THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



45 



Follow No Advice Blindly.— Get Plenty i 



Supplies Early.— Advantages of Spring 



Protection. 



K. O. AIKIN. 



T 



'INCE you desire 

 V-J that I tell the 

 readers of the Re- 

 view just how I 

 inanaee an apiary 

 from spring till 

 fall, I will pudeav- 

 or to do po. But I 

 feel 'tis necessary 

 to use the tirpt arti- 

 cle mainly as a 

 prelude, for, by so 

 doing, the reader 

 iii "I r understand what follows, and at 

 the same time I shall be able to condense, 

 and deal more directly with the facts to be 

 discussed. 



Don't forget that an apiary won't always 

 he " just so." Where is the apiarist— though 

 he be old in the business — that has had all 

 the conditions and management just the 

 same for two seasons V Apiculture is a ka- 

 liedoscope ; each season requires a manage- 

 ment peculiar to itself. So I want each 

 reader to remember that, no matter how 

 sound may be the principles or system I 

 may set forth, those principles must be ap- 

 plied according to environments, the pecu- 

 liar needs of the location and the ends to be 

 obtained. Don't attempt to follow any 

 man's written or oral rules, verbatim. If 

 you do, failure is almost certain. 



The apiary that has been properly cared 

 for in the fall will not need the same care in 

 the spring as the one that goes into winter 

 in poor shape. Our bees are by no means in 

 proper shape now, (Dec), for the stock was 

 handled the past season by other parties, we 

 having had possession only since Nov. 1st. 

 Some are in the cellar, some on the summer 

 stands unprotected. I would prefer all out 

 doors, packed in chaff, with stores to last 

 till May 1st, without fail. Had we had pos- 

 session of the stock the past season, the bees 

 doubtless would be so fixed now. 



What we do from fall to spring has much 

 to do with how we do from spring to fall. 

 So now, (Dec), we are just maturing plans 

 for next spring and summer. 



The questions that come up now, are, 

 whether we shall produce comb or extracted. 

 We shall do both. However, I believe that 



tlie man who can produce a good article of 

 comb honey, can also produce the extracted ; 

 but there are many exceptions when the rule 

 is reversed, so we shall talk from a comb 

 honey standpoint. 



We will purchase our supplies, and have 

 all hives and sections ready before the work 

 comes on in tlie apiary, but we must decide 

 how many hives, sections, and supers we 

 will need. We may not need any, and we 

 may need a whole lot, so the best way is to 

 buy a whole lot, and be on the safe side. 

 We don't count ourselves safe with less than 

 four twenty-eight-section supers to each 

 colony, spring count, or even more than that. 

 Don't say 'tis too many, but read on until 

 you get our. whole plan. 



February and March are usually disagree- 

 able months for out-door work, so we aim to 

 do most of our shop work during those 

 months. We will put hives and supers to- 

 gether, fill the supers with sections, and 

 have them all piled up, just ready to put on 

 the hive. 



Now just a few points on the matter of 

 protection. Since this climate affords so 

 much sunshiuB, we prefer the hives to face 

 east, while packed for winter ; thus, the en- 

 trance is shaded in the afternoon, and tends 

 to prevent flights late in the day when many 

 bees would be caught out in the cool evening 

 air ; besides, the afternoons are more change- 

 able than the forenoons. 



This chaff protection — or how ever pro- 

 tected — serves several purposes. It prevents 

 robbers nosing around cracks and joints, so 

 it does much to prevent robbing. Again, it 

 prevents the sun shining directly against the 

 hive, consequently it does not admit of so 

 sudden rise in temperature, making the 

 flights of bees more gradual, avoiding, to 

 some extent, those sudden bur.sts of flight 

 which often almost entirely depopulate a 

 hive for the time being, if it does not result 

 in absconding. But the greatest gain of all, 

 is the gain in brood rearing during the 

 spring. The bee keeper, to succeed, must 

 keep ever " pecking away ; " not by jerks 

 and jumps, but regular steady work ; so, to 

 get good results in ln-ood rearing, we want 

 steady, regular work. This cannot be ob- 

 tained where a colony is exposed to the 

 changes of weather. When packed, the heat 

 absorbed by the chaff keeps a more regular 

 temperature, and brooding goes on without 

 check : hence all colonies are better protected 

 until they are strong enough to occupy the 



