The Use and Abuse of Comb foundation 5i 



greater abhorrence for a vacuum than has a bee for an empty cell 

 during a flow of honey; so, while the general orders are "up stairs with 

 the honey,'' no cells in the brood-nest arc left empty very long. Es- 

 pecially is this true with a deep brood-nest and )'ellow Italians, 



If a swarm is hived upon starters only, the first step is, necessaril}-, 

 the building of comb. If a super filled with drawn or partly drawn 

 comb {not foundation) is placed over the hive, the bees will begin 

 storing honey in the combs in the super at the same time that comb- 

 building is begun below. .\ queen-excluder must be used to keep the 

 queen out of the supers, then she will be ready with her eggs the 

 moment a few cells are partly finished in the brood-nest ; and if the 

 latter has been properly contracted she will easily keep pace with the 

 comb-building. The result is that nearly all of the honey goes into the 

 supers, where it is stored in the most marketable shape, while the combs 

 in the brood-nest are filled almost entirely with brood. When bees are 

 hived upon empty frames, a small brood-nest is imperatively necessary, 

 otherwise large quantities of honey will be stored therein ; and when 

 bees build comb to store honey, particularl_\- if the yield is good, they 

 usually build drone comb. So long as the queen keeps pace with the 

 comb-builders, worker comb is usually built; but if the brood-nest is so 

 large that the bees begin hatching from its center before the bees 

 have filled it with comb, and the queen returns to refill the cells being 

 vacated by the hatching bees, the comb-builders are quite likely to 

 change from worker to drone comb. 



No fairer question could be asked than : "XA'hat are the advan- 

 tages of this system?'" In the first place, the cost of the foundation 

 is saved; but, although this is a great saving, it comes about incidentally, 

 as the non-use of foundation is only a means to an end, and that is, 

 the profitable securing of the greatest possible amount of honey in 

 the most marketable shape, leaving the brood-nest so free from hone\' 

 that no extracting is needed when the time comes for feeding sugar 

 for winter stores. Those who for any reason do not wish to use 

 sugar may still take advantage of this system of putting the unfinished 

 sections back on the hives in time for the honey to be carried down 

 and stored in the brood-nest for winter. Or a case of brood-combs may 

 be put on over the sections as the harvest draws to a close, instead of 

 putting on another case of sections. This will do away with nearly all 

 unfinished sections, and the case of filled brood-combs can be given the 

 colony at the end of the season in place of its empty combs. By either 

 plan the number of finished sections is increased. 



The greatest objection to this plan is that it can not be depended 

 upon to produce all perfect brood-combs. I think I am safe in saying 

 that I have had thousands of combs built under this management, and 



