3-52 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



honey-bees do not bite through the corolla tube of 

 flowers to get the nectar. Very good ! But on page 

 188 of the A B C (or 304 of the last edition) friend 

 Boot, a practical bee-keeper, tells us that they do 

 bite through at least one flower, and speculates on 

 the probable fate of the plant. Now, when learned 

 men disagree, what are we common fellows going 

 to do? 



THE WILLOW HERB. 



Last season I received most of my light honey 

 from the great willow herb, which grows here pro- 

 fusely. It thrives best on high ground, especially 

 where fire has run, hence the commonly known 

 name of purple flreweed. Those who do not know 

 the plant should not confound it with the flreweed 

 which blooms just before the fall frosts. The wil- 

 low herb is known by a great many names, such as 

 Indian wickopee, deer pink, Indian pink, and pur- 

 ple flreweed. It grows from 4 to 7 feet tall, without, 

 branches, and blooms in July and August. There 

 is a smaller variety, which grows on low wet 

 ground, whose stem branches. 



Fremont, Mich. William E. Gould. 



COMMENCING THE SEASON. 



HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE HARVEST. 



<^| UK first work after getting our bees out of 

 ?| winter quarters is to know that each colony 

 ^1 has honey enough to last them from two to 

 " four weeks, the latter being preferable to 

 the former. Unless bees have plenty of hon- 

 ey at this time of year, brood-rearing will go very 

 slow, for bees are very frugal when they think 

 there may be danger of starving in the near future; 

 and as brood-rearing requires much honey, it will 

 be seen why honey for four weeks ahead has an 

 important bearing on the honey crop which we 

 hope to obtain. The brood reared during this 

 month and the latter part of last month, consti- 

 tutes the working force which gathers honey from 

 white «lover, so if we are to get a crop from that 

 source we must leave no stone unturned which 

 looks toward that end. Looking toward this I go 

 over all of my colonies some cool morning, and all 

 which do not occupy six spaces between the combs, 

 with bees, are shut on to as many combs as they 

 have brood in, by means of a division-board, as 

 soon as it is warm enough to work with them. If 

 they are very small, so as to have brood in only one 

 or two combs, and small patches at that, I take 

 away all extra combs, so as to take precaution 

 against robbing; but if they are a fair colony, 1 

 leave the extra combs the other side of the divi- 

 sion-board, so the bees can carry the honey over as 

 they need it for brood-rearing. Contract the en- 

 trance to each colony as soon as they have their 

 first flight in the spring, to suit the size of the colo- 

 ny, giving the very strongest not more than three 

 inches in length of the entrance, while the weak- 

 est should be contracted so as to let out but one 

 bee at a time. If, after all precautions, the bees 

 get to robbing, 1 know of no better way than to 

 carry the colony, that does not protect its stores, 

 into the cellar, and leave it a week or so, or until 

 the bees are getting pollen freely, when they will 

 rarely ever attack them again unless they are so 

 weak as to be worthless. Having all of my bees 

 fixed as above suggested— that is, they all have 



honey enough, and those occupying less than seven 

 spaces between the combs shut on to only as many 

 combs as contain brood, our next work is to in- 

 crease this brood as fast as possible. There is lit- 

 tle if any thing gained now by handling the bees, 

 only to supply them with honey, should any be 

 short; but as soon as it comes fairly settled warm 

 weather, I think a gain can be made by spreading 

 the brood to more than pay for the labor required. 

 When such weather comes, the way I work with the 

 strongest colonies, those not having any division- 

 boards, is to change the brood-nest right over; 

 that is, to place the central sheets of brood, or those 

 having the most brood in them, in place of the out- 

 side ones, or those having the least brood in, plac- 

 ing those having the least brood in the center. 

 Thus we get every frame full of brood that has any 

 brood in it at all. Frequently we will find all of the 

 brood in one end of the combs, the other end of the 

 frame having none in at all. When such is the 

 case I simply change ends with every alternate 

 frame, which brings about the same result as be- 

 fore. The next time over, or in about a week 

 more, I take one frame from the outside of the 

 brood and place it in the center, and so on till all of 

 the nine frames are filled with brood. Those that 

 are contracted with the division-boards are kept as 

 they are until they have every available cell for 

 brood filled with the same, when an empty comb is 

 placed in their brood-nest also. 



If I wish to build all up to strong colonies, I take 

 from those having their hives full of brood a frame 

 of hatching bees, and give it to the strongest of the 

 weaker colonies, and place an empty comb in place 

 of the frame of hatching brood taken, and so on till 

 all are built up to strong colonies, each having a 

 hive full of brood; that means, have the brood so it 

 comes out to the side-bars of the frames; even the 

 cells bordering on the bars at both sides and top 

 should have brood in them, and do not stop short of 

 this. If you have queens that will not keep the 

 hives filled with brood like this during the month 

 of June, mark them, and as soon as convenient re- 

 place them with those that will. If you do not 

 wish as many colonies of bees as possible, I will tell 

 you of a plan of using those colonies that needed 

 a division-board : which has been very profitable 

 with me in the past. 



As soon as those having five frames have them 

 tilled with brood, take from them a frame of hatch- 

 ing brood and give to the next strongest, say one 

 that has four frames, and put an empty comb in 

 the place it came from, and so keep working till 

 you have each hive contain five frames completely 

 crowded with brood. A queen that will not keep 

 five Gallup frames, or their equivalent, crowded 

 with brood is not worth keeping at all, and should 

 be superseded at once. If you succeed as you 

 should, all will have their Ave frames full about the 

 10th or 12th of June, in this locality. Now go to 

 No. 1 and open it, and look the frames over till you 

 find the queen; and when you have found her, set 

 the frame she is on to one side, then take the four 

 remaining frames and all the bees to No. 2. Spread 

 the five frames in No. 2 apart, so as to set the four 

 frames brought from No. 1 in each alternate space, 

 made by spreading the frames in No. 2. Close up 

 No. 2 now, and you will see that, in ten or fifteen 

 days, it will be one of the strongest colonies you 

 have in the yard. Beturning to No. 1, which we 

 left with the queen standing outside of the hive, we 



