1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



139 



CONVERSATIONS • WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



AT Borodino, New York. 



IS AN EXTRACTOR NEEDED FOR 23 COLOMES? 

 "I have been in the business only two 

 years, and have twenty-three colonies at the 

 present time. Mr. Jones told me yesterday 

 that I should have an extrac or, as many 

 hives would often have too much honey in 

 them in the spring; consequently the queens 

 would be cramped for room to deposit their 

 eggs, and that in such a case I could use an 

 extractor to advantage to give the desired 

 room, and at the same time put a stop to any 

 inclination to swarm. In all of his experi- 

 ence he said he had never had a swarm at 

 anytime when the queen had been supplied 

 with plenty of empty comb in the brood 

 nest. He further said that, in this way, I 

 could be sure of having very strong colonies 

 when the honey harvest commenced in ear- 

 nest; and in case of a short flow I c -uld se- 

 cure quite a crop of extracted honey, while 

 if I depended on comb honey I would get 

 lots of swarms, with very little or no salable 

 honey in sections." 



"Well, Mr. Smith, there is some truth in 

 what he said, and some thinys which are not 

 what a practical apiarist would advise. That 

 you could secure some extracted honey in a 

 season with only a few days ot honey flow 

 is true; and that you would not have any 

 swarms where the queen was supplied with 

 all of the empty combs she could use for lay- 

 ing purposes, is nearly correct, though there 

 are a few who claim that they have more or 

 less swarming, even under such circum- 

 stances But when Jones recommends ex- 

 tracting the old honey in the combs which 

 the bees stored the year before, most prac- 

 tical bee-keepers would tell you he was 

 making a mistake. In most if not all locali- 

 ties such honey is needed for brood-rearing 

 before nectar of any amount comes in 

 from the early or spring blooming flowers, . 

 and to extract it for the fun of feeding it* 

 back again would not be considered a pay- 

 ing job, as most of us believe that brood- 

 rearing will go on just as prosperously, if 

 not more so, when there is plenty of honey 

 in the hive, without taking out some of it 

 and feeding it back. Labor is one of the 

 great problems in apiculture; and extracting 

 tills old thick honey, and then thinning it 

 and feeding it warm, a little at a time each 

 day, makes the labor problem very much 

 greater than it is otherwise." 



"Then you would not advise me to buy an 

 extractor to use in that way? " 



"No, I would not. But no person having 

 as many as 20 colonies can afford to go with- 

 out an extractor. Have you not had some 

 colonies that were adverse to going into sec- 

 tions? or others that had the swarming 

 fever, so that a whole season passed without 

 a proper surplus? When you find colonies 

 which are reluctant about working in the 

 sections, just take. a hive filled with combs 



to one of them; open the hive and take out 

 one or two combs of brood, and replace with 

 an em.ity comb or two, as the case may war- 

 rant, then place a queen excluder over the 

 hive, and on this excluder put the hive you 

 brought along, and, when spacing the combs 

 in it put in those you took from the old hive, 

 after shaking the bees off, sj you are sure 

 you do not get the queen. You a ill now see 

 that work take-s the place of loafing. When 

 the bees have those combs filled with honey, 

 which they will have in a week or so, the 

 extractor comes in play by throwing out that 

 honey; then, on the return of those emptied 

 combs, the bees will work with renewed en- 

 ergy to fill them again. Again, some colo- 

 nies seem bound to store the larger part of 

 their honey in the brood combs, thus crowd- 

 ing the queen and causing swarming, or 

 leaving too few bees for winter. Especially 

 is this the case where the dark or leather- 

 colored Italians are kept. 



"An extractor and the treatment I have 

 been telling you about are almost the only 

 salvation, if 1 may be allowed that expres- 

 sion, the apiarist has with such bees. They 

 are excellent for extracted honey; but on ac- 

 count of their propensity to crowd the brood- 

 chamber with honey, and cap their honey so 

 it has a watery or greasy appearance, they 

 are better for extracted than comb honey." 



"I am glad you touched on this subject, 

 for I had several colonies last year of these 

 dsrk Italian bees that filled their hives full 

 of honey, but put very little in the sections; 

 and what t.iey did put there was so miserably 

 capped that I had to take second price for it 

 by the side of what was made by my blacks." 



" If you have an extractor, with such col- 

 onies you can become master of the situa- 

 tion, and secure a good return in extracted 

 honey, which, when the selling price of this 

 is added to that from your section honey, 

 will bring the total amount to where you 

 will have a good showing from each colony." 



"But how can I dispose of so much '• " 



"You would have no trouble at all with 

 what you get from your 23 colonies. As fall 

 draws near, at which time every family wish- 

 es honey, even though they may not wish 

 for it strong enough to come to you for it, 

 take a sample of this extracted honey and 

 leave from two to four ounces at each house, 

 telling the people, and especially the chil- 

 dren, to sample it, quoting the price you 

 have decided to sell at, and say you will be 

 around with the honey on such a day. When 

 the day comes, take it to them and see if you 

 do not dispose of three times as much as 

 you had hoped to. After this one baiting of 

 all the families within a radius of five miles 

 of your apiary, all you will have to do in fu- 

 ture years is to let it be known that you 

 have such extracted honey for sale, and you 

 will find yourself short each year, if you pro- 

 duce the good thoroughly ripened sort, , 

 which you stiould always do." 



"How much would you think a market 

 built up in that way would take? " 



"From 1000 to 5000 pounds, depending on 

 the population or the number of villages." 



