38 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



combs, hence are not delayed by lack of 

 storage." Or, in other words, are not de- 

 layed by having to build new comb. And 

 what better argument can be offered than 

 this in favor of giving the bees all possible 

 advantage by the use of full sheets of foun- 

 dation ? Although there may be some minor 

 considerations in favor of allowing bees to 

 build natural combs, yet about the only way 

 that I have ever been able to get all worker 

 comb satisfactorily built without the use of 

 full sheets of foundation, has been in nuclei, 

 or weak colonies, according to the Doolittle 

 plan. I have tried hiving swarms on starters 

 only in the brood frames, according to in- 

 structions given in your little book, " The 

 Production of Comb Honey," and persisted 

 in trying, hoping to avoid the expense of 

 foundation, but the result has been almost 

 invariably too much drone comb, therefore 

 I have discontinued the practice. A young 

 and vigorous queen is no sure guarantee 

 against drone comb in such cases if the 

 swarm be a very large one ; and I generally 

 manage to keep them from swarming until 

 they are large. 



Another objection to this plan is found in 



the fact that where narrow starters only are 



used in the brood nest, and partly filled 



supers put on above, that pollen is sure to be 



carried into the sections, and many of them 



will be rendered unfit for market thereby. 



These difficulties can be obviated by the use 



of full sheets of foundation, or drawn combs 



in the brood nest. Then if partly filled 



supers are at once put on, the bees will carry 



most of the honey brought in right up into 



the super and store it with that which is 



already there. If they do at first put some 



of it into the brood combs below, so soon as 



the queen needs to occupy the room with 



eggs and brood, they will readily remove the 



honey "up stairs," and by this time it will 



have become pretty well ripened and ready 



to cap over as soon as placed in the sections. 



I use full sheets of foundation in sections, 



and think that I get more honey by so doing, 



and the comb is built out and fastened to 



the wood, generally much better than when 



only starters are used. I use full sheets in 



brood frames, and thereby get good worker 



combs. 



The principal objection which I find to the 

 use of foundation is the expense. But my 

 experience in using it has led me to the con- 

 clusion that I can obtain enough more honey 

 by using it liberally, than I could get other- 



wise, to more than pay all the extra expense, 

 besides getting better built Ijrood combs, 

 and much more satisfactory results in a 

 general way by having things more as I 

 would like to have them. 



In closing I offer this recommendation : 

 Fill every section and frame with founda- 

 tion, and when all the sections are filled with 

 nice honey ; take them to the market and 

 exchange them for money. 



Seymoub, Wis., Dec. 5, 1890. 



Bejoiuder to Dadant's Criticism on the Wax 

 Experiment. 



E. E. HASTY. 



fT OFTEN happens that we make rejoin- 

 ders when it would be better to simply 

 let the matter rest ; but I think my ex- 

 periments, as to the amount of honey re- 

 quired to secrete a pound of wax, are im- 

 portant enough that they should be defend- 

 ed at every point where they are capable of 

 defense. 



First, a word as to manners. It seems to 

 me that I would rather a man would fling an 

 ungentlemanly epithet at my head than to 

 call me ignorant of a science I think I have 

 a fair general knowledge of. 'Spect most 

 people feel the same way. Let us have one 

 more inch of reform all around the shanty. 

 Friend Dadant imagined he saw a little peg, 

 on which the charge of ignorance of chemis- 

 try might be made to hang, in this sentence 

 of mine, " I am not sure that thick honey 

 declines in weight any more in being trans- 

 formed into wax than molasses does in 

 being transformed into candy. Why 

 should it ? " I thought at the time of ex- 

 plaining the chemical bearings of the thing, 

 and decided not to. No man can turn 

 aside to take up every slightly relevant 

 point — to stop every gap where dullness 

 might misapprehend, or an adversary start 

 a cavil — without ruining the force and use- 

 fulness of his page. 



As he has '"drawn" me on the point, I 

 will explain. Honey and wax are two differ- 

 ent substances, it is true ; but they are two 

 substances with the same inyredients, name- 

 ly, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. There is 

 a difference in the proportion of the ingredi- 

 ents ; and therefore when one substance is 

 transformed into the other there is neces- 

 sarily a percentage of loss in weight. 

 Whether there is a further loss, beyond what 

 the physical conditions of the problem de- 



