952 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



The first work is to get our wide frames, or 

 cases, and sections which have been in use the 

 past season, in readiness for the next harvest. 

 Get them around, and scrape off all the propo- 

 lis adhering to the tin separators and all the 

 bits of comb, should there be any, fastened to 

 the bottoms of the wide frames. All these bits 

 of comb, as well as all others, should be saved; 

 and to best save them the wax extractor should 

 be close at hand, and all waste pieces of comb 

 put into it during the whole season. As often 

 as it is full, get out the wax and have it ready 

 to fill again. All sections which are partly fill- 

 ■ed with honey should have the honey extract- 

 ed from them (unless you think you will need 

 it to feed in the spring), as the honey will not 

 correspond in color or quality with that 

 which the bees will put in to finish out the sec- 

 tions the next season. To extract this nicely, 

 fix a shelf close to the ceiling of your room; put 

 the honey thereon, and keep the room so warm 

 that the mercury will stand at 90 to 100° for 

 three or four hours before you commence to 

 take the honey out. By placing the honey near 

 the ceiling we do not need near the fire to heat 

 it that would be required if placed on the floor 

 or a bench. These partly filled sections, if ex- 

 tracted without warming, would all be ruined, 

 so far as the combs are concerned, and the 

 apiarist's prospects of a large yield of honey 

 the coming season would be ruined also; for, 

 according to my value, they are better than 

 money in the bank. After the honey is extract- 

 ed, these sections are to be put in the center 

 wide frame for each hive, or, in other words, 

 are to be used as '* bait sections," which should 

 always be placed in the center of the sections 

 on top of the hivp, so as to secure an early com- 

 mencement of work by the bees in the sections, 

 and so the full sections shall not all come off at 

 once, which would cause the bees to be loath 

 to enter a second lot. Fill the rest of the wide 

 frames, or cases, with empty sections, each 

 having a starter of thin foundation in it, or fill 

 the sections will full sheets of foundaiion, as 

 you prefer.' Having all complete, pack them 

 away where they will be ready for use, at a 

 moment's notice, next June. 



Our next work is to secure our material for 

 further sections by buying or otherwise, and 

 make it up. To arrive at the number I wish, I 

 allow 150 one pound sections for each old colo- 

 ny I expect to bt'gin the season with, in the 

 spring; and after 25 years of experience I find 

 this estimate not far out of the way. It is well, 

 always, to be sure and have enough, for it is 

 far better to have a few sections left over than 

 to find our sections exhausted in the midst of a 

 good honey-flow. Many put off this getting- 

 ready part till spring, so that they may know 

 how the bees winter; but the one who expects 

 to make a bee-keeper worthy of that name will 

 not do this; for if the getting ready part is put 



off' till just bffore the honey harvest, the result 

 almost always shows a greater or less loss. 



Having the section part all in readiness, we 

 next make what hives, frames, covers, etc., we 

 t.hink we shall wish fur use the next season. 

 Having these made, wire the frames and put in 

 the brood foundation, so this part will be in 

 readiness also, resting assured that the bees 

 will work this foundation just as well when 

 wanted as they would had it been put in the 

 frames an hour before placing in the hive. 



After having the frames thus prepared, place 

 the number you wish to use in each hive, and 

 pack all nicely away. 



Then there are the shipping-crates for honey, 

 to be gotten ready; shipping-cages for queens, 

 if we raise queens for sale; and any thing or 

 every thing which we have planned by way of 

 experiments which we wish to try in the near 

 future, all of which, as far as possibly can be, 

 should be prepared during the wintry days 

 so that, when spring opens, we shall have noth- 

 ing to do but to give our whole attention to the 

 bees. 



If you are to succeed in the bee-business you 

 will prefer to do these things, and find pleasure 

 in doing them, rather than idling the winter 

 away waiting for spring to come to see " what 

 will turn up" with the bees and your business. 

 Above all else in importance is a thorough 

 knowledge of apiculture; and the long winter 

 evenings which are now here are just the time 

 to gain that knowledge. Get around the back 

 volumes of Gleanings and other bee-papers, if 

 you have them; also, if you do not have them, 

 procure one or two good books on bee culture, 

 and read them thoroughly, so as to put what 

 you learn in practice the next season, and thus 

 you will have, in the majority of cases, an ans- 

 wer to what would be a puzzling question to 

 you otherwise, in your own head, instead of 

 having to go to some one else for an answer, 

 just at the busiest season of the year. In these 

 ways a person can be always advancing, in- 

 stead of standing still or retrograding. Don't 

 be found around the country store or saloon, 

 winter evenings, sitting on dry-goods boxes 

 and barrels, filling the minds of others, or al- 

 lowing your own mind to be filled with idle 

 gossip, and often worse than idle gossip, or 

 spend your time over an old dingy checker- 

 board, or a musty pack of cards. Perhaps some 

 of these might do, if the hours hung heavy on 

 our hands; but these things are not in place 

 for an energetic, wide-awake bee-keeper with 

 plenty of unread bee-literature at hand. If you 

 are not enough interested in the study of bees 

 to learn about them winter evenings, prefer- 

 ring the places and things above mentioned, 

 to the study of bees, I can give you no assur- 

 ance of success; but, on the contrary, shall be 

 obliged to predict only a failure, as all of my 

 knowledge of the business compels me to say 



