•THE: SMERICar* BEE JOURNKt. 



667 



STRAIGHT COMBS. 



Securing^ !»lruislil CoiiibK With- 

 out Comb FouiKlutioii. 



Written for Faiin, Field and Stuckman 



BY S. E. MILLER. 



This is one of the first ilifiiculties 

 (hat the beginner iu bee-eultiire will 

 meet with, if he has not some good 

 book to refer to, and even some of 

 these only tell how to do it by using 

 comb foundation. I believe I have 

 never seen an article in any book or 

 jjaper which told how straight combs 

 could be secured without the use of 

 foundation. Although it is the best 

 and cheapest in the long run, it is not 

 everj' beginner who has the money to 

 invest, or wishes to purchase the arti- 

 cle, therefore, the question arises how 

 to get along without it. 



The following plan was gi\en to me 

 by a brother bee-keeper, and I have 

 since verified it to ni)' satisfaction : 



When hiving a swarm, if you have 

 already a movable-frame hive contain- 

 ing straight combs, take out one, or 

 better, two combs, replacing them 

 with empty frames or division-boards. 

 Insert these frames in the new hive 

 which the swarm is to occupy, putting 

 them near the centre, with an emptj' 

 frame between them. Tlie bees will 

 cluster on these two frames of brood, 

 and will be sure to commence work 

 on the frame between them first, and 

 having a straight wall an each side, 

 will be almost certain to build it 

 straight. If honey is plentiful, this 

 frame will soon have a straight comb 

 started all along its top-bar, but should 

 they build any side-combs, remove 

 them. Now part these frames and 

 put two more empty frames between, 

 leaving the frame with the mwly-made 

 comb in the centre, an empty one on 

 each side of it, and the two finished 

 frames containing full combs on the 

 outside of these. 



Continue in this way until all the 

 frames have a small straiglit comb 

 started along under their top-bars, 

 after which very little attention will 

 be necessary to insure straight combs. 

 Until then, be ever attentive, not al- 

 lowing them to work more than two 

 or three days without examining them, 

 and cutting off all combs that may be 

 started where you do not want tliem. 

 You can get along with one full frame 

 of comb to start with, or even without 

 any, but in that case you must be vigi- 

 lant, and never allow the bees to start 

 building the combs crosswise of the 

 frames. 



Some beginners seem to think that 

 all the}- have to do is to put the bees 

 into the hive, in the belief that the iiees 

 will know how to manage things. The 



result is, the bee-keeper has a movable- 

 frame hive in wliich the frames are not 

 "movable" after being filled with 

 combs. I know of a ease of this kind 

 just across the river from here. Bees, 

 if allowed to have their own way in 

 frames not having foundation starters, 

 are, I think, just as likely to build 

 crosswise as lengthwise of the frames. 



With a little experience in this way, 

 the beginner will soon have no trouble 

 in securing combs as straight as can 

 be secured with comb foundation. 



I might add that I have had the best 

 results in frames with a triangular 

 strip of wood fastened to the underside 

 of the top-bar, instead of the comb- 

 guide in common use at the present 

 day. 



OLD QUEENS. 



The Value of Queens After 2 or 

 3 Seasons. 



Written for the Prairie Farmer 



BY MRS. L. HARRISON. 



Some prominent bee - culturists 

 (among them Mr. Oatman, of Dundee, 

 Ills., who counts his colonies bj' hun- 

 dreds), do not keep a queen after she 

 has laid for three seasons. They keep 

 bees for the money there is in them, 

 and claim they obtain the best I'eturns 

 Ijy so doing, as an old queen, like an 

 old hen, lays but few eggs, and that 

 she is apt to fail when most needed. 

 Nor if the colonies are not populous, 

 at the right time, the more of them the 

 owner has, the poorer he will be. Just 

 before the honey seasons closes in the 

 fall, is a good time for renewing 

 queens, as then no time will be lost. 

 If it is done in the spring, it may ma- 

 terially damage the honey crop for 

 that season. 



Those who desire to pui'chase queens 

 can obtain them much cheaper in the 

 fall, than at any other time of the 

 year. It is better for all bee-keepers 

 to introduce a little new blood among 

 their bees now and then ; following the 

 example of breeders of fine horses, 

 cattle, shee]) and fowls, they should 

 aim at excellence, and not be satisfied 

 with any but the best. Queen-bees 

 are now sent in the mails to all parts 

 of our country, for a two-cent stamp, 

 and even from Europe, Avith entire 

 safetj'. 



It is not necessary to purchase 

 queens, except to introduce new blood 

 now and then to build up an apiary to 

 a high state of excellence. Everv 

 close observer will soon notice whicli 

 are his best colnnies, those that are 

 most populous. and consequently 

 gather the must h<niey. The best col- 

 onies generallv swarm earliest, and if 



all of the queen-cells are preserved, 

 the b('c-keeper will be master of the 

 situation. These young queens can be 

 kept during the busy season in a hive 

 with two or three frames of comb, and 

 are ready to be introduced to large col- 

 onies at the pleasure of their owner. 

 Where after-swarms or "casts "have 

 been hived in tlie hurry incident to 

 swarming, and are being united in the 

 fall, the good queens should be pre- 

 served ; her bees will proclaim her 

 character. 



In the gen(Mal overhauling of the 

 apiary in the fall, some colonies will 

 be generally found not up to the stan- 

 dard ; bees very small, or else very 

 dark, the queen having mated with a 

 black drone. The queens removed 

 while uniting could be introduced to 

 such colonies. A general weeding-out 

 should take place in the fall, of all 

 undesirable stock. 



Imported queens were for many 

 years held at high figures, as so manj" 

 died in transit. An Irishman once 

 said to me : " Mr. Rogers once paid 

 twenty dollars for a bay, a single bay, 

 Madam." Since a better way of send- 

 ing them has been discovered, few are 

 lost, and they can be purchased at 

 reasonable rates. 



It is an easy matter to discern Ital- 

 ian queens. They stick to the comb, 

 and their bright color attracts the eye ; 

 but with the dark or common bees, it 

 is difi'erent. The bees run like a flock 

 of sheep, and the queen hides among 

 them, and cannot be discerned by her 

 color. I ha\e lifted the combs of a 

 black colony two or three times, and 

 failed to find her sable majesty. I now 

 have a queen-excluder, which is a 

 piece of zitic with holes in it, that ad- 

 mit workers, but not drones or queens, 

 and put that against the entrance of a 

 new hi\e. I remove the old one, put- 

 ting this in its place. Then I remove 

 the combs and brush ofl" the bees, place 

 them in the new hive, cover them np, 

 and, if I am bus}-, retire to new duties 

 and allow them to enter the hive at 

 their own sweet will. The queen and 

 drones will be found on the excluder. 

 One time, in driving a colony in this 

 wa}', I picked up the black queen, and 

 immediately put an Italian in her 

 place, and she was well i-eceived. 



It should be borne in mind, that the 

 old queen must first be removed before 

 releasing a new one, or she will be de- 

 stroyed. Then cage the queen, and 

 release her in 48 hours, or, better still, 

 let the bees do it. If a shipping-cage 

 is fastened to the side of a comb with 

 the tin points, the bees will eat away 

 the comb and release her. I roll up 

 wire-chith over a little stick and wedge 

 in the comb as stoppers, and let the 

 bees release her from this. 



Peoria, Ills. 



