70 DADANT SYSTEM OF BEEKEEPING 



the bees to their own devices, when we remove the drone-comb 

 in early spring they will be sure to build drone-comb in the same 

 spot. So it is important to replace it with worker-comb. 



There are instances, however, of bees building drone-comb 

 on imperfect worker foundation. They are rare and are usually 

 due to some defect of the foundation, which may have been 

 stretched slightly in laminating. At a meeting of the beekeepers 

 of Middlebury, Vt., in the summer of 1916, Mr. Crane men- 

 tioned having had about a dozen sheets of foundation thus 

 changed, out of some 2,000 used by him in 1915. These are only 

 accidents. Accidents also are instances of bees building drone- 

 cells on one side of the comb, while worker-cells are on the oppo- 

 site side. In such a case the regular base is not followed and the 

 cells lap over, showing plainly that they were irregularly built. 

 Mr. Latham exhibited to us two square inches of such comb 

 during the summer of 1916. Such combs should be remelted 

 and replaced by well built combs. 



When we replace the drone-comb with worker-comb in 

 all but our best colonies, we do away with undesirable drones 

 for the mating of the queens. We save food which would be 

 wasted on these undesirable beings, since the drone costs at 

 least one-half more to rear than a worker, and has to be fed as 

 long as he lives. 



Replace the drone-comb with worker-comb, as much as 

 possible in your hives, early in the season, and you will have 

 much less to fear of the swarming fever. 



7. The last condition which we can mention in the success- 

 ful prevention of swarming is one which we have been using for 

 years, but which we did not think of in that connection until the 

 matter was brought to our attention by Mr. Allan Latham, 

 in 1916. In exhibiting a hive at the Storrs meeting, Mr. Latham 

 made the remark that the 1 3-8 inch spacing of combs, from 

 center to center, in common use, was a promoter of swarming. 

 We have used the Quinby spacing of 1 1-2 inches ever since 1866. 

 The bees work as satisfactorily with the one spacing as with 

 the other. In fact, the original advisors of either mode of spacing 

 had no very positive argument to advance in favor of their 



