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or damp room. I’ve some question whether you can close the 
hives tight enough to keep out moths. They squeeze through a 
very small crack. But if the combs are in a close building the 
moths are not likely to find them. Yet it is a pretty safe guess 
that, if colonies died on them, the worms are there already. In 
that case, whatever combs cannot be put in the care of the bees 
should be treated with sulphur fumes, or, still better with bisulfide 
of carbon. 
The moldy combs will be cleaned up by the bees when given 
them. 
Combs, Old. — Q. Will combs that have had brood reared in 
them from one to three years spoil the color and flavor of honey 
if used for extracting-frames? 
A. There may be a slight difference, but you probably could 
not tell the honey from that stored in newly built combs. 
Q. When having old combs in frames taken from colonies 
that died during the winter, to what extent is it good practice to 
dig the dead bees out of the comb? 
A. Brush off all the bees you can, hold the frame flat and 
shake vigorously, shaking some of the bees out of the cells ; leave 
those that will not shake out for the bees to dig out; they can do 
it cheaper than you. 
Q. I have some brood-combs; they are black. I also have 
some that the moths have been in, that I lost earlier. Are those 
combs any good, or had I better throw them away? I thought 
I could use them for natural or artificial swarms. 
A. If not too badly torn by worms they are all right to use 
again. 
Q. How many years of constant use for brood can worker- 
comb have without diminishing the size of the bees? I have read 
that the cocoons left behind imperceptibly diminish the size of 
the cells of the future occupants, and prevent the bees from at- 
taining their full development and size. 
A. I have combs that are 30 years old or more, and I cannot 
see that the bees reared in them are- any smaller than those 
reared in new combs. I remember that one of the patient foreign 
investigators — a German, I believe, whose name does not now oc- 
cur to me — took the trouble to measure the contents of cells in 
combs very old and new, by actually filling them with liquid, and 
he found that the old cells contained just as much liquid as the 
new. The idea that the cells become smaller with age has been 
taught faithfully for many years, and there are still some who 
