. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. PUBLISHED EVERY WEEK AT $ PER SStli Year. CHICAGO, ILL., JULY 25, 1895. No. 30. Coj;)tributcd /Vrticlcs* On Important Afyiarian Sulyjects^ Bees Building Ill-Shapeti Combs, Etc. BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. A correspondent writes me thus: "I have a colony of bees which built nice, thinly-drawn, beautiful combs in the middle sections of the super, while the outside sections con- tain some of the heaviest and most ill-shapen combs I ever saw. Can you tell me why this is so ? Please answer through the American Bee Journal, as I take that
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. PUBLISHED EVERY WEEK AT $ PER SStli Year. CHICAGO, ILL., JULY 25, 1895. No. 30. Coj;)tributcd /Vrticlcs* On Important Afyiarian Sulyjects^ Bees Building Ill-Shapeti Combs, Etc. BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. A correspondent writes me thus: "I have a colony of bees which built nice, thinly-drawn, beautiful combs in the middle sections of the super, while the outside sections con- tain some of the heaviest and most ill-shapen combs I ever saw. Can you tell me why this is so ? Please answer through the American Bee Journal, as I take that ; Something of this kind has been spoken of before in our bee-papers, and some seem to think that such a state of affairs comes about by the changes in the weather, the thicker combs being built while the weather was cool, and the thinner when the weather was warm. Others account for it in a somewhat similar but different way, which is that as the thin combs were built in the center, therefore this shows that there is greater heat over the center of the cluster of bees than else- where, as would be natural, while the heat not being so great on the outside, made the wax less pliable, hence the thicker and irregular combs. But I do not agree with either of these, for, as far as my knowledge goes, bees do not attempt to work wax unless the temperature is right for the successful working of the same, and bees are capable of making a right tempera- ture just when and where they please, as I have often proven with my self-registering thermometer. A small cluster of bees can easily keep a temperature of from 93-^ to 95^ during a cold, frosty night, as many night experiments testify, and that is plenty warm enough for wax-working. From past experience I should account for the state of affairs spoken of by the correspondent, as being the loss of the queen in that particular hive, and especially as he does not speak of noticing any other colonies building such peculiar comb. If cold ha
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
