THE BEE-KEEPERS* REVIEW 



111 



merit, no more upper stories are given 

 tiie bees. 



The Perrinton yard was worked on tJie 

 "once a week" visit plan, during- the 

 honey flow. The season was a back- 

 ward one. and the upper stories were 

 given to this yard about the first of June. 

 There were some of the colonies that 

 were not in shape for upper stories at 

 the first visit, but most of them were 

 ready at the second visit, which was 

 nearly two weeks later. It is noticeable 

 that the first upper stories given to the 

 bees, are the slowest being filled. This 

 is accounted for by the fact that the 

 beginning of the honey flow is usually 

 rather slow; then there is the brood nest 

 that is usually low in stores to be filled 

 first. Colonies being accustomed to 

 working in their brood nest, fill this be- 

 fore going above to any great extent; 

 then, later in the season, when the bees 

 become accustomed to working above, 

 some of this honey that was stored in 

 the brood nest at the beginning of the 

 flow, is carried up, or used in breeding, 

 so, at the close of the season, there may 

 not be as much honey in the brood nest 

 as there was soon after the beginning of 

 the flow. Knowing this characteristic of 

 the bees, also that the early part of the 

 clover flow is inclined to be rather moder- 

 ate, two weeks are usually allowed to 

 elapse between the putting on of the 

 first upper stories and the second visit. 

 Then, a bee keeper must not be a 

 machine, set to go at a certain time. 

 The farm journals advise their readers 

 to "mix brains with soil," honey is just a 

 little better with some brains mixed in 

 it; seems to giye it a better flavor. Be- 

 cause it usually takes two weeks for the 

 bees to fill the first upper story, is no 

 assurance that this will be the case at 

 all times. It may take three weeks for 

 the first story to be filled, or the whole 

 season, or it may take only a week. A 

 good bee keeper is with his bees at this 

 season of the year. While his bees are 

 scattered in different locations, so the 

 flow may be, and usually is, of a differ- 



ent duration and amount, yet, if he is 

 alert, and of the new school, he will have 

 a way of finding out those different condi- 

 tions in short order, and work accord- 

 ingly. 



My usual way of determining when the 

 honey flow will begin, or how far it has 

 advanced, or getting an idea when the 

 flow will close, at a location at some 

 other point from where I happen to be 

 working, is to write some bee keeper in 

 that particular location how things are 

 coming. To illustrate: One season in 

 Kalkaska county, the raspberry, the 

 only source of honey, got frosted early in 

 May. This freezing killed the early buds, 

 and I realized that the honey flow would 

 be retarded somewhat on that account; 

 how much, no one seemed to know, not 

 having had just such an experience 

 before. This yard was 100 miles from 

 home, and we did not care to make a trip 

 up there until near the opening of the 

 honey flow, so I asked Mr. Kirkpatrick, 

 of Rapid City, Mich., who lives near this 

 yard, to keep me posted on the condition 

 and progress the berries were making. 

 It was evident that the first part of the 

 flow would be of a slow order, and if we 

 knew the day that the berries began to 

 yield honey, we could get to that yard in 

 time to put on supers. This he did. 



A CHAPTER OF QUALITY. 



We will now return to the last visit to 

 the Perrinton yard during the honey flow, 

 this for the purpose of giving upper story 

 room to those colonies that may need it. 

 A period of dry weather threatened to 

 cut the honey flow somewhat short. 

 The cutting of the alsike clover for hay 

 was well under way, and the indications 

 were that the honey flow would not last 

 more than a week — that the season for 

 surplus honey was abtfut three-fourths 

 over. I should judge that one-fourth of 

 the colonies in the yard at that time had 

 their hives full and were in need of more 

 room. There were others that did not 

 have sufficient room to hold the honey 

 that was likely to be brought in during 

 the remainder of the flow. 



