216 



GLEANINGS IN 



EE CULTURE 



April, 1918 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



footnote be added to the article: "The inno- 

 cent subject of the sketch above would prob- 

 ably not be all there and woiild certainly be 

 driven to the bug-house if he were to be fed 

 daily upon such flattery. He wishes the 

 reader to get out the salt-shake when he reads 

 the article and use it frequently. The let- 

 alone hive has at times done all that Mr. Eoot 

 says;, but those halcyon days are at present 

 under a cloud. When the subject of the 

 sketch had freedom from bee-disease and had 

 a strain of bees which rarely swarmed, he 

 carried on the let-alone style of beekeeping 

 with marked success. When foul-brood came 

 and those non-swarming bees succumbed at 

 once, and he had to get in other strains to 

 combat the disease, his let-alone hives began 

 to take a back seat." 



So, Mr. Ijatham is fair and square in the 

 whole matter. — Editor.] 



CONVERSATIONS with DOOLITTLE 



He Answers a Question About the Spring Man- 

 agement of Bees for Best Results 



"Will you kindly tell us in Gleanings how 

 to manage our bees in spring so as to secure 

 the best results in honey during the season? 

 The beginner in beekeeping is confronted 

 with many perplexing problems, such as win- 

 tering, spring management, location, market- 

 ing the crop, etc., but of the many problems 

 the most pertinent, perhaps, at this season 

 of the year, is spring management. One of 

 the greatest secrets of successful honey pro- 

 duction is that of having a great force of 

 field-workers during the honey harvest. After 

 the harvest has passed and gone, the work- 

 ers are largely useless consumers. A proper 

 understanding of bee culture and the honey 

 sources of our locality will convince an in- 

 quiring mind that the most important object 

 in view, from the time one honey harvest 

 closes until another begins, is the securing 

 of strong colonies at the proper time. Those 

 last three words mean a great deal to the 

 apiarist. Any colony of bees that gets into 

 shape for work only at or near the close of 

 the main nectar flow becomes very largely a 

 consumer instead of a producer. The ideal 

 condition is to have the colonies vigorous 

 and populous at the very beginning of the 

 honey season. But how to get the colonies 

 into the proper condition in time, is the im- 

 portant thing. 



If a colony of bees comes out of winter 



quarters in prime condition and well supplied 

 with honey, they may build up to the re- 

 quired standard without any aid from the 

 apiarist, but many colonies will lack in some 



essential point. If this is not corrected or 



supplied, a partial or entire failure will be 

 the result. Careful attention to their espe- 

 cial needs during the weeks that intervene 

 between the time of their first flight in the 

 spring and the beginning of the honey har- 

 vest, is the work which pays the beekeeper. 

 Some colonies may need one thing, and some 

 another. In an apiary of any considerable 

 size some colonies will lose their queen, or 

 have one too poor to keep up brood-rearing 

 sufficient for the best results. Such can be 

 supplied by uniting with weaker colonies 

 having good queens. Some may need more 

 food to rear the large amount of brood neces- 

 sary for the maximum number of bees just 

 when they are needed to meet the main flow 

 of nectar. This can be supplied by inserting 

 combs of honey carried over from the pre- 

 vious season for this purpose, or from some 

 colony which can spare a frame. All hives 

 should be made as warm as possible by seeing 

 that they are as tight as possible at the top. 

 A good method, where wooden covers are 

 used, is to place four or five thicknesses of 

 newspaper over the top, and then press down 

 the cap or cover over all. This is very ef- 

 fectual in preventing the escape of warm air. 

 Later, when brood-rearing has been in prog- 

 ress for some time and some colonies are 

 strong, a frame of brood nearly ready to 

 emerge may occasionally be taken from a 

 strong one that can spare it and given to a 

 weaker one, thus tending to equalize both 

 and bring all in the apiary so that the maxi- 

 mum number of bees may be on hand at the 

 beginning of the main honey flow. A little 

 later on, the two combs on the outside of the 

 cluster, containing only a few eggs, may be 

 taken and placed in the center of each colo- 

 ny and two well filled ones from the center 

 put in their places, which manipulation will 

 increase the egg laying of the queens and 

 help to bring about the condition we are 

 working for, namely, all combs filled with 

 brood and eggs at the beginning of the honey 

 harvest. Then there is another item well 

 worth looking after in an occasional year: 

 if the colony has too much honey, or, if early 

 honey comes in so rapidly as to cause the 

 combs to be filled before the queen occupies 

 them with eggs, this honey must be removed 

 or the colony will be weakened thru the re- 

 striction of brood rearing. This honey can 

 generally be used to supply colonies that are 

 short and need more honey than they have 

 to put them in as prosperous condition as 

 are most of the others. 



The story goes that a noted pugilist upon 

 being asked for the secret of his success, 

 replied, "When I see a head, I hit it." The 

 ability to go straight to the important ele- 

 ment of one's business, and then to strike 

 the proper blow, is certainly one of the se- 

 crets of success. 



Borodino, N. Y. G. M. Doolittle. 



