1908 



ULKANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



421 



the eggs the queen could produce, but which, 

 notwitnstanding, have gradually attained a 

 strength of from two to four combs of eggs 

 and brood each? None of them are strong 

 enough for the honey-flow now almost at 

 hand, yet in the aggregate there are enough 

 bees a^bout to emerge, which, together with 

 those already on the wing, would still make 

 considerable profits in noney if they were 

 properly assembled. Let us select eight of 

 the best of them and use the entire brood 

 force of the remaining seventeen in bringing 

 the eight up to surplus-producers. We have 

 now brought fifty-eight of the original non- 

 surplus- honey producers up to the narvest in 

 the best possible condition by having availed 

 ourselves of almost the maximum egg-pro- 

 ducing capacity of all our queens. 



We have, undoubtedly, defeated swarming 

 in a number of the original strong colonies, 

 but have probably induced it in a correspond- 

 ing number of the best of the colonies in 

 class two, and we may assume that the in- 

 crease by swarms, either natural or forced, 

 as a result of these manipulations, has been 

 neither increased nor decreased. Having 

 greatly weakened the last seventeen of the 

 colonies of class three we will hive swarms 

 with them, selecting the best queen as be- 

 tween the swarm and the colony. By so us- 

 ing seventeen of our twenty-five swarms we 

 shall get all our remaining colonies of the 

 third cla&s so strong as to gather an abun- 

 dance of stores for winter, as will also the 

 other eight swarms placed in empty hives. 

 In the good season assumed, the twenty-five 

 original strong colonies and the fifty-eight 

 that have been made strong by manipula- 

 tions, eighty-three in all, will gather 100 lbs. 

 surplus each, or a total of 8300 lbs. Some 

 of the swarms will produce surplus honey; 

 but as the amount of surplus from the parent 

 colony has been decreased by reason of this 

 swarming during the main honey-flow it is 

 fair to assume that the honey gained from 

 the swarms is equivalent to that lost by the 

 parent colonies, and that all have enough 

 honey in the brood-chamber for winter by 

 the end of the harvest. 



Assume this apiary in the early spring, 

 and the season and location to have been on 

 an equality with the ones in the first illus- 

 tration. The first apiary having produced 

 2500 lbs., and an increase of 8 colonies, or 

 108 colonies fall count, and the second, by 

 systematic manipulation, we have brought 

 to yield 8300 lbs. and an increase of 8 colo- 

 nies, or 108 colonies fall count; then the total 

 net gain as the reward for our pains in build- 

 ing up the colonies for the honey-flow is 5800 

 lbs. Surely that is liberal compensation. 



The above illustrations are assumed in or- 

 der to illustrate clearly the possibilites of 

 careful and systematic manipulations, con- 

 ducted with thoughtful care and with a def- 

 inite object in view. It may be unnecessary 

 to state that rarely if ever will the exact 

 number or the proportion of strong, medi- 

 um, and weak colonies, assumed in these il- 

 lustrations, fall within the experience of the 

 bee-keeper. It is hoped, however, that the 



assumed examples will serve to emphasize 

 the golden rule of apiculture, namely, sup- 

 ply to all the queens the coriditions necessary 

 for reproduction to their fullest capjacity dur- 

 ing the time that will bring the workers to 

 the honey harvest at the most vigorous age. 



Commenting on an outline of this plan of 

 building up weak colonies, heretofore pub- 

 lished, J. L. Byer, writing in Canadian Bee 

 Journal, remarks that this has always ap- 

 peared to him to be too much of the robbing- 

 Peter-to-pay- Paul nature, and he doubts if so 

 much time spent in manipulation is paid for 

 in the end. His comparison is at fault, for 

 both Peter and Paul (the colonies of bees) 

 are the property of the bee-keeper, and there 

 can be no robbery in making an advanta- 

 geous disposition of one's own property. I 

 suggest a better comparison. The apiarist, 

 bemg possessed of certain talents (his colo- 

 nies of bees), is justified by a high sense of 

 duty to himself and to all in making such 

 disposition of them as will yield him the 

 greatest profit. If he has a colony contain- 

 ing a choice queen which he contemplates 

 moving from an outyard to his home for 

 breeding purposes, but, upon making a trip 

 for the purpose, finds she has absconded 

 with a large swarm, Peter has been robbed, 

 but Paul has not been paid; and the bee- 

 keeper who has not made the best use of his 

 talent has suffered a loss. Far better to 

 have done a little manipulating to build up 

 some weaker colony with brood that could 

 be spared without impairing the usefulness 

 of the strong, and, incidentally, retard or de- 

 feat swarming. 



The expedient of stimulative feeding may 

 be very profitably employed after settled 

 warm weather has commenced whenever 

 there is a protracted honey-dearth, and es- 

 pecially after apple bloom, until white clover 

 begins to yield nectar, ever urging the queen 

 to Keep everlastingly at it during this inter- 

 im, for it is the bees reared at this time that 

 will be of the greatest service a little later 

 on. Very often the colonies that are strong- 

 est in the early spring are surpassed in hon- 

 ey-gathering by those of medium strength, 

 which is probably due to the latter having a 

 field force of workers of greater vigor, many 

 of the former having reached the period of 

 old age before the harvest is on. 



Frequently bees winter with very light loss 

 of stores, and in the spring the brood-cham- 

 ber is clogged with honey to such an extent 

 as to restrain the queen seriously at the time 

 when she should be laying to her full capac- 

 ity. In all such cases combs of honey should 

 be removed and empty ones given in ex- 

 change, so the building-up of the colony may 

 not be retarded. These combs of honey may 

 be profitably used in outside stimulative 

 feeding during any dearth of honey after 

 apple bloom, placing them some rods from 

 the apiary for the bees to empty. However, 

 if foul brood is in the locality, outside feed- 

 ing of honey taken promiscuously from the 

 hives should not be resorted to without cau- 

 tion. 



Spreading brood is an expedient which, 



