1908 



(iLEANlNGS IN BEIE CULTUKE. 



368 



will have regained its normal strength, and, 

 having a laying queen, will constantly in- 

 crease that 'strength through the honey sea- 

 son, and will but rarely swarm. This queen 

 may acquit herself as one of the very best 

 in the apiary the rest of the season. 



Now from two colonies, the one worthless 

 and the other one liable to do too much 

 swarming, have been evolved two colonies, 

 both in perfect condition for a large yield of 

 finest honey. Continue this treatment, al- 

 ways selecting the strongest weak one, as 

 the weaker ones each day all naturally be- 

 come stronger, until all weak colonies are 

 brought up to the standard of extra working 

 condition. 



TREATMENT OF THE MEDIUM COLONIES. 



But now how about those medium colo- 

 nies, too strong to be treated as above, and 

 not strong enough to be very profitable in 

 their condition? If we occasionally rehive a 

 swarm on the old stand and in the old hive, 

 and take out four of the best combs of brood, 

 putting sheets of foundation in their places, 

 we can give two combs of brood to two each 

 of those colonit^s, taking out a couple of poor 

 combs of brood to make room for them, 

 which can be formed into a nucleus and giv- 

 en a queen-cell. The.se two full frames of 

 brood should immediately bring the medium 

 colonies to the required strength for work, 

 while the swarm hived on the old stand 

 should also give a nice surplus. 



WHAT TO DO IF THERE ARE 3IORE SWARMS 

 THAN WEAK COLONIES. 



Should the indications be that there will 

 be more swarms than weak colonies, select 

 the very best colonies as regards both purity 

 and industry, and, when they swarm, remove 

 the hive, from which the swarm issued, to a 

 new stand, and hive the swarm on the old 

 stand, giving it, say, three combs of brood 

 from the old stock, and three or four sheets 

 of foundation, and give plenty of surplus 

 room. This colony, having all the old bees, 

 and some brood, should also give a nice sur- 

 plus. 



Now to go back to the old stock removed 

 to the new stand. Take two nucleus-hives, 

 made to take frames the same size as those 

 in the hive : place them on separate stands, 

 give each one or two combs of brood and a 

 good cell from the hive, and let all three 

 raise queens Any surplus cells can be cut 

 out and used in other nuclei formed in the 

 same way for the next seven days, thus has- 

 tening hatching several days and also in- 

 creasing the number of queens raised from 

 choice mothers. 



After all the queens in both nuclei and 

 central hive are laying and have filled all 

 their combs with brood, the queens may be 

 taken from the nuclei and used to replace 

 the poorest queens in the apiary, and the 

 brood and bees united with the main colony, 

 thus giving it at once seven or eight full 

 (rombs of brood, and making it at once a full 

 colony. Queens reared in this manner have 

 no superiors in beedom. 



This method is simple enough for the am- 



ateur with half a dozen colonies, and equal- 

 ly valuable for the largest of home apiaries. 

 It is also elastic; i. e., it can be modified to 

 suit many different conditions; keeps every 

 colony to the top notch of strength during 

 the honey-flow, keeps every queen working 

 full time during the whole season, and keeps 

 every colony, nuclei excepted, with a laying 

 queen all the time, and makes swarming a 

 blessing instead of a nuisance; allows a mod- 

 erate increase through the nucleus system, 

 and keeps the apiary supplied with a class 

 of queens having no superiors on earth. 



Any tendency to degeneration from close 

 breeding can be immediately checked by the 

 purchase of choice breeding-queens of other 

 strains — not to replace but to ble^id with the 

 best strains already in the apiary; and any 

 one breeding on these lines would in a short 

 time refuse to have his whole apiary requeen- 

 ed free of charge by the best breeder in the 

 countiy. 



If the apiary is run for comb honey, care 

 must be used to produce nothing but a fan- 

 cy article — one that will command the top, 

 or a premium over the top quotations; and 

 it is just as easy to produce a crop all A 1 to 

 fancy as it is to produce all number two or 

 worse. 



Comb honey, if to command the very 

 best prices, must be removed from the hive 

 about as fast as finished, and before becoming 

 travel-stained, and properly stored and 

 cured, and not left on the hive until the sea- 

 son's close. If every separator used in the 

 apiary, wood or tin, is not thoroughly wash- 

 ed and wiped dry before being used in the 

 supers, much of the capped surface is bound 

 to have a non-attractive smutty appearance; 

 and all drawn combs in sections from the 

 previous season, no matter how white, must 

 have the ends of the cells cut down before 

 using, or an expert will condemn every sec- 

 tion so used, at a glance. Likewise it is dif- 

 ficult to produce nice honey on a hive con- 

 taining old dark combs unless they contain 

 freshly sealed honey at their tops. 



If the apiary is run for extracted honey, 

 and we expect the honey to bring the top 

 price as a table delicacy, it can not become 

 too ripe before extracting; and for best qual- 

 ity of product it should remain on the hive 

 three to six weeks after sealing before being 

 extracted; while for general market honey 

 it may be extracted as soon as sealed, but 

 not before. 



Frenchtown, N. J. 



PROTECTION DURING THE WINTER. 

 Temporary Sheds vs. Outer Cases. 



BY W. T. DAVIDSON. 



Nothing that I know of at present will beat 

 a good shed for wintering bees. I can pack 

 my hives in straw in a good shed, and get 

 excellent results. I wintered my bees three 

 winters in a shed without the loss of a colo- 

 ny. Sheds are very unhandy to work under, 

 but I think I have designed one that will be 



