106 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Now, I do not wish it understood that 

 we cannot at times change to our advantage 

 the natural conditions under which our col- 

 onies work, only we can not do it without 

 loss, as in the instances just quoted, when 

 it diverts the instincts of our bees from the 

 end we have in view. The queen-excluding 

 honey-board between the brood and surplis 

 apartments, where used, is an unnatural con- 

 dition, yet it increases both the quantity 

 and quality of our honey. (1) Through pre- 

 venting the farther expansion of the brood 

 nest when more brood means more bees at 

 a season of the year when they will be con- 

 sumers instead of gatherers: it diverts, so to 

 speak, the energy of our colonies from un- 

 necessary brooding to honey gathering, and 

 thereby also prevents unnecessary consump- 

 tion of stores. (2) It enables us to keep 

 our brood chamber in a condition more per- 

 fectly in accordance with the principles 

 above enumerated than without it ; and 3 

 by keeping the brood out of the surplus 

 apartment, gives us a better quality of hon- 

 ey, besides all the advantages to be gained 

 in manipulating our hives. 



For various reasons, we may not always 

 be able to so arrange the conditions of our 

 colonies during the honey flow as to devel- 

 ope their working energy to their fullest ex- 

 tent, but just in proportion as we fail in do- 

 ing so, do we fail in securing the greatest 

 amount of honey from our colonies, and 

 not only this, but also succeed, to our own 

 disadvantage, in developing among them 

 the swarming impulse. You will have notic- 

 ed, as I have already shown, how that bees, 

 when left to themselves, always store their 

 honey above their brood, but build their 

 comb beneath it. In the production of 

 comb hoaey we partially reverse this order 

 by compelling them to build their comb 

 above it, and this, I claim, is the cau^e, to a 

 very large extent, of the marked difference 

 there is in results in colonies worked for 

 comb honey, as compared with those work- 

 ed for extracted, and not that the one had so 

 very much more work to do than the other 

 in the buildingof comb; it is also the reason 

 why colonies worked for comb honey are so 

 much more liable to swarm than those 

 worked for extracted hoLey. The first re- 

 sult is but another illustration of failing to 

 develop the working energy of our colonies 

 to the fullest extent through compelling 

 them to work in a manner contrary to their 

 instinct; while the second result is the se- 

 quence of it. and a simple, practical illus- 

 tration of how we can develop the swarm- 

 ing impulse or our colonies through failing 

 to develop their working energies. If we 

 wish to retard swarming, if not prevent 

 it altogether, we must work our colonies 

 to their utmost for honey along those lines 

 which tend to develop amongst them their 

 strongest, active, honey-gthering energy. 

 Another factor that cannot be overlooked 

 in summer management is the strength of 

 our colonies and their honey gathering and 

 other qualities. No system of manage- 

 ment, however correct in principle and 

 skilfully executed, can atone for a neglect 

 of either of these factors. If we are to have 



strong colonies, we must see among other 

 things, that each is supplied the season 

 previous with queens of sufficient vitality 

 and prolificnessio keep the brood chamber 

 of their respective hives full of brood 

 throughout the entire season, and not only 

 this, but their progeny must inherit from 

 them the strongest honey gathering instinct, 

 and other qualities that may be desirable. 

 It is a well-known fact among experienced 

 bee-keepers, that there is as much difference 

 in the honey gathering and other qualities 

 of bees, as there is in the milkine qualities 

 of cows, and it is the height of folly to tol- 

 erate anything in our apiaries but the best, 

 lu honey production, as in all other lines 

 of production, we strive to obtain the great- 

 est amount with the least expense of time 

 and labor. In conclusion I would ask yon 

 to note that with respect to securing our 

 honey with the least expense of time and 

 labor, I have said nothing ; I have only 

 mentioned a few of those principles which 

 bear upon how to secure the greatest amount 

 of honey, and which I tru«t, will help us to 

 a right understanding of the lines along 

 which we should work, and give us a centre 

 from which to direct our thought, and a 

 basis upon which to build a common sense 

 and scientific management of our apiaries. 

 The principles which I have set forth I con- 

 sider fundamental, and that they form the 

 great central sun around which the success- 

 ful management of our apiaries revolve. " 



There is one more point that Mr. Hoshal 

 might have touched upon, and I don't know 

 why he didn't, unless he feared some one 

 would think that he was trying to boom the 

 Heddon hive, and that is that with the 

 Heddon hive, that can be divided horizon- 

 tally, and transposed, the great broad sur- 

 face of brood formed by dividing the brood 

 nest horizontally, can be brought right up 

 next to the sections. 



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