444 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



The Pearce Method of Beekeeping 



J. A. PEAItCE, Grand Kapuls, Mich. 



Mr, J. E. Pearce, 



Grand Rapids, Mich. 

 Dear Sir: — 



I wisli you would explain in some 

 of your future articles in the Re- 

 view where and iaow you get your 

 extra sets of combs so easily you 

 mention in changing C. C. Com- 

 stock's bees. 



You say you brought extra combs 

 if it ha-d been frames with founda- 

 tion it would be easily, but combs 

 with me are always scarce and hard 

 to get a supply of. Of course put- 

 ting frames foundation above a col- 

 ony that is full of brood from side 

 to side in fruit bloom would have 

 little or no effect on swarming. 



J. P. BRUMFIELD. 

 Galena, Kans., July 1st, 1914. 

 * * * * 



R. R. 1, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 

 August 22, 1914. 



In reply to Mr. J. P. Brumfield's 

 letter of July 1st, about how 1 got 

 these drawn combs so easily, that 

 I supplied to Mr. Huntley Russell's 

 bees on the C. C. Comstock farm. I 

 will say that I got them from a lot 

 of bees that were suffocated in a 

 burning barn. Yes I agree with Mr. 

 Brumfield that drawn combs are 

 most valuable and hard to get, per- 

 haps the easiest way to get them 

 would be to let half or more of 

 your bees die in the winter, but this 

 would be not the cheapest way. But 

 I will suggest a way that is good 

 and reasonable in many ways for 

 various reasons to get the best of 

 combs. It is this. When you take 

 off your white honey in July, place 

 one or more hive bodies filled with 

 good Hoffman frames wired and full 

 sheets of foundations, one on each 

 hive, and if honey is not coming in 

 freely feed your bees by putting a 

 ten pound honey pail with perfor- 

 ated lid filled with syrup or honey, 

 invert this on the frames. An empty 

 hive body is convenient to invert 

 this in as a protection for it to 

 keep all snug. At this time of year 

 the bees are getting rid of drones 

 and will build all worker comb and 

 these combs will be first class. And 

 at no other time can we secure 

 such good combs witli all worker 



cells, as the bees are getting rid of 

 their drones and will not build 

 drone comb at this time of year. 

 This is the best way to get combs 

 I know of in a straight way. 



The putting on of foundation early 

 has about th3 same effect of pre- 

 venting swarming as drawn combs 

 as it gives plenty of room for the 

 the queens provided that you put 

 on honey cases early for the bees 

 to carry the honey up into to give 

 the queen room in the brood nest. 

 But all of this should be done in 

 a building as we recommend as 

 they are too tall to be outside as 

 they are liable to be blown over or 

 away in severe storms, and the cov- 

 ering problem is easier. This I 

 think will make the matter clear 

 for Mr. Brumfield. 



Kohala, Hawaii, I. H. 

 July 27, 1914. 

 Mr. Joseph A. Pearce, 



Grand Rapids, Mich. 

 Dear Sir: — 



I have been trying to work your 

 method of Beekeeping but fear I 

 do not quite understand it, and 

 therefore write you for enlighten- 

 ment hence my reason for troubling 

 you. 



I use a 10 frame hive. I placed 

 one hive body on top of the other 

 with .a, zinc excluder between the 

 bees and only recently been trans- 

 ferred to the bottom one. In about 

 a month they swarmed. I hived the 

 swarm in a new 10 frame hive, 

 placed another 10 frame body on top 

 with Queen Excluder between. Since 

 then they have swarmed again, but 

 had to return to the hive as I put 

 a trap on the hive and the queen 

 could not get out. I keep the trap 

 on now all the time as I do not 

 want them to swarm and fly away 

 while I am not at home. Tliey have 

 plenty of room, and are working in 

 the upper half. On one of the hives 

 that seemed to be filling up I 

 have placed another section holder 

 so that it cannot be they need room. 

 If they don't swarm under your 

 system how does the queen get fer- 

 tilized. I understood that if the 

 (Continued on page 400 



