July, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



self) an injury, and sooner or later his repu- 

 tation will suffer. A reputation may be 

 created by consistent advertising, but" that 

 reputation cannot be maintained witliout 

 producing the right kind of honey. It takes 

 longer to live down a bad reputation than 

 to build a new one from the start. 



399 



Think of carefully protecting the bees 

 thru the winter, attending to them during 

 the early spi'ing months, wrestling with the 

 swarming problem — and tiien, after a whole 

 year of work, being so shortsighted at har- 

 vest time as to refuse to wait until the bees 

 have entirely completed their product! 



APIARIES AT LONG RANGE 



SOME years 

 ago we were 

 confronted 

 with a new prob- 

 lem in beekeep- 

 ing; viz., that of 

 operating our 

 three apiaries, 

 about two hun- 

 dred colonies for 

 comb-honey, located seven hundred miles 

 from home, and with but five or six weeks 

 available each year for the entire work. 



The location furnishes a single short 

 major honey flow, seldom more than a month 

 in duration, from which the entire honey 

 crop is gathered, and some minor honey 

 flows from other sources but never enough 

 for a surplus. Swarming occurs during the 

 honey flow. The beekeeping year is divided, 

 therefore, into two parts — the honey flow 

 and the other eleven months. We count on 

 being present during the honey flow, but do 

 not see the bees during the other ten and 

 a half or eleven months of the year. 



With the old conception of beekeeping, 

 involving frequent visits and numerous 

 items of attention thruout most of the year, 

 as a handicap, it required considerable care- 

 ful planning to be able to provide in July 

 all the items of attention a colony is ex- 

 pected to need until the next June. This 

 is especially true in a location in which the 

 seasons are replete with exceptions to the 

 rule and where but few things really occur 

 exactly as expected. 



The Three RecLuireraents. 

 The numerous items of attention formerly 

 bestowed upon each colony from July until 

 June were mentally rehearsed, then arrang- 

 ed in columns on the basis of their purpose. 

 After some juggling three columns remain- 

 ed. (1) Those items either directly or indi- 

 rectly concerned with stores; such as exam- 

 ining colonies to find which are short of 

 stores, feeding, equalizing stores, etc. (2) 

 Those items concerned with extra room for 

 certain unusual colony activities; such as an 

 unexpected but welcome fall flow, minor 

 honey flows from spring flowers, and the 

 heavy brood-rearing during spring. (3) 

 Winter and spring protection. 



If disease is not imminent or present, any 

 other items of attention from July until the 

 following June are not necessary to honey 

 production in this location, altho they may 

 be ever so interesting and attractive to the 

 enthusiastic beekeeper. 



Ho'w the Work Can ^e Done in a 



Feii) Weeks and at One Time. It 



is Possible and ^Practicable — // 



By Helpmeet 



Accordingly 

 we sujiply each 

 colony in July 

 with enough 

 stores to last un- 

 til the next June, 

 even tho little or 

 none should be 

 gathered during 

 this interval. At 

 the same time we supply suflScfent room for a 

 possible ten-or fifteen-pound fall flow that 

 sometimes, though seldom, materializes, as 

 well as room for the heaviest spring brood- 

 rearing of the strongest colonies, in order that 

 none of the colonies should want in either 

 of these two requirements. In other words, 

 we do our fall feeding and our spring feed- 

 ing the previous July. At the same time we 

 give extra room for a possible fall honey 

 flow or spring honey flow as well as room 

 for the heavy spring brood-rearing. This 

 IS done by supplying each colony with an 

 extra hive body about two-thirds full of 

 honey as a part of its permanent equipment. 

 This extra hive body is removed only during 

 the honey flow when comb-honey supers are 

 on the hives. 



This takes care of all the usual require- 

 ments of the colonies for the eleven months 

 excepting winter and spring protection. 

 Since the bees are wintered outside, this 

 could probably also be given in July before 

 we leave them. We have not tried this yet, 

 largely because of a lack of time, and partly 

 because it would seem too great a departure 

 from orthodox practice. We feel that when 

 we do our spring feeding and give extra 

 room for spring brood-rearing the previous 

 July, we have been sufficiently radical. We 

 have the winter cases put on by unskilled 

 labor, and, when we are able to have it done, 

 we have them taken off just before our an- 

 nual arrival. 



Stores, protection, and room, the three 

 requirements of the colonies during the 

 eleven months, are thus provided, and we 

 could do but little more to help the bees along 

 in preparation for the next honey flow even 

 by constant attention during our absence. 

 This plan involves the giving of more stores 

 than are needed sometimes and more room 

 than is needed for extra colony activities 

 some seasons. It means an extra investment 

 in equipment and honey but saves much 

 labor and fussing and, best of all, provides 

 assurance that all the requirements of the 

 colonies are supplied in ample time, which 



