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SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS 



Management in Localities both With and Without 

 a Fall Honey Flow 



Standing at the threshold of August, what 

 apieultural memories it brings! The season 

 for the white honey from clov'er, raspberry, 

 thistle, and basswood has passed, and with 

 it the recollections of a season where the 

 supers did not yield enough honey to wet 

 the extractor; and, as we are most liable to 

 remember extremes, my thoughts turn also 

 to seasons of bumper crops when hard work 

 and the strain of oversight have made it a 

 pleasure to know that there is no more hon- 

 ey to extract. 



By August 1 the white-honey harvest in 

 the northern States and in Ontario and Que- 

 bec should have been reaped, and the year 's 



The Bedell capping press that was described by Mr. 

 Holtermann in the July issue. 



operations, so far as results are concerned, 

 should be at an end. The time has come for 

 laying the foundation for the success of an- 

 other year's operations — at least so far as 

 that success is under our control (which it 

 is to a greater extent than many realize). 



Dr. Phillips well said at Cornell Univer- 

 sity last winter that there are many who are 

 good beekeepers and operators during the 

 season when bees are active, but who fall 

 down woefully in their management when 

 the bees are not active. I have to' admit the 

 truth of his assertion. 



Where there is no fall flow (and such a 

 district is my own at present) all colonies 

 should be examined to find out how they 

 are supplied with stores, and to see if they 



have sufficient until feeding for winter. 

 Owing to the tendency to rob, this examina- 

 tion may have to be confined to weighing 

 or lifting them; and, if necessary, ample 

 stores should be provided. Within the last 

 few days just at the close of the clover flow 

 (which, owing to drouth, closed early), I 

 pointed out to the students with me how, 

 time and again, colonies, altho having a 

 brood-chamber of 12 Langstroth frames, had 

 not five pounds of honey in them. Such 

 colonies are among the very best. They 

 often have the most surplus on them, and 

 yet are so poorly provided with stores thafr 

 they would starve to death before winter 

 feeding, which should not be done before 

 late September or early October. In years 

 gone by I have neglected this, and thereby 

 lost some of my best colonies. (I take it 

 for granted that a beekeeper generally ex- 

 tracts what honey there is above the queen- 

 excluder. No other system is very practi- 

 cal.) Having found colonies that lack stores, 

 their needs should be supplied in the usual 

 manner by feeding not less than 10 pounds 

 of sugar syrup as soon as there has hatched 

 a sufiicient number of young bees to give 

 room for storing the syrup. The syrup 

 should be put on the hive just before dark, 

 and the usual precautions be observed 

 against robbing. 



With iriodern methods of management and 

 the manipulation of the brood-chamber, 

 breaking down cjueen-cells, sometimes pinch- 

 ing the bees (perhaps the queen), there is 

 greater likelihood of queenless colonies. In 

 any case there may be queenless colonies. 



Our next work should be to see that every 

 colony has a young queen. This is at a time 

 when no harm results from the absence of 

 a laying queen for two weeks. No harvest 

 is ahead, and the colony loses no time thru 

 rearing its own queen; for when the new 

 queen begins to lay she more than recovers 

 the lost time thru her youthful activity. 

 Also, if requeened now with young bees the 

 colonies will be less likely to be queenless 

 in the spring, and there will be less need of 

 stimulation from natural and artificial 

 sources. 



August is far too early to provide stores 

 for winter; nor with normal colonies would 

 I advise stimulative feeding at this time. 

 Nature balances itself perfectly in this re- 

 spect. Shall I say nature is its own defense 

 and its own preserver? No gathering of 

 honey and pollen, no vitality is lost by the 

 bee, and she remains young. With honey- 

 gathering, vitality is lost and the bees be- 

 come old. While the bees are becoming old, 

 the queen is laying eggs, which results in 

 young and vigorous bees to take the place 

 of the worn-out and dying bees. 



In support of my advice in regard to 



