162 ANNUAL REPORT 



mence operations before the swarm is prepared to gather honey. 

 Therefore you want to commence as early as the first of May to 

 get the bees in condition, to get the queen to lay to her full ca- 

 pacity, so the bees will be on hand and ready for this honey 

 flow. 



A good many men perhaps disagree with me on feeding, but I 

 am a firm believer in stimulating the bees by the use of proper 

 food. I can take a swarm of bees and if it is properly managed 

 — bear in mind that it must be managed right — and I can set a 

 queen that is only laying 300 or 400 eggs a day to laying from 

 3,000 to 4,000 eggs a day. I can tell the number of eggs that are 

 deposited by counting the cells — so many to the square inch. 



I see a good many bee-keepers here, and let me say to you, 

 busy yourselves in that matter so that you can stimulate your 

 queens at the proper time. 



After this flow of honey is over, have the queen do as little lay- 

 ing as possible. Why ? Because the bees raised at that time 

 are useless, only honey consumers. Where Mr. Taylor is loca- 

 ted, in Fillmore county, they have a flow of honey in the fallj 

 we don't have it here. I have been here six years. The first, 

 fall we had no honey to amount to anything. There may be a 

 better flow of honey in the fall in places, than in the summer, 

 but the honey is of a darker color. 



This past season there was very little pure white clover honey. 

 There is a sample case on the table; I only had a few cases taken 

 off. You may inquire what has colored the white clover honey 

 this year; it is the golden rod; there is a large amount of pollen 

 in it. The bees get it all over their bodies, and they leave it up- 

 on the comb, casting that yellow shade upon it. It does not hurt 

 the quality of the honey, but it hurts it in looks. 



In feeding in the spring of the year I dilfer a good deal from 

 many other people. I have managed bees in such a way that I 

 can feed promiscuously, and yet in my articles in the '^Farm, 

 Stock and Home^'' I advised new beginners not to do it. There is 

 danger of setting the bees to fighting, and if they do it is hard 

 to break them of the habit. As far as I am concerned I have no 

 difficulty in keeping them from fighting. I put one or two pail- 

 fuls of feed where they can get it, and take it to their hives; but 

 if you are to find no symtoms of fighting, it has to be done just 

 right. When one gets a large apiary of bees to fighting it is hard 

 work to break it up. My advice is to feed under the cap at 

 night, although the best way is to let them gather it naturally. 



