1000 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



parts sugar to one of water by measure or weight. 

 But the syrup should be thoroughly stirred so that 

 it will be all dissolved before giving to the bees. 

 The aster stores would do no harm in any case, pro- 

 viding the syrup were stored on top of the aster. 

 Of course it is always desirable to do the uniting 

 early in the season and feeding early if possible. 

 But even when early feeding is practiced, a final 

 feed sometimes becomes necessary if brood-rearing 

 sets in between the time of feeding and the final 

 packing in the fall. — Ed.] 



Compensation on a Contingent Basis; Num- 

 ber of Colonies Needed per Acre in Cit- 

 rus-groves to Pollinate the Blossoms 



Mr. Root: — I should be grateful for your opinion 

 on the following. Mr. A owns some hundreds of 

 acres of citrus and deciduous orchards in two 

 groups sixty miles apart. He wishes to develop api- 

 aries for the primary purpose of pollination, but 

 with a view to having them profitable in themselves. 

 These are to be developed from a beginning of thirty 

 colonies to take care of pollination as the young 

 trees come into bearing. B has been secured to take 

 complete charge of this apiary development, and 

 control policies and methods of development. A pays 

 B 11.00 a year per colony (spring count) for man- 

 agement, $1.00 per colony increase, and 50 cts. per 

 hour for actual labor in apiary and office. A, of 

 course, pays all expenses of labor, equipment, etc. 

 If this arrangement is unfair to either party, please 

 state what changes you would suggest, and also any 

 better basis for agreement. 



Please inform me as to the ratio of colonies of 

 bees to acres of deciduous orchards to secure thor- 

 ough pollination to secure the maximum honey yield. 



Glenn, Cal., Oct. 19. Paul J. Davis. 



[ It is rather difficult to give a detailed answer to 

 a proposition of this sort. Perhaps the plan pro- 

 posed of compensating B is fair; but a surer and 

 a better way would be to pay him so much a day 

 for the time actually employed. Tliese contingent 

 schemes of compensating an employe sometimes work 

 out well, but more often they cause dissatisfaction, 

 not to say quarrels, between the parties. 



We usually estimate about one colony to the acre 

 for apple-orchards as being sufficient to pollinate 

 when weather conditions are at all favorable. When 

 the weather is bad during the time of bloom, more 

 colonies are needed, as practically all the work of 

 mingling the pollen may have to be done inside of 

 an hour. In citrus groves, one-fifth or perhaps one- 

 tenth of the number of bees required in an apple- 

 orchard would be sufficient. The reason of this is, 

 because the weather conditions are more favorable 

 in orange, lemon, and grapefruit groves, and be- 

 cause, further, the blossoms do not all come out at 

 one time. This enables a smaller number of bees to 

 do the work because the time for doing the work is 

 greatly extended. — Ed.] 



How to Get in the Game 



A correspondent says that he is investigating tin' 

 bee business with a view of starting an apiary, and 

 he asks how much land is needed for five or six 

 hundred colonies, and what would be most suitable. 



I have written him that unless he is experienced 

 in the bee business it would be a great mistake to 

 start with as many colonies as he suggests. One 

 must " grow " into the business, so to speak, so that 

 the errors made while learning will not be so expen- 

 sive. I began with four colonies, and was five yeais 

 building up to one hundred stands. The misman- 

 agement and mistakes made with those four colonies 

 would cost me a pile of money if I should do now 

 what I did in the beginning, and would utterly dis- 

 courage a beginner. 



One acre of land would be sufficient for yarding 

 600 or more colonies ; but in the Mississippi Valley 

 states it is seldom that more than 100 colonies are 

 kept in any one place. An apiarist running a great 

 number of colonies, has them scattered through sev- 

 eral yards so as not to overstock any one locality. 

 In selecting a site for an apiary I should prefer it 

 near some habitation on a bluff or hill land over- 

 looking a wide area of river bottom or swamp. Slich 

 a location has an abundance of honey-yielding flora, 

 and does not suffer from drouth. 



Washington, Ind. S. H. BurtON. 



How Fast Does It Go? 



How many revolutions per minute should a honey- 

 extractor make? 



Nelson, B. C. George Fleming. 



[There is no definite speed that can be given as 

 proper for a honey-extractor, for it depends upon the 

 condition of the comb. The reel should turn as fast 

 as it is possible to turn it without having some of 

 the combs broken by the centrifugal force. The 

 older the combs and the tougher they are by reason 

 of the layer of cocoons in case of combs used for 

 brood-rearing, the faster the reel can turn without 

 danger of comb-breakage. 



New combs which are much more fragile must be 

 turned very slowly until the bulk of the honey is 

 out of one side, then the pockets reversed and the 

 reel again turned slowly until the bulk of tlie honey 

 is out of the other side. There is little danger, then, 

 in speeding up to throw out the rest of the honey 

 on the second side. The pockets should finally be 

 reversed to the first side, and the reel again speed- 

 ed up to throw out the rest? of the honey on that 

 side. With the older, tougher combs, this added 

 precaution is not necessary. 



An eight-frame power extractor should have a 

 reel speed of 250 revolutions per minute on the 

 average. The smaller extractors require a greater 

 speed. — Ed.] 



Virginia Bees Almost Down and Out 



My bees gathered more honey in the spring than 

 for five years before. They filled up the supers 

 from locust bloom and white clover, and until the 

 middle of July did very well. Since that time they 

 have not made their own living. 



We had so much rainy weather the latter part of 

 August and early September that the bees got no 

 benefit from the fall flowers. There were only two 

 or three days in September that they worked on 

 aster — our only fall flow here. As soon as the 

 weather cleared, a frost killed everything. 



I took two supers of honey off some of my hives, 

 and found some of the colonies on the point of 

 starvation. I have not a single colony with enough 

 stores to carry it through the winter without feeding. 



Ninety per cent of the bees in this section will 

 die if they are not fed. June and July swarms 

 made no honey at all, and it is the first time in 

 several years that I failed to see some brood-rearing. 

 If they can be wintered at all, bees will be very 

 weak in spring. Several have lost colonies already. 



Roanoke, Va., Nov. 12. Henry S. Bohon. 



Jackknife for Scraping Sections 



I use a large-sized jack-knife kept very sharp for 

 scraping sections. I have tried caseknives and 

 butcher-knives, both dull and sharp, but like the 

 ,i;uk-knife best. I have never tried sandpaper. 



.\itkin, Minn. William Craig. 



A Correction 



111 the Nov. 1st issue, page 894, the description 

 of my wheelbarrow should have given the length as 

 6 feet instead of 6 inches. 



Heber, Cal. Joseph Gray. 



