GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mat, 1919 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



nectar at all. Severe storms in summer and 

 fall, particularly a hard hailstorm, put an 

 end to the work of the bees. A heavy snow- 

 fall during the third week of October forced 

 me to place my colonies in their winter home 

 on the 27th of that month. 



Before explaining what I did to get such a 

 good crop of honey in 1915 and 1916, I will 

 say again that I am not a very skillful bee- 

 keeper. I always try to be a man of good 

 will. I work hard and try to do my best in 

 everything. I also pray God to help me and 

 to give me a great deal of perseverance in 

 my work. My aim is to obtain from my 

 bees the largest crop possible. In order to 

 do so, here is the way I manage, trying at 

 all times to avoid loss of time and money 

 as much as possible. 



First, I follow four important rules. I 

 seek to have, first, a very productive queen; 

 second, a strong force of bees in each hive 

 at the time the season opens; third, the larg- 

 est number of artificial colonies possible, for 

 I suppress all natural swarming; fourth, 

 sufficient room in the brood-chamber and in 

 the supers. 



■ I will not attempt to describe the apiary, 

 which is situated in a park of some two 

 acres, and which is divided into four alleys 

 in the shape of a letter M. Each alley is 

 lined by a certain number of hives, placed 

 on iron or wooden supports about 18 inches 

 high; and in front of each support there is 

 put an ordinary entrance alighting-board. 



As soon after the first days of April as 

 the weather permits, I look for the queen 

 and brood. Ordinarily I have 12 frames in 



each hive. In the spring I take out three 

 or four or even five according to the 

 strength of the colony. The brood-nest I 

 place near the wall of the hive, between the 

 division-boards, leaving from 10 to 15 

 pounds of stores in each good hive. 



When I find a colony {hat is very weak I 

 put it, on a pleasant day, in the place of a 

 very strong colony, slightly before the time 

 for the bees to fly. I find it well to place a 

 board before the entrance of each of the 

 hives which I have thus transposed. Those 

 colonies which have lost heavily in' bees by 

 this exchanging of hives, I cover warmly 

 with paper. Besides this, in April or May 

 (and often afterward, during the night) I 

 thus cover our hives to protect the brood 

 from cold. By this method I have often sav- 

 ed colonies which had only two or three 

 hundred bees, and these same colonies have 

 given me the same year 300 pounds of hon- 

 ey, each. 



By the first of May, if the temperature is 

 warm, I begin a new general visit to my 

 hives, to make sure that the stores in them 

 are sufficient; and also to clip the wings on 

 my queens that were hatched the previous 

 season. If there is enough room and the 

 colony strong enough, I enlarge the brood- 

 nest by adding more combs. By May 20 or 

 30, excepting those that are very weak, my 

 hives generally have the full set of 12 

 frames. 



At the end of May, or the beginning of 

 June, if everything goes right, I give some 

 empty frames to the strong colonies, placing 

 them preferably in the supers, as they are 



The apiary that's north of Winnipeg. 



