46 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



as to say, ' I don't know.' But I imagine I 

 hear him saying, ' That is all right ; let 

 Doolittle prove wherein I am wrong.' VVell, 

 that is just what I am going to try to do, 

 doctor. 



When a colony is in a normal condition, 

 the young bees go out to take their first air- 

 ing at the age of six days, if the weather is 

 favorable ; and in so doing they mark their 

 location to a certain extent, but not to an ex- 

 tent great enough so but that the subsequent 

 flights have a greater impression ou tiieir 

 memory, for we tiud them taking these 

 markings anew at every flight till they are 

 sixteen days old, when they leave the hive for 

 gathering supplies for the first time, after 

 which they take no more markings during 

 the working season, unless it be in case of a 

 swarm, or some rude disturbance of their 

 home. If the hive is moved at midnight, as 

 Dr. Miller suggests, then, ou the coming 

 morning, all the bees over sixteen days old, 

 upon going to the field, leave in a straight 

 line, and, having the old location established 

 in their memory, and not taking any mark- 

 ings that morning, come back to the spot 

 where the old entrance used to be ; conse- 

 quently they go into the hive having the weak 

 colony, if such has been placed on the old 

 stand, or are lost, if no such provision has 

 been made. But let us wait till about 2 

 o'clock p. M., at which time all of the liees 

 under sixteen days old, and over six days old, 

 will fly, if the weather is fine, and we shall 

 find that these young fellows head toward 

 the hive the same as they did the last time 

 they were out before, hence notice the 

 change which has been made, and, instead 

 of going to strengthen the weak colony 

 which has been placed on the old stand, they 

 return to the spot last marked, hence do 

 nothing toward the desired strengthening. 

 Now, had Dr. M. waited about this changing 

 till these young bees were in full flight, and 

 moved the hives when the most of these 

 young bees were in the air, he would have 

 caught these also, in addition to all those 

 which were over sixteen days old. Then, 100 

 of these young bees are worth fully HOO of 

 the older ones for strengthening weak colo- 

 nies, inasmuch as they are just commencing 

 life, instead of being near its close, as many 

 of the field-bees are. While I had known 

 that bees less than sixteen days old would 

 not return to the old stand, if a colony in 

 normal condition were removed at any time 

 other than when they were flying, yet it was 

 not fully forced upon me till I tried prevent- 

 ing after-swarms by the Heddon plan. In 

 trying this I found that, if I moved the pa- 

 rent colony at any time I was ready, it would 

 more often than otherwise swarm again : but 

 if I moved it when the young bees were out 

 to play I had a sure thing of it, for the colo- 

 ny was then so depopulated that it uerer un- 

 dertook to swarm again that season." 



I think that Mr. Doolittle is at least partly 

 correct in his views as regards the occasion- 

 al failure of the Heddon method of preventing 

 after-swarming. There is, however, anoth- 

 er and more important point that he has not 

 touched upon and that is that a sort of swarm- 



ing mania sometimes seems to seize upon 

 the bees of an apiary, and they will swarm 

 before the first (lueen cell is capped, and the 

 result is that the first after-swarm does not 

 issue on the eighth day after the prime 

 swarm. I have known the time to be as 

 much as twelve or thirteen days. If the old 

 hive is moved at the seventh day, and a 

 queen does not hatch for five days more, 

 enough bees hatch in that time to so rein- 

 force the numbers of the colony that swarm- 

 ing will almost always result. I think I 

 never had a colony cast a second swarm with- 

 in two or three days of the time of giving it 

 a new location. 



Why Frames Need Wiring. 



How any one can use full sheets of foun- 

 dation satisfactorily in the brood nest with- 

 out the frames or foundation being wired 

 has always been a puzzle to me. In a late 

 issue of Gleaninijs Mr. Hewes of California, 

 so clearly expresses my views on the sub- 

 ject that I copy his article. 



"As I have sat at my bench on rainy days, 

 wiring frames, I have sometimes wondered 

 how many of my fellow bee-keepers prac- 

 tice that mode of strengthening their foun- 

 dation comb, and Dec. 1st Gleanincis an 

 swers the thought by telling me that enough 

 of them do so to use up, even in a poor season, 

 two tons of wire. This wiring of frames is 

 a little tedious, bat I wish that all the work 

 I do paid me as well for the trouble as it does. 

 Some years, owing to laziness, or a like in- 

 excusable cause, I put a good deal of found- 

 ation in frames that are not wired, and al- 

 ways regret it afterward, when, on initiat- 

 ing them to the extractor, I see manv combs 

 fall from the frames,aiid pile up in a sticky 

 mass on the bottom of the can. Besides 

 giving strength to the combs, wiring makes 

 them more shapely and better, yet prevents 

 sMgyring and the consequent two-inch strip 

 of drone comb along the top of the frame. 

 Th-i limitation of drone comb in my hives is 

 a hobby with me, and I would wire my frames 

 were its restriction the only thing gained. I 

 can not see what objection some have to wir- 

 intr frames. The satisfaction of knowing 

 combs will result, when hiving a swarm on 

 wired foundation, is of itself worth more than 

 the cost of the wire, while the work entailed 

 by wirinir is not so great as that which is re- 

 (pii red to look after uuwired foundation to 

 see that it has not fallen down, nor is being 

 drawn out wavy with kinks and curls. 



Comb foundation is used very extensively 

 ill California, liut I believe only a compara- 

 tively small proportion is fastened to wired 

 frames. The practice most in vogue here is 

 to use strips of foundation only about half 

 the depth of the frame. This is not so apt to 

 break down or sag; but of that last it matters 



