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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



AT Borodino, New York. 



AMONG THE BEES IN SPRING. 



" Mr. Doolittle, will you not tell us something 

 of the way you manage your bees in the spring? 

 Remember that there are a whole lot of novices 

 among the Gleanings readers every year, and 

 they want to know something of the details of 

 things; so tell us about this in such simple lan- 

 guage that we can all understand. " 



So writes a subscriber. 



After the bees are set from the cellar, or those 

 wintered outdoors have had their cleansing flight, 

 the first thing to do is to get each hive in as good 

 condition as possible for the comfoit and pros- 

 perity of its occupants. I begin at one side of 

 the apiary, which should always be at the first 

 hive on the first row having the entrance facing 

 away from the main apiary. If the hhei face 

 south, which, in my opinion, is the best way, and 

 if there are ten rows of hives running east and 

 west, then the first hive to examine is No. 1 on 

 row one, which will be the hive on the southeast 

 corner of the yard. The bees of all colonies, no 

 matter how peaceable, are very likely to resent 

 any moving object in front of the hive within an 

 hour after their home has been "broken open;" 

 and if we should commence at the northeast hive, 

 instead of the one spoken of, we should be more 

 or less within the range of the flight of the bees 

 from this hive when we left it to work with the 

 next and succeeding hives. Nothing so annoys 

 the bees and delays their work as some moving 

 living thing right in front of their hive and in 

 line of their expected flight. Fully one-third of 

 those interested in bees who come to visit my 

 apiary place themselves right in front of the hives, 

 and stand there till the discomfiture of the bees 

 on the wing gathered behind them compels me 

 to request them to move. 



We are now at hive one on row one, and about 

 to open it. We first send in a very little smoke 

 at the entrance, to " throw the sentinels off their 

 guard," when we carefully take the cover off and 

 blow a little smoke over the tops of the frames, 

 keeping our eyes on the bees, and using only 

 enough smoke to keep them from becoming vi- 

 cious. Some colonies require very little, while 

 others need smoking quite often; but we never 

 smoke their little eyes full when they are as peace- 

 able as kittens, nor, on the other hand, do we al- 

 low some colony to drive us from the apiary be- 

 cause we are afraid of hurting their feelings by 

 using sufficient smoke to keep them subdued 



Having the hive open, first see to the amount 

 of honey in the combs. At this time of the year 

 there should be not less than ten pounds, and 

 twenty pounds would be better. Then look and 

 see if there is brood, thus showing the presence 

 of a queen; however, if the colonies have but just 

 been set from the cellar they may not have start- 

 ed brood- rearing yet. Next see that there is not 

 a lot of dead bees on the bottom-board to decom- 

 pose there, much against the health of the colo- 

 ny. Lastly, close the hive, making the top and 

 all about it as snug and tight as possible, so as to 

 help the cluster to keep dry and warm till the 



willows and hard maples bloom. Go over each 

 hive in this way, and as you ascertain the strength 

 of the colonies adjust the entrances to each hive 

 to suit each one, allowing three-eighths of an 

 inch in length of entrance for the weakest, and 

 three inches for the strongest, varying the length 

 as needed. 



Now, after forty years of bee-keeping, during 

 which time I have tried nearly every thing put 

 before the public for stimulating brood-rearing, 

 from the feeding of a thin sv\eet, every day, to 

 the spreading of the brood, I wish to say that, if 

 colonies are in the condition noted above, I do 

 not believe that one can do any better than to let 

 them entirely alone till pollen becomes plentiful 

 from the soft maples and elms (and I doubt the 

 wisdom of touciiing them further till honey 

 comes in from the willows), and honey and pol- 

 len from the hard maples, the vshite and golden 

 willows blossoming only two to four days before 

 the maples. When the blossoms on these trees 

 open, it is time to commence active operations 

 with the bees, which, in brief, is as follows: 



Go over the apiary again, commencing with 

 the first hive on row one as before. This time 

 look for the queen to see if her wings are clipped. 

 If she is found not clipped, take out a jack-knife, 

 the little blade of which has been made as sharp 

 as a razor for this purpose, and, holding the frame 

 upon which the queen is found with the right 

 hand, pick the queen up carefully with the thumb 

 and fore finger of the left hand, by taking hold 

 of her wings Set the frame down and place the 

 sharp edge of the knife-blade on the queen's 

 wings held between the thumb and fore finger. 

 Both hands are now to be lowered to within an 

 inch of the tops of the frames in the hive, when 

 the knife is carefully drawn a little, and the queen 

 falls wingless on the frames, between which she 

 runs down as if nothing had happened. Having 

 the queen's wings clipped, the brood is inspected; 

 and if it is found regular and compact, we know 

 that she is a good one; but if scattered in several 

 combs, with many cells mixed in containing no 

 brood, then we may mark that hive as having a 

 failing queen, and, as soon as possible, we pro- 

 cure another for it by killing the old queen and 

 uniting a weak colony having a good queen with 

 the queenless colony, or by sending away for a 

 queen to take her place. If the Ijrood is all 

 found to be in one end of the combs, it is well to 

 change ends with a part of those combs, thus 

 providing conditions for a profitable colony later 

 on. I have also thought it paid at this time of 

 the year to "jump the brood," i. e., place the 

 outside frames of the brood-nest in the center and 

 the center frames at the outside, so that those 

 frames having the most sealed brood in them are 

 on the outside, and those having the least on the 

 inside. This causes the queen to fill immediate- 

 ly these empty cells, while at the same time a 

 larger amount of eggs is laid in the two frames 

 outside of those having the most brood in them, 

 thus making a gain in bees just in time to take ad- 

 vantage of the harvest from white clover when it 

 comes. Then, after seeing that there is plenty of 

 honey in the hive, so no retrenching of brood is 

 likely to occur, the hive is closed, snugly and 

 warmly, as at the other time. Thus we proceed 

 over the whole apiary again, which accomplishes 

 all thit can pro )erly be called spring work. 



