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GLEANINGS IN BEE C U L T U K E 



Skptejiber, 1918 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



inclies high in many eases. But buckwheat 

 is wonderfully recuperative, and with sea- 

 sonable showers it might still surprise us. 



The month of September makes us think 

 of winter preparation again, and the first 

 thing to consider is the question of having 

 a good queen in each colony. Systematic 

 roqucening is fine in theory and equally as 

 good in practice, providing one can get time 

 and proper weather conditions to attend to 

 the matter in due season. While systematic 

 requeening is quite possible when one has 

 a limited number of bees, I must confess 

 that I find it impossible to do as much re- 

 queening as I would like to do each year, 

 and consequently pay the price by having 

 (jueenless colonies all too frequently, and 

 also having queens play out at a time of 

 the year when a poor queen is fatal to a 

 colony so far as honej surplus is concerne<l. 

 But replace all poor queens that you can 

 possibly attend to, and do not put off unit- 

 ing weak colonies -or otherwise building up 

 stocks too weak to winter, till the season is 

 too late to do the work properly. See that 

 all colonies have enough good stores, and, if 

 you have no buckwheat in your locality or 

 other fall sources of honey, it is quite pos- 

 sible (and I believe profitable) to have the 

 bees ready for winter by Oct. 1. Person- 

 ally, I like to have all fed up no later than 

 Oct. 10, and, if done earlier, I would not 

 worry. Speaking of feeding the bees, re- 

 minds me that for the i)resent at least the 

 Food Controller has ruled than we can have 

 no sugar for feeding. While I believe dras- 

 tic rules should be enforced to see that no 

 beekeeper abuses the privilege of using 

 sugar, yet it is to be hoi)ed that some modi- 

 fication of the order will yet be issued, else 

 much hardship will result in many in- 

 stances. This will be the case where the 

 honey crop has been a failure as well as in 

 apiaries where there is a sprinkling of foul 

 brood, thus making it very dangerous to 

 feed honey. I am confident that with proper 

 representation to the proper authorities, this 

 matter will yet be adjusted so that these 

 difficulties may in a measure be overcome. 

 Having provided the bees with good stores, 

 • then see that all are either well packed in 

 outside cases or else put in a good reposi- 

 toi-y. Bees will be worth money next spring 

 whether the war is over or not; so let us try 

 and see that we do our part in trying to 

 winter them successfully. J. L. Byer. 



Markham, Out. 



'S: * * 



T„ Texas -""^^ ^^^^^ time, with the ex- 

 treme heat and droutli, it is 

 rather difficult to look ahea<l to contemplate 

 winter preparations. However, this year of 

 all years every beekeeper should carefully 

 consider the matter of carrying his bees sue 

 cessfully thru the coming winter. The losses 

 of the ]»ast two winters luust not be added 



to. Now is a time to make every effort to 

 save every colony possible for honey pro- 

 duction next year to help solve the food 

 problem. In many sections of the State the 

 colonies are weak, and wherever such con- 

 ditions do exist uniting should be done. The 

 sooner this is done, the better. A good 

 strong colony is always better able to take 

 care of itself than is a weak colony. The 

 next matter of prime importance is to see 

 that every strong colony has a strong, young 

 vigorous queen. More and more beekeepers 

 are coming to realize the importance of the 

 colony going into the winter with an abun- 

 dance of young bees. Requeening should go 

 hand in hand with uniting, as the first steps 

 in the preparation for winter. Introduce the 

 young queen early enough that she can 

 provide for the young bees — do not wait 

 until late fall. Beekeepers now are want- 

 ing more from their queens than ever be- 

 fore, so that two years is as long as a queen 

 can properly meet the demand. The feeling 

 is gradually being overcome that black 

 blood is necessary in a colony of bees for 

 the best honey-gathering. There are plenty 

 of strains of Italian queens that produce 

 most excellent honey-gatherers, and are far 

 more pleasant to work with. Among the 

 more progressive beekeepers natural re- 

 queening is not allowed any more. Close 

 attention is given to every queen, and a 

 high standard must be maintained, if she 

 is retained. 



Assist the bees in every way possible 

 to gather ample :?tores. The two sugges- 

 tions given above will aid greatly in this 

 endeavor. The beekeeper should not be over- 

 anxious to sell a large amount of honey this 

 year. Leave ample for the bees to winter 

 on. Do not extract a single drop of honey 

 from the brood-chamber. Many of the more 

 successful beekeepers are following the 

 plan of Dr. Miller in storing some extra 

 honey in brood-frames for possible feeding 

 in the spring. The beekeepers have made 

 the Food Administration realize the neces- 

 sity of saving all the bees possible, so they 

 should not forget to try to save bees with- 

 out the he!}) of sugar. The question of the 

 relative merits of honey and sugar for feed- 

 ing has been much discussed of late, espe- 

 cially in the Beekeepers' Item for Texas 

 conditions. The fact can hardly be denied 

 that honey is the natural food for the bee, 

 and consequently is the better. Of course, 

 the situation can be saved by sugar-feeding, 

 but it should not be made an easy means of 

 solving the pi-oblem. The pi'oper attitude 

 lias been taken by the Food Administration 

 in not wanting to sujqily sugar in unlimited 

 (piantitics to beidxi^epers who ha\(' extract 

 (>d too closely for tlic normal needs of the 

 colony to winter on. Mohcn' looks gocxl 

 this N'car, csiu'ciiiny i-onsiili'ri n;;' the shoi't 

 crop of last year; but it is not right to sell 



