26 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
one, were placed in the hive again, the centre or 
middle comb being left out. and a nice, clean 
frame of drone comb was placed directly in the 
middle of the brood-chamber. I then placed the 
queenless bees in the hive, and gave them a fine, 
young qneen. one of the brightest golden Italians 
I oould find in the hundreds of nucleus hives in 
my yard. In a few days I opened the hive and 
drew out the frame of drone comb, and to my 
surprise and great delight. I found that nearly 
every cell had an egg in it. The comb was then 
removed to a colony rearing queens, and the 
drone eggs were welcomed and nursed by the 
queen less bees. Another frame of drone comb 
was placed in the hive with the young queen and 
more drone eggs were obtained, and thus the 
supply was kept up for the season with little or 
no trouble. 
I believe nearly all the bee-books contain the 
statement that young queens will not deposit 
drone eggs the first year of their existence. This 
statement is handed down from one author to 
another, not one of them knowing that such is 
not the fact. Very few authors of bee-books 
have had experience covering all points in 
bee-keeping, hence the reason why wrong state- 
ments and quotations are made and go the 
rounds. 
One other experiment to obtain drone eggs 
resulted in a failure. 1 really supposed 1 had so 
arranged some combs that only drones could be 
reared, but the little rascals were too smart for 
me and my plans were upset. An old queen and 
several quarts of bees were placed in a hive hav- 
ing six frames containing drone comb only, and 
I supposed, of course, that the bees must rear 
drones and nothing else. I watched the process 
day bv day and had the satisfaction of seeing an 
egg in most of the cells ; the little worm or grub 
was nursed, and finally the cells were sealed over, 
but not as drone cells are usually capped with a 
projecting round cap : the capping was as smooth 
on the face of the comb as any worker brood, 
and worker brood was all the cells contained. 
Well. 1 was beaten, disappointed and disgusted, 
as well. Just then another idea struck me. I 
began to think 1 had hit upon a plan to rear 
worker bees as large as drone bees. The workers 
hatched in due time, but they weie no larger than 
any other bees, and I had the labor for my pains, 
except the results of the experiment to pay me. 
Some oue will say “ why didn’t the bees rear 
drones the same as in the first case given The 
reason is this : The bees used in the first experi- 
ment had been queenless several days, while the 
bees used in the last experiment had not been. 
Does the reader see the point .’ 
No one can know these things without actual 
experience and well conducted experiments. We 
must experiment or be governed by theory. 1 
like to go to the bottom of all such things, and 
then when a statement is made, the actual facts 
are at hand to back them up. No author should 
make statements that he is uncertain about. A 
standard work on any subject should contain 
actual facts and those founded upon experience. 
— A mcrican Apiovltnrixt. 
WHERE SHALL PARTLY FILLED 
SECTIONS 11E KEPT 1 ALSO BROOD- 
FRAMES FILLED WITH HONEY.' 
There are at the present time several hundred 
of unfilled sections in our apiary. Just where to 
keep them has puzzled us for some time. They 
will he placed on xtromj colonies and tiered up 
about six sections or eases high, and protected 
from the weather. The bees in a strong colony 
will preserve the combs from the moth, and also 
keep the uncapped honey from souring in at 
least 250 sections. Possibly, the bees may re- 
move the honey from all the combs ; if they 
do, so much the better. Later iu the season, if 
there is a good flow of honey, the cases can be 
replaced again on the best colonies. The advan- 
tage of this plan is this : 
If a set of sections be left on each hive the 
combs will be badly discolored by so much 
travelling over them, and the bees clustering 
upon them. By the way, 1 hardly think the 
combs are discolored by the bees travelling over 
them, nor can I explain just what does give the 
white combs a yellowish cast ; yet it does not 
seem to me that the bees do it with their feet. 
When tiered up, as suggested above, but few 
bees will be in any one of the sections at any one 
time . — American Apimltvrixt. 
HOW MANY FRAMES TO A HIVE/ 
1 1 used to he thought that ten L. frames were 
about the right number for a hive UJ inches 
wide. But now eight frames, Langstrotli size, 
are considered sufficient, or about the right 
number. None of the hives in the Bay State 
apiary have over eight Langstrotli frames and 
several have but seven frames, and I think I get 
the best results from the latter. Not. only do 
they build up more quickly in the spring, but 
they are somewhat on the system of contraction 
without contracting any hive for the purpose. 1 
am positive that the 7-frame hives winter better 
than those having eight or more frames. Then 
it has sometimes seemed to me that there are 
more bees in a 7 -frame hive than in those having 
eight or ten frames . — American Apicvlturixt. 
GETTING BEES OUT OF SECTIONS. 
Several cases of sections were removed from 
the hive just before sunset and placed in the bee- 
house. A cage containing a queer, was nailed in 
a box and the box was then inverted on the cases 
which were standing on one end. In the morn- 
ing every bee had left the sections and most of 
them were quietly clustered on the queen cage ; 
the box was then placed out of doors, the queen 
cage removed and the bees returned to their res- 
pective hives. Had it been convenient or desir- 
able to form a new colony just then, the bees 
could have been utilised for that purpose. 
I find the bee-house, having but one room and 
so built that no bees can enter or get out through 
cracks in the door or window, one of the best 
places to put the sections when removed from 
the hive. 1 have a window in the door of my 
