September 2, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
215 
too well remembered that the desire must be repressed by 
keeping young fertile queens at the head of every stock, and 
room well in advance of its requirements, thus taking away 
the desire by the removal of the necessity, not creating the 
desire and then repressing it. 
The economy of using foundation can hardly be ascer¬ 
tained until proof can be adduced of the amount of honey or 
syrup required for the production of one pound of wax. The 
common estimate of 20 lbs. is far too high, and a very 
common error is that in making experiments with a view to 
clearing up this most interesting point, no notice is appar¬ 
ently taken of the influence of the weather and the strength 
of the swarm on wax-production. At present no opportunity 
has offered to make an experiment, but “ A Lanarkshire 
Bee-keeper ” has evidently an intention of endeavouring to 
settle the point, and it will then be possible to say whether 
any saving is effected by the use of foundation in the brood 
nest. Of one thing I am assured, and that is, that given two 
swarms, the one on full sheets of foundation, the other on 
starters only, the former fed for a day or two, the latter with 
12 lbs. of syrup costing Is., the latter will, other things being 
equal, be found at the end of the honey season to show the 
best result. It is needless to add that the 12 lbs. of syrup 
must be given with care and judgment, or some of it may be 
stored instead of being used for comb-building and the feeding 
of brood alone. 
In supers the foundation must be of the very finest quality, 
or the use of it is simply ruinous, and even then a midrib 
occasionally spoils a lovely piece of comb. If the presence of 
this midrib cannot be avoided starters only must b9 used, and 
time will be lost and profit as a natural sequence. The reason 
of this midrib being left is that the bees, instead of building 
“ of” the foundation, build “ on ” it. The honey is coming 
in so quickly that cells have to be formed for its reception, 
and apparently it is more easy at such time to use the 
foundation as a base for cells than to use up the wax entirely 
in the construction of the cells. Now this can be avoided by 
the “ piling ” plan, for the supers being continually added 
always give the bees a chance, of which they gladly avail 
themselves, to draw out the cells before the actual glut or 
height of the season, so that when such time comes, instead 
of wasting precious hours in wax-production at the most 
critical season, a greater number of workers are available for 
field labour than is the case where no such system is adopted. 
The vast amount of honey gathered in a few days of fine 
weather can only be realised by those who have a sufficiency 
of empty cells to receive it. When the cells have to be built 
the time is gliding away, and when they are completed a 
sudden change in the weather may cause an entire or partial 
cessation in the honey flow, with the result that the weight 
taken from a stock is far less than might have been obtained 
if empty cells had been in readiness just when required. If 
preferred empty combs given in the body hive and left until 
sealed and then extracted, give the same result; but as 
extracted is of less market value than comb honey, it is hardly 
desirable to produce comb honey in a body box in an unsale¬ 
able form when the whitest of comb can be as easily obtained 
in the form realising the highest price in the market. 
If foundation is used in supers the quality must be beyond 
question, and it should be so given that it may be all worked 
out ready for the period when honey comes in most freely. 
Less will then be heard about the most objectionable midrib, 
and the super will be beyond reproach. To have comb honey 
and not to be certain that the comb is sweet and good in all 
its parts is a sorry position for any bee-keeper to be placed in, 
and a false one. If quality must be sacrificed to quantity it 
will be wiser to eschew the latter and court the former ; and 
it is not matter of doubt that where starters only are used in 
supers loss in quantity is occasioned, but of certainty; for no 
assistance can be otherwise rendered, and the bees must be 
left to their unaided resources. 
By bad management helps may be turned into hindrances 
and profit into loss. —Felix. 
NOTES ON BEES. 
CONDEMNED BEES. 
Wherever there is a surplus of bees not required for stocks, 
the best plan is to place them into empty straw or frame hives 
fitted with foundation, and feed until as many worker combs are 
made as will be of service for next year, utilising those with 
brood in them for strengthening stocks. If syrup is stored in 
any, these placed in an under storey will soon be cleared. When 
that is done, they should be removed to the store room, kept 
clean and dry. All feeding should be past in September, and 
that should be cautiously and judiciously gone about, so that 
robbing is not incited through exposure or spilling it. Under 
feeders not emptied during the night should be removed early in 
the morning, and all top feeders should be covered, so that no 
smell can attract bees. 
HIVES. 
Bee-keepers should note their experience with hives under 
their care, such as faults, and where and how these can be 
remed ed or improvements made; also the disadvantages in all 
the phases of manipulation and moving about; in short, to weigh 
everything well and make the desired improvements. I have 
made these remarks advisedly, because of the many defective 
hives that are in use at the present time, which do not meet the 
requirements of bee keepers and are at the best disappointing. 
The much-abused and despised hive of my earlier bee keeping 
days, and still my favourite one, has as if by magic become the 
favourite both in Great Britain and on the Continent. I have 
so often pointed out the qualities and pi’operties a hive should 
possess, that to say more on these points at the present would 
perhaps be superfluous; I shall therefore confine myself to 
the frame or frames of the hive Wherever I have seen bees, 
they work their combs to a standard distance of H inch from 
centre to centre. This rule in Nature must be obvious to the 
merest tyro, and should convince him that frames should be 
made so that that distance is strictly preserved in all hives. Yet 
how often do we see that law violated ! It is a well-known fact 
that bees, too, storing their honey at the top occupy at least 
1 : J- inch as a foundation. One would think that this important 
point, and one necessary for the safety of the hive, should not 
be violated, but the full breadth given on top bar for a sure 
foundation for the bees to build upon. Yet how seldom is that 
done. I have seen many hundreds of hives this year, and few of 
them have their top bars broader than a little more than half 
what is required, not speaking of the inconvenience of exposing 
so much of the top of the hive and the operator to the fury of 
the bees when uncovered. The narrowness, together with the 
thinness at three-eighths of an inch, is not sufficient to support 
well-filled frames of honey, and the slightest pressure on the top 
is sufficient to cause the comb to collapse, while the flimsy under¬ 
rail of one eighth thick is of no use whatever. 
I have frequently asked the question, What is the virtue or 
property of these narrow and flimsy standard frames, which are 
so unsuitable for hives ? The question was answered once only, 
which was to the effect that by having narrow top bars brood 
was reared to the very top. Even if that had been the case, was 
there anything more absurd and contrary to the nature of the 
bee than allowing it or perpetuating such management? The 
very fact that brood appeared to the top of the frame suggested 
both the fault and the remedy, which was, the hive is too 
small. In the case of a hive having broad top bars, if too small 
and the bees are short of provisions, brood will be brought forth 
in the uppermost cells the same as if they were the narrow and 
flimsy top bar of the standard frame. The first feature of im¬ 
portance which a common straw hive should possess is a strong 
crown. Wooden hives must be the same. So long as such frames 
are recommended they will find their way into apiaries and annoy 
the bee-keeper. But there is a remedy. Appoint judges of 
experience and just as the B B.K.A. examines bee keepers by 
questions so as to pass for experts, let the judges ask the 
owners of the exhibits to perform in their presence all the 
manipulations necessary and which is required in bee-keeping 
By acting so, the exhibitor becomes in reality judge of his own 
hive, and if he failed to perform any operation satisfactorily, then 
it is his own fault and not that of the judge that he loses the 
prize. At the Caledonian Apiarian Society Show held at Dumfries 
this year, in a class where upwards of a dozen competed, there 
were only three hives properly adapted for bee-keeping. Where 
rizes are offered for hives or other things restricted to a price, 
think it would be fair to examine them thoroughly, so that no 
miscarriage of justice be made by awarding a prize to a hive 
that could not be made at double the price, as is the case with a 
large per-centage of hives shown. Other points of the hive I 
