1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



347 



On this account they get better care than if 

 they are scattered all over the yard. 



STIMULATIVE FEEDING DURING THE SPRING 

 NOT ADVISED. 



For some reason, here in Michigan there 

 do not seem to be many who practice spring 

 feeding for stimulating. 1 can not -say 

 whether this is on account of the bad weath- 

 er in the spring, which makes it difficult to 

 get bees to take the feed when they need it 

 most, or whether experience has taught the 

 bee-keepers of this locality that a colony 

 with brood-nest made rich with honey the 

 previous fall is in better condition. All in- 

 dications point to the latter cause. 



There is one bee-keeper, however, Mr. E. 

 E. Coveyou, of Petoskey, who thinks it pays 

 him well to feed for stimulative purposes 

 during the spring. I will let him tell his ex- 

 perience in his own words. He says: 



"After the weather in the spring is settled, 

 and the bees have begun brood-rearing long 

 enough so that young bees are hatching, I 

 aim to keep them breeding as fast as possi- 

 ble. Lest the weather should turn cold, or a 

 frost come as it did last spring. 1 proceed to 

 feed every colony at once. My experience 

 last spring was quite serious. In one apiary 

 131 colonies that were fed continuously be- 

 fore and after the frost gave an average of 

 87 lbs of honey to the colony Another 

 apiary, six miles from Petoskey, of 118 colo- 

 nies, was not fed, although it was otherwise 

 in just as good condition, for each colony 

 had a good deal of brood started before the 

 frost. I went to this apiary about a week 

 after the frost, and, to my sorrow, I found 

 that the bees had dragged out the drones, 

 and the conditions seemed to be more like 

 those in September This was when the 

 raspberries were just coming into bloom. 

 The yield from this apiary was 30 lbs. of sur- 

 plus per colony; and if there was any differ- 

 ence in the two locations, this last apiary 

 had the better one. I am sure that I could 

 have obtained 4000 lbs. more honey from this 

 yard if the bees had been fed 500 to 1000 lbs. 

 of sugar syrup in the spring. ' ' 



Remus, Mich. 



SPRING MANAGEMENT. 



Building Up Colonie-s for the Honey- flow; 



a Unique Scheme of Exchangina* Brood 



between Weak and Stronff Colonies. 



BY OREL L. HERSHISER. 



[Mr. Hershiser states in a letter that in this article 

 he assumes two apiaries which are on an equality 

 in every respect in the spring, the locality also be- 

 ing the same, in order to explain more clearly his plan, 

 and to show the difference that would result from spe- 

 cial care over that where no special care is given. 

 The average bee-keeper will be able to make such 

 moditications of the plan as his particular case re- 

 quires. 



Mr. Hershiser thinks that this has been the most 

 pflective plan for building up weak colonies and bring- 

 ing the maximum of workers into the hives that he 

 has ever tried. He has had some experience with the 

 Alexander plan of placing a weak colony over a strong 

 one, but has finally adopted his own plan in prefer- 

 ence. Mr. Alexander has twice as much time and 

 twice as much good weather after the 20th of June, so 



it is easier for the colony below, in his plan, to keep 

 the extra amount of room warm enough for both 

 queens to lay to their full capacity; and since he has 

 until August to accomplish the desired result a little 

 delay in the spring is not important. The Hershiser 

 plan, on the other hand, contemplates getting all the 

 queens to laying to their full capacity from the time 

 mani,)ulations are begun in early spring.— Ed.] 



Shall we have workers according to the 

 harvest when it is ready? An affirmative 

 answer to that question may mean a full and 

 abundant harvest. A good growing season, 

 and weather conditions favorable for the 

 abundant secretion of nectar, will afford only 

 a partial harvest, ranging from something 

 less than a full crop to little more than noth- 

 ing, according to the condition of the colo- 

 nies, it they contain less than a full comple- 

 ment of workers. Let us not answer the 

 question in the negative, but turn our atten- 

 tion to how we may with greatest effect build 

 up the colonies to overflowing with workers 

 for the honey harvest. 



The great need of skill in handling the 

 bees that survive is strongly emphasized 

 when we remember the heavy winter and 

 spring losses that recur so frequently, not- 

 withstanding all the pains bestowed in fall 

 preparation. Every spring finds many bee- 

 keepers, even among the most careful and 

 experienced specialists, with not only heavy 

 losses, but with a large proportion of the col- 

 onies that have survived, in weak condition. 

 However, let no bee-keeper be dismayed by 

 heavy losses, but, rather, let him study how 

 best to prevent them in the future. If the 

 losses are heavy, above all let him make the 

 most of the survivors, remembering, as many 

 bee-keepers of long experience have ob- 

 served, that a bountiful honey-flow nearly 

 always follows a severe winter and spring. 



Occasionally bees winter so well that there 

 is little or nothing to do with them to better 

 their condition; but more often every apiary 

 of considerable size will come through the 

 winter with the surviving colonies ranging 

 all the way from very strong to very weak, 

 and this condition exists whether the bees 

 are wintered in the cellar or on the summer 

 stand. Without some special cai*e and ma- 

 nipulation, these weak colonies are of little or 

 no service to their owner. Especially is this 

 true of those apiarists whose main source of 

 honey is clover or basswood, or both, as 

 weak colonies have but a short time tobuil<i 

 up and get in condition so early in the sum- 

 mer; but even apiaries so circumstanced 

 may be made to yield a handsome profit, if 

 skillfully managed, which otherwise, if there 

 is a preponderance of weak colonies, would 

 gather hardly enough honey for the follow- 

 ing winter's stores. 



On the first warm day of spring the api- 

 ary should be looked over with a view of 

 supplying food to all colonies that are short, 

 but they should not be disturbed except to 

 supply such needs. I do not regard early 

 stimulative feeding as desii'able except, per- 

 haps, to get one or two strong colonies in 

 condition for early queen-rearing. All en- 

 trances should be contracted to small pro- 

 portions — for example, what would amount 



