Dkckm r.i'.K. 19 IS 



G I. K A N I N C; S 1 N 1? K K (' V I, '1' V K K 



OF EXPERIENCE 



CONVERSATIONS with DOOLITTLE 



The Necessity for Knowing the Exact Sources of 

 Honey Nectar 



''I li\o ill a locality where the wild red 

 raspberry, that blossoms early in the sea- 

 son, abounds and gives the best, and about 

 the only source of suiplus honey. Therefore, 

 the all absorbing question with beekeepers 

 here is how shall we have populous colonies 

 early, that w^e may get a good surplus from 

 raspberry. Can you give us something how 

 this mav be done so we can be preparing 

 for the 'season of 1919?" 



Some two score years ago there was a rage 

 thruout nearly the whole country for early 

 brood-rearing, and an apparent strife to see 

 who could induce their bees to arrive at a 

 ])oint strong enough to swarm the earliest. 

 Some carried their colonies into warm rooms 

 during nights and cold spells. Others put 

 hot bricks and irons in the covers of the 

 hives nights; and still others banked the 

 hives, all but the entrance, in heating ma- 

 nure; but the advantage gained proved 

 hardly sufficient to overcome the time, labor, 

 and material used. At that time the most 

 dwelt-upon theme was, to ''keep the colo- 

 nies always strong," claiming that in this 

 way the best success was to be attained. 

 Then it was advocated by some that, if we 

 put on the supers of unfinished sections left 

 over from the previous season early, it 

 would start the bees to working early, thus 

 securing the first white honey which comes 

 in. Others, living in a section wher<e mus- 

 tard abounded, to an extent of hundreds of 

 acres being yellow with this bloom in the 

 grain fields, as far as eye could reach, said, 

 this would not answer, as this mustard honey 

 would be mixed in with the white honey 

 from raspberry and white clover to the 

 spoiling of the whole; or the bees might 

 carry up from the brood-nest some of the 

 buckwheat honey stored the previous season. 

 It would be better, said they, to put on ex- 

 tracting supers at first. This started the 

 bees to storing honey in the supers, and, as 

 soon as the danger from da-rk honey was 

 past, the extracting supers were given to 

 the weaker colonies, that were to be run 

 for extracted lioney, and sections placed on 

 the colonies from which the extracting su- 

 pers had been removed. 



The "always strong men" argued that, 

 no matter from what source the honey came, 

 the bees would be on hand to work on what- 

 ever flowers bloomed. But it was found by 

 close observers that, with the growth of a 

 colony in numbers,as the season advances, 

 in a stage of this growth, when the 

 age of the field bees and their numbers as 

 compared with that of the nurse bees, and 

 when the period of egg-laying was at the 



liglit stage, there came a time when the 

 condition of the colony enabled them, as a 

 whole, to take advantage of any certain 

 honey flow so as to bring the most ])rofit 

 to the aj)iarist. If this condition is brought 

 aliout too early, it is as disastrous as to 

 have it arrive too late. The colony that is 

 very populous early in the season (a colony 

 that will just suit the raspberry man), has 

 passed its prime when the basswood comes 

 on. The man who produces basswood honey 

 prefers a colony of moderate strength early 

 in the season, one that will gradually build 

 up and be in ' ' full bloom, ' ' when the bass- 

 wood is in a similar condition. The most 

 practical beekeepers of the twentieth cen- 

 tury have arrived at the conclusion that, 

 to meet with the best success, we must raise 

 our bees with an eye toward the main har- 

 vest of honey in our locality; that we can 

 have the maximum amount of bees on hand 

 just at the right time, so that countless 

 thousands may work with the proper energy 

 and zeal, having their whole ' ' thought ' ' ab- 

 sorbed in amassing as much as possible of 

 that harvest into the supers and hives while 

 the flow is on. 



If the main harvest comes early in the 

 season, as does raspberry and white clover, 

 then bend every energy to bring the bees 

 up to countless thousands, with energy and 

 zeal to meet that early flow. If the flow is 

 from basswood, then work for that, by hold- 

 ing them back a little the first of the sea- 

 son, but "rushing" them a little later. If 

 from buckwheat, or fall flowers, hold them 

 back still later in the season, and equalize, 

 till finally aU are brought up to the count- 

 less thousands with energy and zeal, just as 

 the flow from buckwheat begins. 



In my locality, there are no conditions 

 which I know of where it pays to have 

 strong colonies during the whole season. If 

 any have a location which furnishes a con- 

 tinuous nectar flow from the blooming of 

 the pussy willows and soft maples, in the 

 spring, till frost cuts off the supply in the 

 fall, then, possibly, the working for strong 

 colonies during the whole of this continuous 

 season might be made to pay, if the swarm- 

 ing fever was not brought about. If so, 

 then a certain time of "hold up" would be 

 necessary, or many colonies would spend 

 their strength thru a desire to swarm, rather 

 than having an energy and zeal for amass- 

 ing honey. 



But from my muititmle of correspondence 

 during the past half-century, and from read- 

 ing of the bee pajjcrs during that time, I 

 am led to believe that, even in the most 

 "drawn out" locality, there are times when 

 double the flow of nectar comes from some 

 one or more sources of bloom than at other 

 times. And where this is the case it well 

 ]iavs to have those countless thousands on 



