r.ANrAHY 15. 1915 



noii-swaniiing under our methods of con- 

 trolling;- tliom. We give tlieiu plenty of 

 ventilation al the bottom of the hive, plenty 

 of room at all times for the queen, and 

 plenty of storing room, allowing no honey 

 to be finished up next to the brood-nest dur- 

 ing the height of the swarming season. The 

 foundation is started and partly drawn out 

 there, then raised, and another one given as 

 long as they will draw out foundation. Then 

 by our general method of frame manipula- 

 tion we look over the brood-nost once a 

 week during this time; and should any 

 preparation for swarming be found we re- 

 move the queen-cells or divide them up, 

 making two colonies out of one. The latter 

 we do mostly, for we want the increase. 



But there is only a very small part that 

 ever attempts to swarm after the main 

 honey-llow comes on, and the most of the 

 increase is made on the first and second 

 rounds in early spring. After the main 

 honej'-flow is on, only two or three natural 

 swarms will issue from each apiary ; and if 

 we do not resort to frame manipulation the 

 loss in bees is almost nothing. 



What about these few natural swarms 

 from these bees? They are not more than 

 a mere double handful of bees, and not 

 worth hiving. We have left off having the 

 farmers living ni'ar our apiaries hive 

 swarms for us, should they find any. 



BUILDING UP. 



This alone is almost a redeeming feature 

 over the Italians. Artificial feeding is not 

 necessary to bring this about if there are 

 any outside resources obtainable. 



It might be said that such rapid building 

 up and great progress in this way, kept up 

 throughout the season, might not always be 

 in their favor. I have these bees in almost 

 every kind of location in the South, and I 

 never saw these colonies rise to such great 

 pitch and go back. As a rule they maintain 

 their strength, and store right on through- 

 out the season. Of course progress may be 

 slow at times when nectar is not so plentiful. 



On the other hand, what do these great 

 rousing colonies mean to the beekeeper who 

 wants to spread his business, especially in 

 the spring? Well, it means almost any 

 amount of increase he wants, right at a time 

 when it will be best to make it. In doing 

 this I usually find two full-depth eight- 

 frame hive-bodies full of brood, and vei*y 

 often a shallow extracting-super or two 

 with some brood in them in addition. Very 

 often I find as much as three bodies of 

 brood, quite often four, sometimes five, and 

 once in a great while six, with brood scat- 

 tered througii them. This mav sound a little 



" fishy," or the limit on extremes; but as 1 

 liMNO a number of honest men working for 

 Mie who know this to be a fact 1 am not 

 afraid that I shall be branded as untruthful, 

 Tlie beekeeper cannot afford to ignore this 

 fact ; for it is a matter of great considera- 

 tion by any beekeeper who is not pleased 

 with the stock he has. 



AS HONEY-GATHERERS. 



1 have mentioned tliis feature of these 

 bees before in Gleanings, and it is not 

 worth while to dwell on it, for the interested 

 readers can refer back a few numbers and 

 understand more fully. But under this head 

 there is one more feature I wish to mention, 

 and it is a redeeming one. 



I have often been astonished at the prog- 

 ress these bees would make in storing in 

 just a few days when the main flow came 

 on heavily and suddenly, owing to moder- 

 ating weather conditions. Up to May 10 

 this season it looked as if the crop from 

 gallberry was going to be a failure. The 

 bloom was far advanced; nothing ap- 

 peared in the supers, and blooming would 

 soon be past. But suddenly a great harvest 

 took place at just the last moment as the 

 blooming period was passing off. They just 

 simply went wild over honey-gathering, and 

 1 never saw as great energy manifested in 

 bees. They were simply ready for it in 

 every way. We have few days of a great 

 honey-flow in the South, and sometimes 

 these are reduced to very few, owing to 

 adverse weather conditions. The remainder 

 of the season the flow is slow or weak, and 

 a marvelous thing must take place during 

 the short time it is at its best. 



FINISHING THE ARTICLE. 



There is nothing more fascinating than to 

 remove from two to five supers of well- 

 finished honey from each colony of Cauca- 

 sians. These dark smutty-colored bees, when 

 smoked, move down between the combs, in 

 appearance like a dark mantle folding down 

 from over the honej', which looks like frames 

 of compacted snow, so beautifully white and 

 evenly finished is it. This feature makes 

 them marvelous indeed. 



Here in the South we produce much honey 

 that is naturally thin in body, which, in the 

 extracted form, ferments to some extent and 

 gives dissatisfaction on the market. It 

 results about the same in the comb form, 

 the capping bulging and sweating, and hav- 

 ing a greasy appearance. Such honey is 

 simply too thin to be wholesome. This is 

 found not only in the South but in the 

 Xorth as well. The Caucasians, as a rule, 

 evaporate this seemingly naturally thin 

 iionev and give it a good body, and it is 



