THE KMERICar* BE® JOVRfimiL. 



23 



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of filled combs in the brood-chamber. 

 — A. J. Cook. 



If the combs were good ones in 

 over}' w:iy, I would accept the combs 

 without licsitation. It takes time for 

 bees to draw out foundation, and they 

 will not do it unless honey is coming 

 in. 1 am qvute sure that the empty 

 combs would give a good profit over 

 the frames of foundation, after ac- 

 counting for the difterencc in the price. 

 I would not have wire in my combs 

 as long as I can get a good article of 

 foundation suitable for combs witliout 

 wire. I have a lot of wired combs, 

 and they will never be increased in 

 numbers in my apiary — G. W. Dem- 



AREE. 



That depends upon the condition of 

 the empty combs. If they are in good 

 condition, they would perhaps be pref- 

 erable, but there is but little difl'erence. 

 — The Editor. 



SWARinS ALIOHTIKO HIGH. 



Written fur the American Bee Journal 



Query 505* — Are not swarms that alight 

 high, more likely to desert tiie premises?— E. 



No. — Mes. L. Harrison. 



I do not know. — H. D. Cutting. 



I do not know. — W. Z. Hutchinson. 



No. — Dadant & Son. 



They usually are. — J. P. H. Brown. 



Not if the same care is exercised in 

 hiving. — A. B. Mason. 



No ; it makes no diflereiice where 

 they alight. — C. H. Dibbern. 



I do not know why they should. — C. 

 C. Miller. 



Yes, but only so far as I know for 

 the reason that there is generally 

 greater delay in recovering them. — R. 

 iu. Taylor. 



Yes, if you cannot i-each them. In 

 fact, without joking, I believe there 

 are more individual bees that desire to 

 go right ott" to the woods in swarms 

 that cluster high up James Heddon. 



I think so, for the reason that they 

 are more likely to have a young queen, 

 and young queens are more likely to 

 leave than old ones. — Eugene Secor. 



I have not seen any diflerence, and 

 I cannot imagine any reason why they 

 shoXild.— J. E. Pond. 



I have seen no difiference. In fact I 

 have never had a swarm to come out 

 after I had hived it. — ^M. Mahin. 



Not in my experience. Bees are 

 more apt to emigrate when located in 

 the countiy near heavy timber. In 

 villages and cities it is rare for a 

 swarm to go away unless iincared for. 



My bees often go to the tops of the 

 highest apple-trees, but I have never 

 liad a swarm to go away, or desert a 

 hive if properly shaded and ventilated. 

 — G. L. Tinichk. 



No swarms desert for me, as I keep 

 the wings of tlic old queens clipped, 

 and allow few if any second swarms. I 

 think that the aHghting has little to do 

 with it. — G. M. DoOLlTTLE. 



I sliould say so, as the bee-keeper 

 finds it diflicult to capture them, and 

 certainly will be more tardy in hiving 

 such a swarm. Clip the queen's wing, 

 and there will be no danger, in any 

 event. — A. J. Cook. 



I think not. I have seen swarms 

 cluster so high that no ordinary means 

 could reach tlicm.and they would tariy 

 as long in the cluster as other swarms 

 that clustered near the ground. I am 

 not a believer in the marvelous stories 

 about bees " sending out scouts to look 

 up a new home." People are fond of 

 the man'elous, and are ready to be- 

 lieve anj'tliing, if it is a little out of the 

 general order of things. I venture to 

 assert that bees never know where 

 they will stop \vhen they leave the 

 maternal roof. I have seen a swarm 

 go straight to a tree and enter a hole 

 in it ; but that does not prove any 

 thing, for I ha\e seen them fail to do 

 so, a great many more times than I 

 have seen them do it. — G.W.Demaree. 



Swarms that alight high usually, 

 have j'oung queens, and as it is more 

 difficult to capture such swarms, and 

 takes more time to accomplish it, 

 they do mort; often get away than 

 those which are more easily captured. 

 If the queen's wing be clipped, as prac- 

 ticed by many (if our best apiarists, 

 there will be no danger of their going 

 away. — The Editor. 



O Winter, W^e Greet TUee. 



Written for Vick's Magazine 



BY 8. W. LliOVD. 



We greet thee, Winter I We are glad 

 To see thy snowy mantle spread 



O'er river, lake and hill ; 

 We're glad to hear the merry sounds 

 That tell us happiness abounds 



Among sleigh-riders still. 



We love thee, Winter 1 Thou dost bring- 

 Upon the cold and frosty wing 



Much, much our hearts to glad ; 

 And though thou'rt bleak, we'll not repine, 

 For springs of joyousness are thine 



That Summer never had. 



Then, hail thee. Winter I We will greet 

 Thy pleasures with a welcome meet. 



And taste them while they stay ; 

 And when thou'rt gone, and joyous Spring 

 Comes with her robes of blossoming. 



We'll bid thee speed away. 



rii'iTi 



FOUNDATION. 



Tlic Plan of Manufacturing it 

 witli the Use of 9Iol<li$. 



Written for the Aitttrican Bee Journal 

 BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I was a little surprised to find that 

 evei-y one answering Query 500, on 

 page 788 of the Bee Journal fof 1887, 

 answered it in the negative, except 

 myself. Can it be that few, if any, of 

 our apiarists are using molds for mak- 

 ing foundation ? And if such is the 

 case, why are they not using them ? 

 As my answer to the query above 

 mentioned has caused quite an in- 

 crease in my correspondence, I will 

 try to answer some of the questions 

 that have been asked. 



I never was favorably impressed 

 with any of the machines requiring 

 dipping-boards, in the hands of the 

 average bee-keeper, owing to its tak- 

 ing so much paraphernalia, and es- 

 pecially as so much wax was required ; 

 for when I sent wax off to be worked 

 up, I was told that if I sent less than 

 50 pounds, I would get little, if any, of 

 my own wax in the foundation that I 

 would receive, as it took from 50 to 75 

 lbs. of wax in the dipping-tank to get the 

 required depth of sheet. As soon as I 

 understood this, I saw that it was of no 

 use for me to think of making my own 

 foundation, to carry on the few ex- 

 periments which I wished to make. 

 Therefore I then rested contentedly in 

 purchasing the little foundation that I 

 wished for experimental purposes, till 

 about five or six years ago, when I 

 saw an advertisement regarding 

 " foundation-molds " for making small 

 sheets of foundation for sections. 



From the little information that I 

 gained from the advertisement, I saw 

 that I could use as small a quantity of 

 wax as I wished in working the molds. 

 I immediately procured the molds, and 

 was soon making foundation rimning 

 from 10 to 12 square feet to the pound, 

 by simply pouring a large spoonful 'of 

 melted wax into the molds, and quickly 

 shutting them. With these little 

 molds (about 6 inches square) I could 

 easily make up 12 pounds of wax in a 

 short winter's day, which gave me $3 

 for my day's labor, as I must pay 50 

 cents per pound for foundation when 

 wax was only worth 25 cents per 

 pound. 



After making all the wax I had into 

 nice foundation, I lent the molds to a 

 neighbor bee-keeper who left them at 

 night while wet, when the plaster of 

 Paris was frozen, thus ruining them, as 



