OCTUBUR, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE C U L T U li K 



hives with the biouil-iu'st in the bottom 

 story. The heat goiioratod by the colony 

 of bees rises into the upjxM' story where it 

 can do little or no good. Either the lower 

 stor}^ should be raised to the top or there 

 should be folds of newspaper between the 

 upper and lower stories with a hole to admit 

 one or two bees at a time. The newspaper 

 will confine the heat to the lower story, and 

 at the same time leave available the stores 

 in the upper story. 



We are of the opinion, from experiments 

 conducted in California, that two or three 

 frame nuclei, and even five-frame nuclei, 

 could be better confined down to the actual 

 combs they occupy by putting folds of 

 newspaper around the sides. As soon as the 

 bees need more room they will eat away the 

 paper and thus expand the cluster when the 

 weather conditions are more favorable. 



There are times when packing-cases might 

 be used to advantage, even in the Southland, 

 but as to just when and where, we are not 

 now prepared to make a definite statement. 

 We are thoroly convinced, however, that many 

 beekeepers in the semi-tropics can well af- 

 ford to confine their clusters down to the 

 smallest cubic capacity during December 

 and January when it is supposed there is no 

 wintering problem. 



While it is true that bees can fly out al- 

 most every day in many of our Southern 

 States and California, this very fact is what 

 causes the field bees to die off prematurely. 

 The sun draws them out; they bring in a 

 little pollen, and sometimes a little nectar. 

 This stimulates brood-rearing so that in 

 some localities the queen lays 11 months in 

 the year. The result is that she is worn out 

 at a time when she ought to lay heavily so 

 that there will be plenty of young bees of 

 the right age to gather nectar for the first 

 real honey tiow. The beekeepers of the 

 cold, cold North, where snow and ice pre- 

 vail during winter, have no problem of 

 worn-out queens. The enforced rest of 

 three or four months is quite in accordance 

 with nature. As soon as winter begins to 

 turn into spring the queen will begin to lay. 

 She has had a long rest, and she is in good 

 condition to do heavy duty, and she does it. 

 The three or four months of enforced rest 

 makes it possible for the beekeepers of the 

 colder climates to get good service out of 

 queens for one or two seasons. But the bee- 

 keeper in the Southland or California, whose 

 queens lay 11 months in the year, is blessed 

 (or, rather, cursed) with worn-out queens; 

 and the only solution lies in requeening at 

 least once a year; and it would be much 

 better, in many cases, we venture to suggest, 

 if all colonies were requeened in the fall, or 

 very early in the spring. In some cases 

 they should, perhaps, be requeened every 

 six months. 



The real wintering problem in the semi- 

 tropics is worn-out queens — queens that 

 can 't lay when they ought to — and inability 

 to get queens for love or money when they 

 are most needed. 



As the editor looked over some of those 

 mountain-sides or hill-sides in California he 

 w^ondered if it would not be possible to dig 

 eaves in the sides, and put the bees in these 

 caves, shut them up in the dark, and hold 

 them there for two months. The tempera- 

 ture of the earth in California, we should 

 guess, is between 55 and 60 degrees. If 

 ventilation could be suj^plied, the bees in 

 such eaves would winter nicely, and all 

 brood-reai'ing would be suspended during 

 the winter confinement. In other words, it 

 might be possible, even in California, to 

 stop brood-rearing and give the queen a rest, 

 stop the awful decimation of bees flying out 

 in the fields and dying, and last, but not 

 least, stop the heavy wastage of stores that 

 takes place when the bees can fly almost 

 every day during the winter. Of course 

 tire thing has never been tried yet; but 

 David Eunning, our greatest living authori- 

 ty on cellar wintering, gave it as his opinion 

 that bees might be wintered in the South- 

 land in caves or dugouts, saving the drain 

 on the queen, drain on the colony strength, 

 and the drain on the natural stores. 



NOW WHEN THERE IS so slight a differ- 

 ence between the price of extracted and 

 comb honey, it may 

 Too Few Comb- seem a rather 

 Honey Producers, strange time to 

 urge the produc- 

 tion of comb honey; but we believe that L. 

 L. Andrews, page 664, is quite right; and 

 that some other good beekeepers are also 

 of the same opinion is shown by the fact 

 that supply-dealers have noted in the sale 

 of sections a marked increase over last 

 year's sales. It is evident that many of 

 the beekeepers are either going back to 

 comb-honey production or else those now in 

 the business are increasing their equipment. 



Those skilled in comb-honey production 

 are wise, we believe, in returning to it. 

 Present prices can not be expected to hold 

 indefinitely. Sooner or later honey will be 

 selling much lower than now. As soon as 

 this happens we may expect the same old 

 difference in price between comb and ex- 

 tracted honey that held before the war. 



This season has not been an unusually 

 good one. Judging from the present condi- 

 tion of honey plants in many parts of the 

 United States it seems quite likely that 

 next season 's crop will be a large one. It 

 is also true that present prices have induced 

 many more to take up beekeeping. Looking 

 ahead, therefore, to next season, it seems 

 not improbable that there may be a very 

 large amount of extracted honey on the 

 market, and but little comb. That there 

 will be an over-production of extracted we 

 hardly credit, and yet there may be an 

 amount large enough to make it much more 

 difficult for the producer to dispose of his 

 crop. The comb-honey man, however, need 

 have no fear along this line. For good 

 comb honey there is always a ready market. 



