THE BKK-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



2S3 



rather our honey season, bej^ins about 

 April 1st, and ends al)out the middle of 

 July. Rut it is by no means a continuous 

 flow. In Ai)ril, fruit blossoms; in May, 

 after an interruption, tulipwood. Then 

 another interruption until the ])ersim- 

 mon flow comes in June; then basswood 

 and sourwood during the latter part of 

 June and July. Basswood is found only 

 away in the mountains; there is none 

 here. Some white clover bridj^es more 

 or less the interval between fruit blossoms 

 and poplar, but not enough to be de- 

 pended upon for surplus. Occasionally 

 there is a lieavy flow of honey dew during 

 May and June; generally of a tolerably 

 fair quality, but sometimes abominable in 

 taste and color. 



What increases the difllculty is the 

 irregularity of these difi'ereut flows. Often 

 the fruit blossoms and poplar flows are 

 inlerferred with by bad weather. vSome- 

 times there is honey dew; sometimes 

 there is none. Sometimes the sourwood 

 yields, and sometimes not. The persim- 

 mon has never failed yet with nie, but 

 there are only a few tiees here and there, 

 and the period of blossoming is very 

 short. 



There is absolutely no way to tell in 

 advance which of these sources will yield, 

 and which will not; so the only chance 

 to secure surplus is to keep the colonies 

 strong during the whole season (three 

 months and a half) so as to catch what- 

 ever flow may happen to come. I am 

 speaking for Tennessee generally. In 

 my immediate neighbfjrhood there are 

 very few tulip trees, and no lindens. 



Needless to say, that a management 

 similar to the one advocated by friend 

 Doolittle and others would be a failure; 

 for the flfjw for which they would Iniilil 

 up might be the very one that would fail. 

 In fait, I tried once to build up my col- 

 onies very, Vi'?y strong f(jr the sourwood 

 flow, when lo and behold, that flow failed 

 completely! 



To keep colonics of bees in full strength 

 during three months and a half, it is 

 necessary to control swarming; other- 



wise bf)lh the mother colonies and the 

 swarms would be too weak during the 

 remaiuder of the season. 



This is one of the reasons which 

 prompted me to adojjt large hives. I 

 had some correspondence with the 

 Dadants on the subject, stating that there 

 was no demand for extracted honey here, 

 and they advised me to build up a home 

 market as they have done. Unfortu- 

 nately, the bulk of our honey is dark, 

 rather inferior in (|uality, and varies 

 greatly both in taste and color. To build 

 u]) a special home market, at advanced 

 prices, it is necessary to have first-class 

 honey. 



Preventing swarming can be accom- 

 plished only by caging or removing the 

 queens at the ])roper time. Tliis, how- 

 ever, entails quite a loss of brood; as the 

 bees must be at least four days without 

 unsealed brood. 



Tho.se four days or more without brood 

 are the key to success. After the bees 

 have begun to build queen cells they will 

 continue as long as there is un.sealeil 

 brood and the conditions of honey flow, 

 temjjerature, strength of colony, etc., are 

 favorable. After having been without 

 unsealed brood a few days they will not 

 resume cell building; at least, not for 

 (juite a vfhile; generally the remainder of 

 the season. But, as .stated above, this 

 entails a loss of brood. With me, the 

 swarming takes ])lace in May. The l)rood 

 lost at that time is precisely what would 

 furnish the field bees for the .sourwood 

 flow in July. So it becomes necessary to 

 reduce that loss to a minimum. 



By using large hives, putting on supers 

 early, and protecting them against the 

 cold nights so that the work goes on in 

 the super day and night with no intcrru])- 

 tion, using bait-sections, shading the 

 hives in hot days, etc., I have, for the 

 last six years, succeeded in reducing the 

 swarming from five to fifteen per cent of 

 the number of colonies. 



Under such circumstances, rather than 

 to requeen throughout, I let the colonies 

 swarm; catching the queens in the traps, 



