244 



American ^ec ■Joarnjlj 



August, 1912. 



this feature of the question, this will 

 be devoted to that of which we can 

 have almost absolute control, viz; of 

 having a means oi obtaining the nectar 

 that will surely come stalking across 

 the plains, some few days each season, 

 which is strong colonies. 



Working upon the rule that in 

 "union there is strength," we must 

 have colonies of say 80,(H)0 bees and 

 upwards, and the first requisite to this, 

 is to have all colonies headed with a 

 young and prolific queen when the 

 bees go into winter quarters ; this is 

 imperative because of the uncertainty 

 of introducing queens in the spring. 



Second, the bees must have a good 

 quality of winter stores and plenty; 

 but right here let me sav that for ease 

 of work and best results, the hives do 

 not need to contain as much stores as 

 we formerly allowed them; an uneces- 

 sarv amount makes carrying into arid 

 out of the cellar a hard job. Formerly 



1 wanted 30 pounds for 8-frame colo- 

 nies and 4(» for the lu-frame size; but 

 now' I prefer 20 for the former and 'J.5 

 or ••?il for the latter. 



What I am going to tell you now is 

 not theory but from actual practice: 

 Formerly' I took the bees from the 

 cellar quite late— they were left in 

 about as long as they remained de- 

 cently quiet. But I find of recent years 

 that they seem to get into rather bet- 

 ter shape to breed up rapidly if taken 

 from the cellar so they can take several 

 cleansing flights a few days before pol- 

 len is ready for them to gather. 



As soon as possible after removal 

 from the cellar the hives are wrapped 

 with Niagara sheathing, which is light 

 in color, and the toughest paper 1 

 know of, and will allow of removal 

 several times each season, and will last 



2 or 3 years. This should be of one 

 piece laid on top of the hive and folded 

 down on all sides, as it then forms a 

 wrapping through which no heat can 

 escape A cord tied around near the 

 bottom holds it in place, and over all 

 is slipped a telescopic cover and the 

 entrances made very small. 



After they have had one or more 

 good flights each colony is examined. 

 Some may need contracting, stores 

 may need to be equalized somewhat, 

 unclean bottom - boards reversed so 

 all will have sweet, clean homes to 

 begin the new year. In all cases 

 we should be sure that plenty of 

 honey is close to where the brood-nest 

 is forming, for cold spells will come, 

 and we want none to starve by having 

 to move over for feed. 



With colonies thus protected, we 

 may have no fears of chilled brood 

 from any Wisconsin weather during 

 the last half of March and on ; there- 

 fore we want breeding to commence 

 at once. To start this with energy, I 

 have found nothing equal to a comb of 

 warm svrup put up close to the colony; 

 this is done from one to three times, 

 once each week, according to the sea- 

 son until pollen comes, when it is 

 warm enough to put on the bottom 

 feeders. For this I use small troughs 

 containing a little excelsior placed and 

 used the same as the Alexander feeder. 

 As soon as pollen begins to come in 

 freely very thin, warm sugar syrup, 

 flavored with dark lioti 'n or washings 

 from cappings, is fed c.ch evening for 



a month, after which they are fed twice 

 a week with thicker syrup, and about 

 one or two quarts at a feed, being care- 

 ful to discontinue this at the proper 

 time, so none of it will lind its way into 

 the surplus when the honey-flow be- 

 gins. A thick feed may be given to- 

 wards the last if the weather is warm, 

 and the bees can gather their own 

 water. This is quite an object when one 

 makes the feed at home and Jiauls it 

 several miles to an out-yard. 



A close watch is kept on the process 

 of brood-rearing, and sealed honey is 

 removed when it appears to be in the 

 queen's way of egg-laying. When May 

 first comes, or a little later if all is 

 going well, I want no sealed honey in 

 my hives. If a comb is found quite 

 well filled at this time, it is removed 

 from tlie hive, and if but little honey is 

 found it is uncapped. Brood-rearing is 

 going on at a very rapid pace, and we 

 want nothing to obstruct tlie work. 

 When working this plan the c|ueens 

 will lay right up to the sealed honey at 

 tops and ends of the combs, and then the 

 they jump to the next one, which, if it is 

 entirely empty, is filled completely with 

 eggs. This should be an eye-opener 

 to any one, for we can at once see the 

 folly of allowing so much honey to be 

 in the hive. 



In past years we have heard it urged 

 time and again by the " fathers," that a 

 big lot of honey in the hive made the 

 bees feel " rich," and so we worked 

 upon that plan, but could never get the 

 results that we now do by this irn- 

 proved plan, and I am not alone in this. 

 You see our bees are receiving just 

 about enough for their daily needs, 

 which stimulates the same as a slow 

 honey-flow. When a good percentage 

 of the colonies have seven combs of 

 brood, we begin equalizing, and when 

 all but the two outer combs are full of 

 brood, I put full ones in their places, 

 and these empty ones are moved to- 

 ward the center, and soon every comb 

 is full from top to bottom and from 

 end to end. This will be at or a little 

 before fruit-bloom, when the hive is 

 raised up and a second story placed 

 underneath and left a week or 10 days. 

 Do not leave it there any longer than 

 this, for the queens are slow to move 

 down, and it is aptto induce the swarm- 

 ing impulse. At the end of )n days re- 

 verse the hives, and in case of 8-frame 

 bodies the queen is given the run of 

 both stories until the clover flow starts, 

 but with Ill-frame hives she is confined 

 to the lower story, for one seldom 

 finds a queen that will feel crowded on 

 10 combs containing no honey. 



If increase is desired, the strongest 

 colonies may be divided soon after 

 fruit-bloom, and one-half of them sup- 

 plied with (|ueens from the South, un- 

 less you prefer to rear your own. 



Drone-comb is allowed in none but 

 breeding colonies, which is (|uite an 

 item in increasing the honey crop. 



When the honey-llow starts, any of 

 the most approved plans of swarm pre- 

 vention may be practiced, but I prefer 

 the Allen i)lan of whicli I told you two 

 years ago. 



I'Or the man who does not wish to 

 practice spring feeding, all other plans 

 in this article will apply except that he 

 must leeil heavily in the fall. 



I'ut this plan into practice my friends, 



and you will have more honey to sell 

 with less labor and expense, than if 

 you increased the number of your col- 

 onies and apiaries. 

 Portage, Wis. 



"Because Of" or "in Spite Of?" 



BY ARTJIIR r. MII.I.F.R. 



The most difticult thing to do when 

 making experiments with bees, either 

 of management or of apparatus, is to 

 determine whether the results are ln- 

 causf of what was done or in spile of 

 the same. We are seized with the idea 

 which, the longer it is cherished the 

 better it appears. It is put into con- 

 crete form and applied. Excellent re- 

 turns are secured and they are at once 

 attributed to the application of the 

 idea, but it is an even chance that the 

 results were in spite of it. 



As the inspectors go from apiary to 

 apiary, this fact is daily brought home 

 to them, and the wider one's travels, 

 the more convincing the evidence. 

 Two bee-keepers, in the same general 

 environment, will use radically oppo- 

 site systems and obtain equal results, 

 and each will afiirm with vehemence, 

 that his results were wholly due to the 

 method pursued by him. 



The upward - ventilation - absorbent- 

 cushion man will denounce most heart- 

 ily the sealed-cover system, and the be- 

 liever in the latter has no possible use 

 for the advice of the man who does not 

 believe in it. And both of them may 

 be wrong. Possibly the results secured 

 are in spite of their system, or are in 

 no wise connected with it. 



It may not be that we, as a class, de- 

 ceive ourselves any more than the 

 members of any other craft, but most 

 certain it is that a vast number of us 

 do not take the pains and trouble that 

 we should to prove that the results se- 

 cured, when using a particular piece of 

 apparatus or following some set pro- 

 cedure, are due to that or are in spite 

 of it. 



Wherefore, we are constantly filling 

 the columns of the bee-papers with 

 long dissertations on the immense 

 value of some plan or implement, and 

 not only do we thereby use up costly 

 space, but, perchance, if the writer be 

 popular, have some influence or pos- 

 sess the faculty of convincing diction, 

 a lot of the craft will follow the leader 

 to their own cost. Not but what they 

 may secure excellent results, but if the 

 originator or exploiter had not been 

 self-deceived, he would never have led 

 them to make expensive, or, at least, 

 troublesome changes which had no 

 more to do with the result than to lead 

 the bee-keeper to a little closer obser- 

 vation and care. 



We arc all experimenters with ani- 

 mals about which our knowledge is as 

 yet really only fragmentary. As ex- 

 perimenters we should (or must), for 

 our own sakes, as well as for those 

 who follow, take the same pains which 

 otlier experimenters in animal behavior 

 take, and always accompany every e.x- 

 periment with an eiiiial number of col- 

 onies treated as has been our previous 

 custom, or leave them undisturbed. 

 This procedure is called a "control;" 

 that is, " a check," something to com- 

 pare with or measure by. 



The greatest bee-keepers of the .past, 



