60 



DR. MILLER S 



Drone-comb is made up of cells that measure four to the inch. 

 Generally you will find where the change is made from one kind to 

 the other there will be a few irregular cells, called transition cells, 

 Then there is also the queen-cell, still larger than either of the 

 other kinds, measuring three to the inch. More nearly correct it 

 is to say that a queen-cell is a third of an inch in diameter, for 

 you never find a piece of comb made up entirely of queen-cells. 

 Generally each queen-cell is by itself; and even if you find several 

 queen-cells apparently close in a group, you will not find three 

 such cells in the compass of an inch. 



Combs Breaking. — Q. My bees are doing nicely now, but I 

 have trouble with combs of honey breaking and dropping down, 

 caused by the heat. I have covers on all the hives, but the sun 

 strikes the hive front. Is there any remedy for this? 



A. The probability is that two things were responsible for the 

 trouble. One was that the entrance of the hive was too small, 

 giving the bees too little chance for ventilation. The other was 

 that there was too little chance for circulation of air about the 

 hive ; buildings, trees, or bushes preventing a free movement of 

 air. Years ago I had combs melt down in a hive — I think I never 

 had them melt down in any other case — and the sun never shone 

 on the front of the hive, nor any other part of the hive. The 

 hive stood in a very dense shade, a thicket of bushes on one side, 

 and tall corn on the other. The entrance was not very large, but 

 I think the combs would not have melted if the hive had stood 

 out in the sun all day long, provided there had been full chance 

 for the breeze. 



Combs, Preserving. — Q. (a) Does it injure empty extracting 

 combs to keep them where the temperature goes below freezing? 



(b) If not, would it be safe to stack then up in the yard with 

 a sheet of heavy tarred paper between each super? 



A. (a) The combs may be slightly cracked with very hard 

 freezing, but that is a small matter compared with the advantage 

 that freezing kills all the beemoth, their larvae, and even their 

 eggs. I should, certainly prefer to have the combs exposed to 

 freezing all winter. 



(b) That will be all right. 



Combs, Moldy. — Q. If empty drawn combs remain in the hives 

 all summer, and the hives are clean, is there danger of the combs 

 becoming moldy? If such hives were not used, would you close 

 up the entrances to keep out moths? 



A. No danger of mold unless you keep the combs in a cellar 



