July, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN B E K CULTURE 



401 



"goodbye" to the yards until next June. 

 This is frequently done before the honey 

 flow has closed entirely, for we do not al- 

 ways have time to wait for this. 



We leave the work of scraping, packing, 

 and marketing the honey for others to do. 

 In doing this we feel that we are being 

 cheated out of some of the best fun con- 

 nected with comb-honey production. 

 Results. 



The crops of honey have averaged con- 

 siderably higher since we have been so far 

 away from the bees. Whether it is because 

 the seasons are averaging better or because 

 the bees are at all times better supplied 

 with stores than formerly, we do not know. 

 European foul brood is all around us and 

 formerly took its annual toll in two of our 

 apiaries, but none has been seen in any of 

 our colonies since the inauguration of this 

 system six years ago. We think this is 

 largely due to the fact that our colonies, are 

 now stronger in the spring than they were 

 under the old method of management. We 

 do not care to recommend this method of 

 beekeeping to those who can see their bees 

 oftener. It takes too much of the enjoyment 

 out of the work and makes it a strictly busi- 

 ness proposition. On the other hand, we 

 can not picture ourselves ever going back 

 entirely to the old methods even tho the bees 

 were all in a single apiary in our own back 

 yard. 



I have written this using the plural of 

 the personal pronoun, meaning my husband 

 and myself. I am a beekeeper by marriage 

 only. I feel, of course, that my assistance 

 is quite necessary to the production of a crop 

 of honey and it is difficult to believe that it 

 could be done without me. I have not gone 

 along to help every summer; yet, strange 

 to say, the season 's work has been accom- 

 plished without my aid. At least it has been 

 so reported to me, altho I find it hard to be- 

 lieve. Since I am not able to claim credit 

 for all the work, I shall have to sign myself 

 the Helpmeet. 



Comment on the Plan. 



[The plan of working bees a few weeks 

 during the honey season may at first seem 

 to be impossible with the great majority of 

 beemen in the country, and, while this may 

 be true to a large extent, it is nevertheless 

 true that not a small number of practical 

 honey -producers in the country are doing 

 something similar to this and have done it 

 successfully. The plan is not here offered 

 for general adoption, but only to call atten- 

 tion to what some professional men, espe- 

 cially school-teachers, are doing. 



Of course, the greatest objection to the 

 plan is that foul brood might get among 

 the bees during the nine or ten months 

 when they were out of the direct care and 

 supervision of the owner. But out of this 

 nine or ten months should be eliminated 

 four or five months while the bees are in 

 winter quarters, when they need little or no 

 attention. There lemains onlv the danger 



of bees contiacting the foul brood disease 

 during the breeding season in the spring 

 and in the fall just prior to being put into 

 winter quarters. But immediately after the 

 honey flow, a queen a year old will let up on 

 her egg-laying, so there will not y)e as much 

 breeding in August as there would be in the 

 spring. 



European foul brood conies on in the early 

 jiart of the season as a rule, and, if it were 

 in the locality, it might visit such an apiary 

 not immune and out of the direct control 

 of the owner. On the other hand, European 

 foul brood with a good strain of Italians 

 can be and is being controlled so that it is 

 not a serious menace in most cases. 



We have remaining the problem of win- 

 tering, which is not serious during average 

 winters, providing the bees are put up by 

 the owner exactly according to directions. 



Colonies of bees are often lost during 

 winter because beekeepers tinker with them 

 too much in the fall, rearrange their brood- 

 nest or disturb the honey. The plan here de- 

 scribed involves the principle of leaving 

 bees alone, as far as conditions will permit, 

 and then packing them well for winter. 



Since at the close of the honey flow each 

 colony is given an extra hive body well 

 supplied with stores, no feeding is necessary 

 during the beekeeper 's absence. The reader 

 should note the importance of the extra liive 

 body two-thirds full of honey as a factor 

 in the elimination of superfluous visits to 

 the apiaries. This reserve of stores is ready 

 for the bees to draw upon whenever they 

 may need feeding during the beekeeper's 

 absence, thus becoming an automatic feeder. 

 It feeds the bees when feeding is necessary, 

 and also affords storage space during minor 

 honey flows, all v\athout any attention what- 

 ever from the beekeeper. This abundance 

 of stores when combined with ample winter 

 and spring protection and sufficient room 

 for unlimited brood-rearing the next spring, 

 should result in rousing colonies at the be- 

 ginning of the honey flow without any other 

 attention from the beekeeper. 



The plan outlined above does not in any 

 degree involve neglecting the bees when 

 attention is necessary. In fact, it involves 

 intensive care during the honey flow in sup- 

 pljdng conditions at that time to insure the 

 maintenance of the colonies until the be- 

 ginning of the next honey' flow. 



The average person, however, will do well 

 to go very carefully about adopting a plan 

 like this on a very large scale. This is only 

 another way of saying that the average per- 

 son will do better to see the bees several 

 times during tlie season; but it is not saying 

 that some good beekeepers can not and do 

 not do what is here described. Foul brood 

 may be said to be the most serious obstacle, 

 but a good beeman, if he has not too many 

 careless neighbors, can eliminate either type 

 of the disease, to a very large extent, while 

 he is among the bees the five or six weeks 

 during the honey flow. — Editor.] 



