210 



American IBae Journal 



Closing Up the Season When 

 Working for Comb Honey 



BY (;. M. DUOLITTI.E. 



This is something which we hear 

 very little about, and something on 

 which very much of our success as 

 apiarists depends. I have several times 

 written on the importance of a thor- 

 ough knowledge of our location, so 

 that we may know about the time of 

 blossoming of all the nectar-yielding 

 flowers, especially those which give 

 enough nectar to furnish a large sur- 

 plus in a good season. This knowledge 

 tells us we should put on our supers to 

 take advantage of these honey-flows, 

 and when we should give more room, 

 if the supers are nearing completion 

 during the middle of a clover flow, or 

 at the commencement of the expected 

 flow from basswood, or some other 

 nectar-secreting source which is pecu- 

 liar to our locality. 



This is an important subject to tlie 

 bee-keeper who e.xpects success in his 

 undertaking with the bees. But 1 con- 

 sider a thorough knowledge of the 

 "wind up" of the nectar yield of simi- 

 lar importance. Any man, or woman, 

 is very poorly equipped in the matter 

 of producing honey, especially section 

 honey, who does not know when, in 

 an average season, tlie main yield of 

 nectar is to begin; and he will find 

 himself in circumstances nearly, if not 

 quite, as disastrous if he is unacquainted 

 with the normal closing of the season. 



Yet hundreds, if not thousands, of 

 our would-be bee-keepers can not tell 

 which of the flowers about them give 

 the honey which they find in the sec- 

 tions. It is well to remember when in 

 search of the "mean time" of our 

 bloom from any source, that excessive 

 rainfall, when coupled with a " cool 

 wave," will retard this bloom very 

 much, and a high temperature, with a 

 period of drouth, greatly hastens it. 

 Then, if we are located in a level coun- 

 try the nectar-flow will not last as long, 

 as will be the case where we have low 

 bottom-land, with rising hills or moun- 

 tains within the range of flight of our 

 bees. Our season will be prolonged to 

 the utmost limit if much of this hillside 

 faces in a northerly direction. 



Now, having the knowledge of our 

 field in mind, we can use it to great 

 advantage if we apply it intelligently. 

 Most of us have a clover yield of either 

 white, alsike, alfalfa or sweet. We find 

 out about the normal time of these 

 clovers beginning to bloom, and put 

 on our supers of sections in accord- 

 ance. It is equally important that we 

 know when this bloom will normally 

 end. Then we will watch the tempera- 

 ture and rainfall during this period to 

 see how m\ich out of normal things 

 are likely to be, governing ourselves 

 accordingly. 



Having given the required amount 

 of section room up to the middle of a 

 normal flow of nectar, it behooves us 

 to be careful from that time on in giv- 

 ing additional supers. If the flow has 

 been good up to this time, we are more 

 likely to err by giving too much room 

 than the other way, as we do not make 

 due allowance for the dwindling of 

 this flow toward the end. Up to the 



middle of the flow our aim has been to 

 give all the room the bees could oc- 

 cupy, but from now on, while we should 

 have an eye to the same object, there 

 is the added thought that great care 

 should be given to producing at the 

 close of the season the marketable 

 product in the greatest amount, in- 

 stead of little of such product with 

 much in the unfinished state. 



The easiest thing any thoughtless 

 bee-keeper can do is to have the 

 larger part of his product in an un- 

 finished shape at the close of the honey 

 season ; for it is only natural, when we 

 see the nice, white combs growing in 

 the sections, with a good supply of nec- 

 tar coming in from the fields, to think 

 that the bees can occupy more, and 

 still more room, thus doubling or 

 trebling our product, forgetting that 

 this yield may already be on the wane, 

 and this added room be to our detri- 

 ment through less work being done to 

 finish the sections that are so nicely 

 under way. But it is not always easy 

 to decide in these matters. 



I remember of giving an extra super 

 to all of the colonies when the nectar 

 yield was apparently at its height, only 

 to have three-fourths of the sections 

 in the whole apiary unfinished at the 

 end of the season; while had none of 

 these last supers been given, I would 

 have had twice as much marketable 

 honey with half the work and no worry. 

 Having a good colony on scales so 

 that we may have a record of the yield 

 each day, gives a better idea of what 

 may best be done. But in any outlook 

 it is better to err on the side of re- 

 trenching, after the middle of our nor- 

 mal honey-flow, ratherthan on the side 

 of expansion. Then, it is well not to 

 bring supers of empty sections from 

 the storage room while there are many 

 on the hives in the apiary not worked 

 in ; far better to equalize those already 

 there. Some colonies will have all 

 their room occupied, while others have 

 none, or from this to some nearing 

 completion. 



An exchange just now works to good 

 advantage, and costs little if any more 

 effort than does the bringing of more 

 supers from the storage-room. Take 

 the nearly completed super from the 

 colony doing the best work, and ex- 

 change it with that on the colony hav- 

 ing its super from one-fourth to one- 

 half full, when both will bring their 

 surplus, as a whole, to marketable 

 shape at the close of the season. 



This part was impressed upon me by 

 running out of sections one year when 

 the season was apparently at its best, 

 though little oast the center of the 

 nectar yield from basswood. I knew 

 that were I to order sections at that 

 time, they must of necessity come too 

 late to be of any use, so I inspected 

 those on the hives, finding the supers 

 as mentioned above. The thought of 

 'equalizing these sections in accordance 

 with the work being done by each col 

 ony, rather than having so many supers 

 on each hive, was thus impressed home 

 upon mc, and after the exchange was 

 made, and the season ended, I had 

 nearly every section completed, and 

 with no injury to any colony, or any 

 loss of surplus, as far as 1 could ob- 

 serve. 



Since then, where I thought any col- 



onies might need more room when 

 nearing the close of the season, I have 

 given this room by adding an empty 

 super of sections filled with thin foun- 

 dation aboTc the supers already on. In 

 this way should the secretion of nectar 

 hold out beyond the normal, the bees 

 would go up into this super, and if the 

 season did not continue long enough 

 for the completion of all, those which 

 were unfinished were of much value 

 for " baits" for use the next season in 

 tempting the bees into the sections 

 earlier than would otherwise be the 

 case. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



What an Apiarian Department 

 at the Illinois State Uni- 

 versity Could Do 



BY E. T. B.WTER. ', 



{From the Illinois .tericullurisl. J>Hhlislieil bv the 

 Illinois Collt'ge of Auricultitre.) 



There are a number of good reasons 

 why an Apiarian Department should 

 be established at the State University, 

 under the supervision of the College 

 of Agriculture. The pursuit of bee- 

 keeping for the production of honey is 

 one of the most profitable branches of 

 agriculture, considering the amount of 

 capital required, and the time neces- 

 sarily employed for its successful man- 

 agement. There are thousands of tons 

 of honey going to waste in this coun- 

 try, almost every year, for the lack of 

 bees properly cared for to gather it. It 

 is not only necessary to have bees to 

 gather the honey, but these bees must 

 be under the management of thor- 

 oughly competent and practical bee- 

 keepers, who will know how to care for 

 them from the beginning of the year 

 to the close. 



Bee keeping is not all profit and no 

 work, as many imagine. The bees must 

 be looked after, and their needs and 

 requirements attended to like any 

 other live-stock. The right thing must 

 be done at the right time to insure the 

 greatest success, otherwise bees are the 

 most perishable and the most unprofit- 

 able live-stock that one can own. How 

 is this knowledge to be gained .•' Very 

 easily if there is an Apiarian Depart- 

 ment established at the State Univer-' 

 sity under the management of a thor- 

 oughly competent and practical bee- 

 keeper. 



Bee-keeping for profit is not an in- 

 tricate study. It can easily be acquired 

 by any one of average intelligence who 

 will apply himself with a will and de- 

 termination to master it under the 

 guidance of a competent and practical 

 instructor. Nor does it require much 

 time and preparation to become sufli- 

 ciently versed in bee-keeping to start 

 an apiary of one's own on a small scale, 

 provided the owner will keep on in- 

 forming himself from every source 

 possible. One or two season's prep- 

 aration under a master such as 1 have 

 referred to wouUl be ample for a per- 

 son who has developed a love for the 

 pursuit and a desire to learn all about 

 it that he can. And when I say one or 

 two seasons, I do not mean that he 

 must be at it every day. Far from it. 

 Bees do not need attention every day 



