1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



233 



It is easy to tell the decision arrived at, but I 

 must confess it took many days of close question- 

 ing to get at the information I most desired. 

 Bee-keeping here is in its infancy. No one 

 seems to have given it serious thought, as is best 

 illustrated by the fact that I had to find out for 

 myself the actual source of the honey-fiow. It 

 was assumed to be clover, but it was not. But 

 more of this later. 



The supplies I wanted were not available in 

 the local market, and so an order was placed in 

 Medina. But the season was advancing rapidly, 

 and it was evident the hives could not reach me 

 until too late (as a matter of fact it was July 8 

 before they came into my possession), so it be- 

 hooved me to turn carpenter if I was to make any 

 start at all. Luckily for me I had, about eight 

 years before, amused myself one winter working 

 wiih tools trying to get the fun I missed as a boy, 

 and therefore I was able to mrke a fairly preten- 

 tious attempt at hive-making in an amateur way. 

 In the hope that my experiences may be educative 

 to others I will set them forth in detail 



It has been my good fortune to inspect many 

 workshops and large factories, and I always took 

 considerable interest inwhataretechnicallyknown 

 as "jigs." A jig is any contrivance that will 

 facilitate the making of an article, and is partic- 

 ularly applied to any arrangement for holding 

 the article while some operation is being per- 

 formed upon it. For example, when you receive 

 from Medina a lot of frames in the flat, there is 

 included in the case a small bit of wood with a 

 slot cut in it, whose use is to make it easy to get 

 the spacing-staples into the proper position, and 

 to hold them firm while they are being driven 

 into the bars. This is an example of a very sim- 

 ple jig. So while I was making hives I made 

 several jigs; but I want to disclaim any credit 

 for inventing them, as I found most of them scat- 

 tered throughout the literature of bee-keeping. 

 But in these articles they will be gathered togeth- 

 er for convenience. May be I will also refer to 

 some that were highly recommended, that looked 

 well on paper, but, alas! would not work, at least 

 in my hands. 



\'ictoria, B. C, Canada. 



To br continued. 



EXTRACTED-HONEY PRODUCTION. 



Advantage of a Practical System; Annual 



Change of Queens to Secure Bees 



for the Harvest; the Value of 



Young Queens. 



BY F. H. CYRENIUS. 



Spring management throughout the white- 

 clover belt is about the same; viz., get the bees 

 for the harvest as early as possible. During my 

 forty years' experience in trying all plans of 

 stimulation, I believe, all things considered, 

 abundant stores of sealed honey or syrup give the 

 best results. 



I will say right here, no doubt we can increase 

 their activity by daily feeding; but after all it is 

 an activity in the wrong direction. The bees 

 are induced to fly in unfavorable weather, and 

 large numbers are lost. I should prefer a plan 

 to keep them at home during the early breeding 



season rather than encourage them to fly except 

 for business. 



In 1878 the season was considered very unfa- 

 vorable, as the bees had only about one fly in a 

 week; but at that time mine had plenty of honey, 

 which was rapidly changed into brood, tt 

 proved to be a very favorable season for early 

 breeding. 



The bees that remained at home reared brood, 

 and were not induced to fly out and die. Right 

 in this connection allow me to ca'l attention to 

 old box hives unstimulated, undisturbed, but 

 with a good queen and plenty of stores — they 

 outstrip our stimulated colonies every time. 

 Their ambition at this time is to convert as 

 much honey into brood as possible; and any 

 man who thinks he can help them at that time of 

 year by spreading their brood, etc., is making a 

 great mistake. 



But now to prepare for our fall honey. In 

 this we must be governed by our locality, and 

 work out our own system. I will speak only for 

 Northprn New York, where my white honey 

 fails July 15, and fall honey (buckwheat, gold- 

 enrod, aster) yields from Aug. 15 to Sept. 20. 

 This is my principal crop, and I use every effort 

 to get my young queens to laying July 1, to 

 build up for this harvest. I also keep my old 

 queens laying until Aug. 15 to 20, when they 

 are superseded or killed. 



Right here I wish to digress a little and out- 

 line the season's work. After the bees have a fiy 

 in the spring, an examination is made to know 

 whether they have a good supply of honey, etc.. 



Any weak colonies needing help are united 

 with the strongest that can take care of them, as 

 it is poor policy to unite two weak ones at this 

 time of year. 



They will now take care of themselves until 

 fruit bloom, at which time they may be equal- 

 ized up a little, and from any colonies strong 

 enough to anticipate preparations for swarming 

 I draw half to two-thirds their brood, placing it 

 in an upper story, and filling out both stories 

 with empty comb or foundation, with excluder 

 between and queen below. This gives so much 

 room for the queen and for honey that swarming 

 is not thought of if done in time. However, if 

 the brood be placed in upper chamber in a cold 

 spell, or in a scarcity of honey, some of the very 

 young lirva; and eggs may be destroyed by the 

 bees themselves. 



The raising of brood is one of my hobbies 

 that I much enjoy. I will call attention to s->me 

 advantages. If I have queens to introduce I 

 plan to have these upper chambers well filled 

 with brood from one to two weeks ahead of 

 their arrival. I now set this chamber of brood 

 on a new stand and introduce the queens. 



There are no queens to look for — they are be- 

 low. The old bees that would refuse the queen 

 return to the old stand. We also have the ad- 

 vantage of a ten or twelve frame hive. 



The plans for the rest of the season are as fol- 

 lows: — 



June 1. — Fill at least ten per cent of the cham- 

 bers of all colonies with brood, as before de- 

 scribed. , 



June 5 to 6. — Remove nearly all the brood 

 from the breeders, and fill their place with empty 

 combs in which to procure eggs for starting 



