46 



ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 



bing until the season is over, the apiary 

 remains free of the disease for that season. 

 It is simply forced swarming on a whole- 

 sale scale. The old hives are given new 

 locations, perhaps the combs of two or 

 more colonies are put together on one 

 stand. At the end of three weeks, the 

 brood has all hatched, when the combs 

 are again shaken free from bees, the lat- 

 ter, of course, going back into the hive 

 and building new combs, thus establish- 

 ing colonies that are free from the dis- 

 ease. The honey is then extracted from 

 the combs and the latter rendered into 

 wax. It is asserted that the wax will pay 

 for the labor, while the brood combs are 



built a/ a/nj/£<. After my experience, 

 as given in the chapter on the use of comb 

 foundation, I can well believe the asser- 

 tion. I believe that this plan can be suc- 

 cessfiilly followed in the East as well as 

 in the West; although, of course, the 

 Western harvest is much longer than 

 ours. 



Perhaps it ought to be mentioned that, 

 in the first shaking, the combs are not 

 entirely freed from beeS, some being left 

 to care for the unsealed brood; and cau- 

 tion should be exercised that the work be 

 not done too early in the season when 

 there would be danger of chilled brood 

 or from robbers. 



The Use and Abuse of Comb Foundation. 



^.^ P>^HAT foundation has been a boon 

 to bee-keepers, no one doubts; 

 that money expended in its pur- 

 ^-^ chase is often returned many 

 fold is equally true; but such is not al- 

 ways the case. All through the working 

 season wax is being secreted to a greater 

 or less extent. If not utilized it is lost. 

 Of course, bees that fill themselves full 

 of honey and hang in clustering festoons 

 secrete wax to a very much greater extent 

 than those engaged in bringing in hon- 

 ey. The bees of a swarm will nearly al- 

 ways, if not always, be found with large 

 wax scales in the wax pockets. Having 

 found that foundation is used at a profit 

 in some places and at some ' times, the 

 bee-keeping world seems to have decided, 

 with almost no experiments, that bees 

 ought never be allowed to build comb. 



Years ago I practiced hiving swarms 

 on empty combs, upon foundation, and 

 upon empty frames — empty except start- 

 ers of foundation. The first swarm was 

 hived upon comb, the second upon foun- 



dation, and the third upon starters only. 

 This order was continued, the first year 

 it was tried, until fifteen swarms were 

 hived, when the use of empty combs was 

 discontinued, as it was only too evident 

 that they were used at a loss. I have ref- 

 erence here to what was used in the brood 

 nest in hiving swarms when raising comb 

 honey. The difficulty with drawn combs 

 is just this: Before the queen will lay in 

 old combs, the cells must be cleaned out 

 and "varnished" until they shine; and 

 long ere this, esspecially if there is a good 

 flow of honey, they will be badly needed, 

 and will be used, for storage. In other 

 words, combs are ready for honey before 

 they are ready for eggs, and the bees fill 

 the combs at once with honey, when, from 

 some perversity of bee nature, work, in 

 many instances, comes to a stand still. 

 Having filled the body of the hive, the 

 bees seem disinclined to make a start in 

 the sections. Where hees commence stor- 

 ing their surplus, there they seem in- 

 clined to continue to store it; and let the 



