Gleanings in bee culture . nd opening about the size ofone of tlieir own worker-cells. In a neigh-bors hive I saw another thing which inter-ested me much. In summer time, duringthe spell of rest forced upon the bees bythe absence of nectar - secreting flowers,his bees busied themselves conscientiouslyby biting off almost to the top-bars thebeautiful they had built some timebefore on comb foundation, and set to workto afford their future sisters quarters betteradapted to their requirements. A prettycommon thing, will veterans say? Whenthe bee has nothing to do outside it keepsinside doin
Gleanings in bee culture . nd opening about the size ofone of tlieir own worker-cells. In a neigh-bors hive I saw another thing which inter-ested me much. In summer time, duringthe spell of rest forced upon the bees bythe absence of nectar - secreting flowers,his bees busied themselves conscientiouslyby biting off almost to the top-bars thebeautiful they had built some timebefore on comb foundation, and set to workto afford their future sisters quarters betteradapted to their requirements. A prettycommon thing, will veterans say? Whenthe bee has nothing to do outside it keepsinside doing some mischief. Yes, I knowbees do sometimes bite, off the bottom of anold comb, and, may be, at the approach ofwinter, of a new one too; but that is nothingcompared to a regular pulling-down of thehouse to build new lodgings. Another beekeeper, who had orderedfoundation and frame hives from France,complained bitterly to one of my acquain-tances that Chinese bees were not willing toaccept EuroiDean civilization. They wont. Thrashing the sweet cluvor. build on foundation, he said, and wontkeep to tl:e frames, but must also build be-tween tliem. This last fault was not an attraction forhim. His frames were spaced 11/2 i- apartfrom center to center. No wonder, then,that additional combs are built, since, withframes only 1% in. from center to center, Isaw additional combs being built. It wouldbe still worse with frames spaced 1% in.,as is given sometimes in books. It is truethat this large spacing is for wintering; butit happens that bees build combs even at theend of October and in the beginning ofMarch. The result of this spacing, too widefor the bees of this country, is what can beexpected. In some hives the combs cannotbe separated any more than if built others, by taking good care the framescan be taken out; but some combs, beingfixed to the edges of the frames, can falleasily, to the great danger of the operatorand of the neighbors. Moreover, someframes supporting
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbees, bookyear1874
