32 



occupied with brood and honey, and the hive will then be ready for the 

 top or surplus honey super. In twenty-two or twenty-three days young 

 worker-bees will begin to emerge, and from this on the colony will grow 

 rapidly in strength from day to day. 



Contrast this favourable condition of things with what takes place 

 when only narrow strips of comb-foundation are furnished. It will 

 take under the same conditions a similar swarm from four to five weeks 

 to fill the hive with comb, and then there Will be a large proportion 

 drone-comb, which is the very thing to guard against. Consider what 

 the difference in time alone will make in the profitable worldng of a 

 hive, especially in a short season. Then, again, with regard to the 

 difference in the initial expense between using full sheets and strips, 

 which seems to influence many beginners in favour of the latter system : 

 even in that there is a gain in favour of the method advocated. For 

 instance, the cost of filling the ten frames with sheets of best comb- 

 foundation would be (including the expenses of getting them) about 

 6s., and with strips — say, two sheets — is. 5d. : an apparent saving 

 in the first instance of 4s. yd. We must then consider the matter from 

 another point of view. 



The consensus of opinion among the most experienced beekeepers 

 is that there is an expenditure of about 12 lb. of honey in making I lb. 

 of wax — that is, the bees consume that quantity of honey before 

 secreting i lb. of wax. The ten sheets of comb-foundation weigh i-| lb. 

 and cost 6s. For this there would have to be an expenditure of 18 lb. 

 of honey, which, at the average wholesale price of 6d. per pound, is 9s., so 

 that there is a saving of 3s. in favour of the full sheets, to say nothing 

 about all the other advantages gained. 



This shows clearly enough the advantage of making the fullest use 

 possible of comb-foundation. 



New Zealand Comb-foundation. 



It has been asserted that there is a danger of introducing disease \>y 

 using comb-foundation made up from local wax. This is contrary to 

 fact, and it would be an easy matter to quote instances of foul-brood 

 being eradicated from large apiaries where only locally made foundation 

 had been used. The heat that the wax is subjected to prior to its being 

 converted into foundation is in itself sufficient to destroy the destructive 

 germs of foul-brood, and the beekeeper need have no fear of introducing 

 disease by using the locally made article, even though the wax has been 

 won from bees that have died from the disease. So satisfied was one of 

 our large beekeepers that the destructive bacteria of foul-brood are 

 killed when preparing the wax that, although for several years he has 

 not had the slightest trace of the disease, he readily consented to allow 

 his apiary to be used for the purpose of carrying out a series of exhaustive 

 experiments to determine that it is quite safe to use foundation made 

 in the Dominion. The claim that the locally manufactured article is 

 free from bee-diseases is quite justified ; moreover, the experiments 

 which have been carried out are sufficient to put the mind of the users 

 at rest. 



SWARMING. 

 Leading authorities are mostly agreed that the instinct for natural 

 increase is the cause of swarming. Many beekeepers attribute swarming 

 to overcrowded brood-chambers, lack of ventilation, and poor queens ; 

 but it will often happen that swarms will issue when none of these 

 conditions is present. On the other hand, bees will refuse to swarm 

 when everything is apparently conducive to their doing so. It must 



