THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



181 



exclusively upon the buckwheat. The 

 same is true of clover, or any source, for 

 that matter. 1 have seen them desert 

 the clover for the basswood, and then 

 when the period of basswood bloom had 

 passed, come back to clover. If two 

 sources of supply are open at the same 

 time, they will choose the one that yields 

 the most abundantly. 



"Keeping More Bees." 



As illustrating the change of views 

 upon this subject, I will mention what 

 took place at two conventions. At the 

 Syracuse. N. Y. convention that I at- 

 tended recently, more than one member 

 expressed satisfaction at the profit that 

 had come from branching out and mak- 

 mg an extensive business of bee-keeping. 

 How quickly my mind ran back to the 

 time when I first began preaching the 

 gespel of "more bees." At a convention I 

 put into the question box the following 

 query: "Why don't you keep more bees?" 

 It's reading was followed by a titter. The 

 president was a broad-minded man, and 

 tried to get the members to discuss the 

 question; told them that it was really the 

 most important matter that had been 

 brought up; but it was no go. Such a 

 question could be viewed only in the light 

 of a joke. 



Producing and Selling are far Different 

 Problems. 



Bro. Root of Gleanings quotes from my 

 editorial on selling honey, and says, in 

 part, "After all that is said and done, 

 honey producing is a business in itself. 

 The art of selling at good prices is en- 

 tirely another business. It is seldom that 

 we find any one man sufficiently edu- 

 cated in the art of producing and selling 

 both; and it therefore follows that the 

 great majority of bee keepers will have 

 to depend upon some one else to do their 

 selling." 



Of course, producing and selling are 

 far different operations, but every pro- 

 ducer must dispose of his product in 

 some manner, and for each particular 



producer there is some particular way 

 that is best for him, and the Review is 

 trying to help him find that way. You 

 may have found the way that is best for 

 you, but it is just possible that you have 

 not. 



Uncapping Drone Brood to Prevent 



Swarming. 

 Mr. M. R. Kuehne of California writes 

 me that they have two honey flows in his 

 locality, with an interval of two or three 

 weeks between them, hence the Jones 

 method of uncapping a large share of 

 the brood would leave the colony in poor 

 condition for the second flow. He adds, 

 however, that uncapping the drone brood, 

 if in sufficient quantity, will produce the 

 same effect as uncapping the worker 

 brood. He says that he wrote of this 

 plan several years ago, but the editor to 

 to whom he sent the account replied that 

 this might prevent swarming to some 

 extent, but asked "why raise the drone 

 brood in the first place?" Mr. Kuehne 

 replies, that it may be uncapped, and 

 thus prevent swarming. He says that 

 when bees are not allowed to rear any 

 drones they plainly show their dissatis- 

 faction. He allows them to rear some 

 drone brood, and then uncaps it. He 

 says that he has practiced this several 

 years. 



Better Wait Until the Honey is Sealed. 



I am aware that honey may be ripe 

 without it's being capped over, but, as a 

 rule, uncapped honey is not fully ripe. 

 An expert may be able to say whether 

 honey is ripe, even if unsealed, but the 

 rank and file better wait until the bees 

 have placed upon it their seal of ap- 

 proval. I recently received a letter from 

 a bee keeper who put up a most vigorous 

 protest against advising the extracting of 

 honey before it was sealed. He said 

 that, for ten years, he had been using 

 plenty of hives and combs, and allowing 

 the bees plenty of time in which to cure 

 and cap their product. He feels positive 



