286 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1918 



o 



NE day at 

 the V e r y 

 end of 

 March, I went a 

 few miles out of 

 Nashville to ex- 

 amine some bees 

 for the widow of 

 a late side-line 

 member of our 



association. It was a perfect day in apple- 

 blossom time. On my way out it was borne 

 in upon me once again that beekeeping is 

 one of the few side lines that are utterly at 

 one with the beauty of the earth. It takes 

 us, of necessity, out into the suns of spring 

 and summer, and makes us eager watchers of 

 the procession of the flowers. Talking shop 

 with beekeepers means always some mention 

 of budding maples and apple-bloom, of clover 

 fields or sweet singing locust or the golden- 

 rod and wild asters of the autumn. 



It is partly because of this natural connec- 

 tion of bees with the beautiful things of 

 earth, and partly just because it is spring 

 again, that I come renewing my plea for 

 beautifying our beeyards. Of course this 

 means sidedine vards chiefly. Extensive 

 commercial beekeepers must concern them- 

 selves (poor things!) with outyards and 

 trucks and labor and doing thingft on so big 

 a scale that nasturtiums and daffodils and 

 gay hollyhocks must be left quite out of 

 their plans. But it is different with those 

 Avho keep a fcAV stands of bees at their own 

 homes. Neat, well-painted hives really add 

 of themselves to the attractiveness of any 

 yard. Put them under your fniit trees, near 

 the young grapevines; set out syringa or 

 bridalwreath or lilac near; put in some narcis- 

 sus bulbs or iris; let honeysuckle climb over 

 the fences and have roses all around. Then 

 will your apiary be a thing of beauty, a love- 

 ly spot where the very work is rest. If your 

 real labor lies amid the glare and roar of 

 the city, here you will find healing for your 

 soul. 



Then on my way back that day another 

 thing came to me forcibly. Better have two 

 colonies and give them good care and at- 

 tention than have 22 partly neglected. In 

 this particular case, the sad and sudden 

 death in July had naturally left the bees with- 

 out any fall attention — in fact, with supers 

 piled almost to my shoulder. But this side- 

 liner was a very busy man (and a very good 

 man) and last summer he had frankly ad- 

 mitted not having examined some of his 

 brood-chambers for two or three years. It 

 wasn't strange I found them so difficult to 

 get into. Strength and ingenuity were sore- 

 ly taxed in prying off supers and almost ex- 

 liaustcd in pulling out brood-frames. Outside 

 combs clung to the hives — and broke — and 

 almost spoiled the party. Queen-excluders 

 were nearly solid with propolis. A good 

 many colonies had died. Eoaches were plen- 

 tiful in others. Bees were cross. 



Let us be very careful, we side-line bee- 

 keepers, to increase our yards only to the ex- 



tent that we can 

 continue to give 

 them good care. 

 If we have time 

 to give good care 

 to five colonies 

 or slipshod to 

 ten, five is our 

 logical limit. 

 Because we may 

 have made a success of 20 colonies, it does 

 not follow that we will make a success of 30. 

 If we are wise, we will inventory our hours 

 carefully, and not increase to the number 

 that compels carelessness or neglect. 



Undoubtedly side-line beekeepers as awholo 

 are inclined to spend more time with their 

 bees, per colony, than is required, or even 

 advisable. That is jiartly because of lov? 

 of the work, and largely because^ of a lack 

 of efiieient methods — a regular worked-out 

 system. It is not good for the bees to be 

 constantly opening their hives and interfer- 

 ring with their own schedule. Neither is it 

 good to leave them too much to their own 

 devices, not knowing oneself what they are 

 about. Hives do get hard to open and 

 frames difficult to manipulate. Bees are more 

 resentful of inspection when they don 't get 

 it often. Hives may become crowded. Un- 

 expected swarms issue, weakening the colo- 

 ny. Disease may get a start. Truly, better 

 two colonies well cared for than 22 half- 

 neglected. 



* * * 



Oh! the blcssomiiig trees, the blcssoming: tree.s. 

 That waft all the scent of their souls on the breeze, 

 And blend the spring rapture with beauty siiblinio 

 And sweetness that haunts us likri music and rliyme! 



* * * 



For Dixie Side-liners. 



The rest of this concerns Dixie side-liners. 

 Did you notice how M.-A.-O. squealed on 

 ])age 256, April, just because he was 

 •'squoze"? And did you hap])en further to 

 notice that in that same issue the Dixie Bee 

 just quietly died, without even a squeal f 

 She didn't know she was going to die, she 

 doesn 't quite know why she did die, but die 

 she did. The Editor says so. Hereafter if 

 any Dixie bee wants to go humming thru a 

 page of Gleanings, it has to be in this side- 

 line department. So, if nobody minds, we'll 

 start in right now. [No — Dixie Bee isn't 

 dead, nor shall she die. This queen has mere- 

 ly been "transferred." — Editor.] 



We are all intensely interested in this 

 Southeast in whatever experiments have 

 been made with winter packing, and are ask- 

 ing one another how it turned out. Thore 

 have been letters as well as personal in- 

 ouiries about the results here in our own 

 yard. Last month I had high hopes for our 

 one quadruple packing case. Our county 

 iissociation net last v.^eoi'!, on Apr. 6, and, as 

 T had been asked to give a report on this 

 winter packing, I opened the big case the 

 day before. Today I looked into one hive 

 that snuggled a'l winter by itself in the 

 center of a big box, with inches and inches 



