THE BEE-KEliPERS' REVIEW. 



149 



shows that soniohow it was not real- 

 ized. Still, for those who are not so 

 situated as to work under the guid- 

 jtuee of others, it is worth somethinj^ 



i to iret started ri,t;ht. 



What are tlie really necessary things 



I to do with bees V The fanner would 



I say. Idve swiUiUs (when you sec rli»>ini 

 jiinl |iut oil ^ujic'is. The iH'.niuiier WIhi 

 li.-is been priniod l)y a hee-hook would 

 he apt to say. stimulate hi-ood-rcariug, 



'equalize stores, make nueloi, raise 

 viueens. cxauiiiu' o:ic(> a wek. feed for 

 winter, etc. The practical course is 

 by no means half-way bet\\een these 

 two extremes; it lies nmch nearer to 

 the farmer's method than to the 

 amateur's and has long ago been terse- 

 ly expressed by "The greatest amount 



j of honey with the least amount of 

 labor." The farmer loses much honey 

 by not doit'ig a few things at the right 

 season; the professional bee-keeper 



* does just those things but no more. 

 Briefly, tlie I'.ecessary things are to 

 secure tiie right conditions for winter- 

 irg, either by a good cellar, or proper 

 packing, or arrangement of the tops of 

 the hives; to examine early in the 

 spring, hurriedly, with as little dis- 

 turbance as possible, for queenlessness 

 or disease (if foul brood is in the neigh- 

 borhood) and once later in the spring 

 with more care for disease and suftici- 

 e')cy of stores (feeding when found 

 necessary), taking advantage of this 

 inspection to do all desirable scraping 

 ftnd pruning of propolis and burr 

 combs, and clipping of queens; to get 

 surplus receptacles and hives for in- 

 crease ready beforehand; to adopt aiid 

 follow a simple and uniform plan for 

 swarming management, either hiving 

 first swarms and preventing after- 

 fwarming by approved methods, or 

 making artificial swarms, or prevent- 

 ing swarming; to requeen poor colo- 

 nies; to put on a super, and add more 

 supers, at just the right time, and to 



remove each finished super ])roniptly, 

 to scrape, graue and pack the honey 

 in accortlance with a delinite system; 

 to have it ready for market as early 

 as possible, so Ihat any chances for 

 selling it to good advantage may not 

 be lost; .ind to keep most of Mie drone- 

 comb, and all imperfect or irregular 

 combs, replaced by straight worker 

 combs. It follows that a thorough- 

 going producer of honey, in an aver- 

 age location, who does not rear queens, 

 will not look at the brood chambers of 

 his colonies more than three or four 

 times a year, and thoroughly look 

 them over not more than once. 



Now, every beginner who has re.id a 

 little will see at once that there are 

 some ondssions in the above. It is one 

 of the tantalizing features of bee cul- 

 ture that some apparently competent 

 authorities think some things are vital, 

 <• nd otlier equally conipetent autnori- 

 ties think they are not. Locality ac- 

 counts for much of this. For example, 

 it is not necessary to be very particu- 

 lar to clean out the bottom boards of 

 most of the iiives in spring, but in 

 some parts of the East it appears to be 

 very necessary. But when two compe- 

 tent persoriS of different opinions are 

 in similar localities, they cannot both 

 be rignt. One may be competent in 

 general work, but lacking in scientific 

 r.ccuracj in drawing inferences. He 

 may be one of those who think it a 

 virtue to say 1 know, and a weakness 

 to say, I don't know. This union of 

 genuineness Avith false pretences de- 

 ceives himself and many others. For 

 this reason so simple a matter as 

 drawing np the bare essentials of 

 honey-production cannot be carried 

 through without running connter to 

 some fixed ideas- though if all ^^ouId 

 only think hard and honestly tliey 

 could agree which iii;itters ai-e nni'rov- 

 ed. however much they might differ 

 in their opinions on these unpr^rved 



