78 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



and the space not filled with brood will 

 he filled with honey that ought to have 

 gone into the supers. This, however, is 

 only one objection of several that have 

 been pointed out repeatedly. 



With me, all colonies begin breeding 

 at about the same time. Those equal in 

 strength, in prolificness of queens, in 

 stores, etc., develop equal quantities of 

 brood; and breeding goes on apace until 

 the combs of the colony in the small hive 

 are filled with brood. This colony is now 

 ready for the supers. The colony in the 

 medium sized hive has not yet filled its 

 combs, but it keeps on increasing its 

 brood until it is full, when // is ready for 

 the supers. The colony in the large hive 

 is not yet ready for the supers; but it keeps 

 on, and if its queen proves equal to the 

 emergency, its combs are finally filled 

 and it is ready for the supers. If the 

 opening of the honey harvest is unusually 

 late, if it is delayed until the large hive 

 is ready for it, no advantage appears in 

 favor of the small hive. In my locality 

 the white honey harvest comes on before 

 the colony in a large hive has its combs 

 filled with brood. The honey that ought 

 to go into the supers goes into the brood 

 nest; and this is not all, the colony is 

 put into an vindesirable condition for stor- 

 ing in the supers. 



What I am writing is not mere theory 

 to bolster up my position. I am telling 

 actual facts as I find them in )iiy localily, 

 and with iny management; and I am will- 

 ing to admit that in other localities, and 

 under different management, a large hive 

 may be all right. 



The point that Mr. Stachelhausen raises 

 regarding the influence of unsealed brood 

 upon the amount of surplus stored is a 

 vital one, and worthy of consideration; 

 but I fail to .see why a large colony need 

 have less unsealed brood than two other 

 colonies, each possessing one-half the 

 population of the large colony. If a col- 

 ony begins the season rveak, I can under- 

 .stand that the opening of the white hon- 

 ey har\'e.st might find this colony at that 

 stage where it would be extending its 



brood nest with unusual rapidity, and 

 thus have a very large amount of unsealed 

 brood to care for; more so, in proportion 

 to its numbers, than a colony that com- 

 menced the season in good strength. 

 Such a colony as this would be in poor 

 condition to take advantage of a honey 

 flow. I expect this is the point that 

 friend Stachelhausen wi.shes to make; but 

 the faulty part of his argument is in as- 

 suming that colonies in eight-frame hives 

 are laeak in the spring. — Kd.] 



'V>^^?^^ 



RENDERING WA.X. 



The Solar Extractor gets at least Most of the 

 wax from Some old Combs. 



<). O. POPPLETON. 



FRIEND Hutchinson: In your editorial 

 on page 24, in the January number of 

 Review, you say: "There is not a paiticle 

 of doubt, however, that the man who 

 renders old conibs in the solar extractor 

 loses one-half or two-thirds oi his wax." 

 Will you allow me to kindly, but plainly, 

 say that I don't believe the statement is a 

 correct one. Such a loss as that has been 

 unknown in my own experience; which 

 leaves a large doubt, instead of not a par- 

 ticle. 



Since this point of the great wastage of 

 wax in the so-called "slum-gum" has 

 been lately raised, I have carefully weigh- 

 ed both wax and residue from the few 

 old combs that have been rendered in 

 my apiary. Result is as follows: Number 

 of combs rendered, 32; amount of clean, 

 thoroughly purified wax, 9 lbs.; amount 

 of residue, 3 lbs., 15 >4 ounces. , It will be 

 see that the residue was less than one- 

 third of the 'u'/iole; and this lacked very 

 much of fjeing all wax. I doubt whether 

 a third of it was wax; possibly, not even 

 that much; but that is only an opinion, 

 not a tested statement of fact. 



Sti'.-vrt, Fla. January, 27, 1S99. 



