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140 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



to draw out foundation, I space nor- 

 mal, and then, after that, spread. You 

 will find the bees don't draw out that 

 foundation when it is beyond the nor- 

 mal. It is a mistake, I think, to put 

 nothing but foundation in the supers. 

 The tendency is for the bees to swarm 

 out; they are less inclined to do that 

 tlian if you put partly drawn out 

 comb and partly foundation. 



Pollen in Extracting Combs Affecting 

 Honey Flavor. 



"Does pollen in extracting combs 

 affect the color or flavor of the honey 

 •when extracted?" 



Mr. Wilcox — According to .my expe- 

 rience, there is not liable to be very 

 much pollen in extracting-combs, un- 

 less the queen has access to them. If 

 you use a queen- extracting honey- 

 board, the pollen will not be placed in 

 the extracting-combs, and it is natural 

 ifor the bees to place their pollen be- 

 low, if there is room for it. If you give 

 them two-story hives, and give them 

 access to two stories, you will find it 

 full of pollen below, and honey above; 

 they will not carry the pollen up into 

 the extracting-combs unless the queen 

 has access to it. 



Getting Pollen Out of Combs. 



"What is the best method to get 

 pollen out of combs?" 



Mr. Cavanagh — Where there is 

 plenty of brood, the bees will clean it 

 out, even if pollen be left in the combs 

 over "winter for some reason. 



Mr. Huffman — I think that is "lo- 

 cality." 



Mr. Wheeler — I would like to hear 

 from Mr. Baldridge again, to find out 

 something about how miany tried his 

 method last summer, that ibe gave us 

 last year. I didn't try it. He said, 

 take a toothpick, or anything of that 

 kind, and disturb the pollen in the cell, 

 and the bees would carry it out. 



Mr. Baldridge — My honey is all comb 

 thoney, and I want my comb honey free 

 from bee-bread. I use the shallow 

 frames, but have used the Langstroth, 

 and don't see much difference. I get 

 a good deal of bee-bread, especially 

 when working on dande'lion, and I can 

 secure those combs entirely free from 

 T>ee-bread by looking them over, and 

 breaking down the cell with a tooth- 

 pick or a match. There may not be a 

 dozen cells of bee -bread in a standard 

 'Comb, but it is objectionable to sell a 



comb with that bee-bread in, and it is 

 a good idea to know how to have it re- 

 moved by the bees. 



Mr. Holtermann — This matter of 

 pollen in the combs is quite an impor- 

 tant point, and one man said that lo- 

 cality had something to do with it. I, 

 at one time, tlhough't that locality had 

 something to do with it; it may, but I 

 am satisfied that management has 

 much imore to do with it. 



In telling you the way to get poU'^n 

 out of combs, I am going to answer 

 it in a way, at least, as I see it, that 

 you won't expect to get the answer. 

 And the way to get pollen out of combs 

 is, to keep laying queens in the hive 

 all the time, and have the bees use it 

 up about as fast as they bring it in. 

 By that, I mean that where colonies 

 are run under the swarming impulse, 

 there is an accumulation of pollen, and 

 an excess, which is not tbe case wihere 

 the queen is kept vigorous continually. 

 I use a twelve-frame hive, but I have 

 rarely seen a cell Of pollen in the ex- 

 tracting supers. I remember, my 

 father-in-law, who has now retired, 

 was continually cutting out combs of 

 pollen, and I thought it was locality; 

 finally I satisfied myself thoroughly it 

 was owing to a difference in manage- 

 ment; he run on the swarming im- 

 pulse; where a queen is kept vigorous, 

 you don't have that trouble, as far as 

 I can judge. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I must agree with 

 Mr. Huffman, that locality has a great 

 bearing on the presence of pollen in 

 combs. I ran bees one summer in 

 Wisconsin; there is a great difference 

 in the amount of pollen stored. The 

 man I purchased my bees of said he 

 melted up comb after comb of pollen; 

 the question was, (how to get it out. 

 There is no question but that locality 

 has some bearing on it. 



Mr. Holtermann — From what source 

 .did the bees gather the pollen, mostly? 



Mr. Cavanagh — I could not say from, 

 what source the pollen was gathered. 

 The honey- flow there was sthort. I 

 suppose, for want of something better 

 to do, the bees stored pollen. 



Mr. Huffman — I want to know how 

 to iget rid of it; with us, as Mr. Cav- 

 anagh says, in Wisconsin, we have that 

 one great trouble. We put on the 

 super, and when we come to get the 

 bees ready for winter, we find the 

 combs are nearly half full of pollen. 



