 colony for twelve days, according to the 

 authorities, should be about one-fourth of 

 the original weight : but the fact that this 

 colony weighed the same at the close that it 

 did at the beginning shows that the mortali- 

 ty was not a pound o'f bees, nor anything 

 like it. Perhaps mortality does not become 

 heavy until there is brood to feed. Some 



honey gathered at morn is eaten and dissi- 

 pated before night, and so escapes the scale, 

 while the wax i)roduct of it remains. To 

 balance this on the other hand, all these 

 pounds and ounces are pounds and ounces 

 of rather raw nectar, not of ripe honey. As 

 to the amount of honey used as food at 

 night, a colony rearing brood rapidly uses 

 seven ounces per night ; an active colony 

 not rearing much brood, from one to three 

 ounces ; a colony in a quiescent state, only 

 a fraction of an ounce. During this experi- 

 ment there was an average loss by night of 

 four ounces. I have assumed that one-half 

 of this was waste caused by vitality and 

 muscular action, and one-half the chemical 

 waste of elaborating wax. 



FIBST TRIAL. 



First day's gathering of honey and pollen, 

 6 oz.; 2d, 13 oz.; 3d, 8 oz.; 4th, 16 oz.; total, 

 43 oz. Subtract from this — Honey and pol- 

 len cut out, 19 oz. Four day's food, 8 oz.; 

 increase of honey in sacs, 7 oz.; total for 

 subtraction, 34 oz. 



Remainder, or amount spent in secreting 

 wax, 9 oz. Weight of wax, 2 oz. 10 dr., 

 Honey spent in making 1 oz. of wax, 33-2 oz. 

 nearly. 



SECOND TKIAL. 



First day's gathering of honey and pollen, 

 : 2d, 12 oz.: 3d. 11 oz.; 4th, 25 oz.: total, 48 

 oz. Add also 6 oz. decrease of the amount 

 in their honey sacs. Corrected total, .54 oz. 



Substract from this — Honey and pollen 

 cut out, 35 oz.; 4 days' food, 8 oz. Total for 

 subtraction, 43 oz. Remainder, or amount 

 spent in secreting wax, 11 oz. 



Weight of wax, 4 oz. Honey spent in 

 making 1 oz. of wax, 2% oz. 



THIRD TRIAL. 



First day's gathering of honey and pollen, 

 5 oz.; 2d, 5 oz.: 3d, 22 oz. ; 4th, 16 oz.; total, 

 48 oz. Add also 1 ounce decrease of the 

 amount in their honey-sacs. Corrected to- 

 tal, 49 oz. 



Subtract from this — Honey and pollen cut 

 out, .33 oz.; four day's food, 8 oz. Total for 

 subtraction, 41 oz. 



Remainder, or amount used in secreting 

 wax, 8 oz. 



Weight of wax, 3}4 oz. Honey spent in 

 making 1 oz. of wax, 2}4 oz., nearly. 



It will be seen that the average of the 

 three trials gives very nearly the ratio of 

 three to one. Perhaps a less mincing sum- 

 mary would hit the average reader more 

 forcibly. Here are bees that made almost 

 ten ounces of wax. The books say that they 

 must have had over twelve poiinds of honey 

 to do it tvifh, while tn fact they were allowed 

 to keep just three pounds and a quarter. 

 Quite a discrepancy, is it not ? 



It does not follow that we are going to 

 produce big crops of wax at a profit right 

 away. There is another ditticulty to sur- 

 mount. I have twice run a good colony the 

 whole season for wax, and so I have a right 

 to know. After ten or fifteen days of wax 

 secreting, bees seem unable to secrete much 

 more ; and how to get the new supply of 

 young bees promptly, without stoi)ping the 

 wax secretion of the first set, is the problem." 



