226 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 1 



tracted-honcy col cries after this light flow 

 I found that the extracted colonies eclipsed 

 the others in the amount of surplus honey 

 secured, and that, too, at fearful odds as to 

 strength and working force. To be sure, I 

 had made some changes with a few comb- 

 honey colonies on account of their swarm- 

 ing, running them for extracted honey for a 

 short time. In some cases I did not change 

 them back; but still these changes did not 

 greatly affect the result, as they were usual- 

 ly offset in some way. 



I decided to take particular pains during 

 the buckwheat flow to determine, if possible, 

 the comparative merits of producing comb 

 and extracted honey. I again used the most 

 powerful colonies for comb honey, selecting 

 120 colonies for this purpose, leaving the re- 

 maining 100 for extracted honey. The first 

 buckwheat in bloom was a large field of Jap- 

 anese. The weather was quite satisfactory, 

 and the bees were doing well. Other fields 

 began to grow white; but the weather be- 

 came less and less favorable until the buck- 

 wheat reached its prime, while the bees were 

 shut in entirely for about twelve days on ac- 

 count of the cold and wind. There was a 

 large acreage sown to buckwheat, and quite 

 a portion of it was late, so I hoped that the 

 bees might yet have a fair show. It lasted 

 very late, and the weather warmed up a lit- 

 tle; but the buckwheat did not yield much, 

 in spite of the fact that there had been no 

 frosts. I began removing both comb and 

 extracted honey, using bee-escapes. It took 

 two days or more for the bees to get down 

 out of the supers, yet this was by far the 

 most satisfactory way. 



The extracted colonies yielded all of 5400 

 lbs. of nice honey, the greater part of it be- 

 ing sealed when removed, and there was 

 plenty left for winter stores, with the excep- 

 tion, perhaps, of two or three. The comb- 

 honey colonies produced less than 2500 lbs., 

 much of which was not well finished, and 

 these colonies also were left heavy in stores 

 for winter. The total crop for the season 

 amounted to something over seven tons. If 

 the yard had been run for extracted honey 

 wholly, there would have been much better 

 returns, together with a smaller cost of labor. 



AMOUNT OF BUCKWHEAT NEAR PELANSON. 



When I was helping Mr. Alexander I ask- 

 ed him what he thought the acreage of buck- 

 wheat was within his bee-range; and after a 

 moment he said it was probably all of 1500 

 acres. I did not question his assertion in the 

 least; but it was my privilege last fall to prove 

 to my satisfaction that Mr. Alexander's esti- 

 mate was most conservative. I remember 

 reading of Mr. Orton'svisit toMr. Alexander 

 in the fall of 1908, as mentioned in his article 

 in Gleanings, in which he stated that he was 

 a farmer and could judge the size of fields 

 fairly accurately, and that from Schenectady 

 to Delanson, a distance of fifteen miles, he 

 had estimated the number of acres as being 

 not more than forty-five. Now, if Mr. Orton 

 had made a complete circuit of the Alexan- 

 der yard, for 1 Yz miles in every direction, he 

 would have found single fields that contain- 



ed more than forty-five acres. I interview- 

 ed a local thrasher, this fall, when his sea 

 son was over, and he told me that he had 

 thrashed over 13,000 bushels within 1;^ miles 

 of the yard which I had in charge, and he 

 said he was sure that he had not thrashed 

 half of that which was grown in this space. 

 I asked him what the average yield was per 

 acre, and he said 25 bushels. This would 

 make more than a thousand acres of buck- 

 wheat grown within IK miles of the apiary. 

 If a radius of two miles were taken there 

 would be more than double this amount — 

 that is, more than 2000 aeres of buckwheat 

 that the bees would have access to in fair 

 weather. One season the former owner of 

 the apiary sowed quite a field of buckwheat 

 earlier than any sown by his neighbors. The 

 season happened to be such that he obtained 

 practically all of his buckwheat honey that 

 year from this one field. I mention this to 

 show that an extra large acreage of buck- 

 wheat often cuts but little figure in the crop 

 of honey. Had the area sown to buckwheat 

 in this section last season been so increased 

 as to make one continuous field to the limit 

 of the bees' flight, I very much doubt wheth- 

 er it would have added much if any to the 

 amount of honey secured. My belief is that 

 a section of country that has, say, 500 acres 

 of buckwheat in bloom within easy range of 

 an apiary, will produce all the nectar that a 

 large apiary can bring in. Much more than 

 this amount would not help the bees during 

 the time they were gathering their loads of 

 nectar, whether the blossoms were yielding 

 bountifully or meagerly. 

 Fabius, N. Y. 



MOVING BEES UNDER IDEAL CONDI- 

 TIONS. 



BY G. C. GREINER. 



The various experiences of a lifetime had 

 forced me to believe that moving bees, even 

 under the most favorable conditions, was an 

 unpleasant job. But my last venture of this 

 kind has convinced me that it can be done, 

 not only comfortably but with a considerable 

 degree of enjoyment as a winter sport. 



Last May I moved about half a mile from 

 the old home, and the question arose as to 

 how and when it would be best to move the 

 bees. They could have been moved at the 

 same time; but their former location being 

 so near by, and the season far enough ad- 

 vanced so that all field workers had general 

 ly formed their lines, many would undoubt- 

 edly have gone back to their former stands 

 and perished. 



I decided to leave my bees at the old place 

 during the summer, and work them some- 

 what like an outyard, intending to move 

 them, during the winter, on snow. This 

 would be an easy matter if the hives could 

 be loaded singly, with perhaps the help of a 

 boy, on to some kind of sleigh rig when we 

 had sleighing. But the bees had to be pack- 

 ed for wmter when they were in proper con- 

 dition before the snow came; and after they 



