May, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



291 



ANNE LESTER AND DADDY LOWE, BEEKEEPERS 



By Grace Allen — Chapter IV 



BLACK locust, with all its swinging beau- 

 ty, had come into full bloom and was 

 filling the earth with its fragrance and 

 grace. 



"This is May Day," Anne remarked, as 

 she and Mr. Lowe started for the beeyard 

 one radiant morning. ' ' The world woke up 

 and called me early, and I went out before 

 breakfast and played Queen of the May 

 with Shep. Now I feel just like working 

 with bees." 



The old man smiled as he lighted his 

 smoker. ' ' You 've got it in you, Anne, all 

 right," he said. "I told Jack in my letter 

 last night about how you get out all my bee 

 books every evening, and pile those old 

 bound volumes of bee journals around you 

 — and dig. Just as tho you were going to 

 school! " 



"I am — to Professor Daddy Lowe!" 

 Anne^ replied, adjusting her veil_ "And 

 please' tell me what you are planning to do 

 this morning, ' ' she urged, ' ' for I 'm really 

 beginning to understand what you say. ' ' 



"Well," acquiesced the old beekeeper, 

 ' ' about the time of locust I usually put my 

 queens down. You see I winter in two 

 stories mostly, and by this time the queens 

 will have — oh, of course it varies greatly, 

 but say from eight to sixteen combs of 

 brood, mostly in the upper stories. So I put 

 her down into the lower, under the queen- 

 excluder, with most of the brood above." 

 "Why?" asked Anne thoughtfully. 

 "Well, first let me say it is by no means 

 the only system to follow — it isn 't even 

 necessarily the best one. You'll find plenty 

 of others recommended in the books and 

 journals." Anne nodded. "But of all I 

 have tried, this seems to be the best for me. 

 You see, the queen has had unlimited room 

 till now, and this will leave her with plenty 

 for some time yet. From now on, I think 

 ten combs is about enough. It wouldn't 

 have been, from the first, tho." 



"I've read about some beekeepers who 

 use a double brood-chamber the whole sea- 

 son thru." 



' ' Yes, the tendency seems to be towards 

 larger brood-chambers. But I don't believe 

 they need it all summer — just long enough 

 to get this good start with brood-rearing. 

 You see we don 't care to have queens lay 

 at their greatest capacity more than another 

 three or four weeks." 



"Oh! I thought the more brood the bet- 

 ter. ' ' 



' ' That is true — at the right time. But 

 it's got to be early enough to provide bees 

 for the harvest. Figure it out for yourself. 

 It takes three weeks from egg-laying to 

 raise the bees; then another two weeks be- 

 fore they are ready to go to the fields. 

 That's five weeks. So eggs laid during the 

 last five weeks of the honey flow won 't give 



us any bees to help bring that nectar in. 

 Our main flow here lasts about two months. 

 That leaves only the first two or three weeks 

 for worth-while egg-laying. We've got 

 about another week, now, before the main 

 flow will be really on. So that gives us 

 about another month for heavy laying. Do 

 you get the idea?" 



Anne nodded. "When do we put on su- 

 pers?" 



"Probably next week. And now let's get 

 started. We can discuss other things as 

 we go. If there's anything you don't un- 

 derstand, don't hesitate to ask." 



He opened the first hive. "Anne," he 

 said a few minutes later, holding up a comb 

 with most of the brood sealed, but with eggs 

 and young larvse in the center, "judging 

 from this comb, how long has the queen 

 been laying?" 



Anne hesitated. "Nine days," she ven- 

 tured, "to have that brood sealed; longer, I 

 suppose, if it has been sealed several days." 



' ' She must have been laying at least four 

 weeks, Anne," he said. "You see, she 

 starts in the center, laying in rings towards 

 the outside edges. So — " 



"Oh, I see!" Anne cried. "The middle 

 ones, that she laid first, have already hatch- 

 ed out — " 



' ' Emerged, ' ' he corrected. 



"Emerged then," she repeated; "that's 

 three weeks; then she's laid there again 

 and these second ones have hatched — not 

 emerged, hatched — that's three days more; 

 and the larva? are evidently several days 

 old now. Four weeks. Smart Daddy 

 Lowe! ' ' 



"Smart Anne, you mean," he smiled. 

 "Now let's see what we've got here." He 

 set off the super and quickly examined each 

 comb. "Altogether there are eleven combs 

 here with brood in them, three combs 

 of honey, two of pollen and four empties. 

 Now let's put them this way. Below here, 

 we'll put one comb of young brood, in the 

 center; then on each side two empties, and 

 some honey, and lastly a comb of pollen on 

 the outside." 



Finding the queen, he put her down 

 among these combs, laid the excluder over 

 the top, and set the second hive body on. 

 "Now there are ten combs of brood above,'' 

 he said, "and — " 



' ' Wait a minute. Professor Lowe, ' ' Anne 

 interrupted, "I want to ask a question. 

 Why not put the comb down that has the 

 queen already on it?" 



"You can. Especially if she's on one 

 you want down. This one wasn 't. She was 

 on a comb of sealed brood and I wanted 

 that above. Because — " he waited. 



Anne shook her head. ' ' I don 't know. ' ' 



' ' It will emerge more quickly and give 

 room above for storing honey. ' ' 



