GLEANINGS IN BEE CL'LTURE 



The liot-vveatlier costume in Uganda, Africa.— See A. I. Root's department 



and quickest at finishiui;' tlieir sections; and 

 if they prove good for feeding back 1 use 

 llie same colony each year until the queen 

 begins to fail. 1 do not say black bees are 

 the best, nor hybrids, although more suitable 

 colonies may be found in a given number of 

 these; neither do J say a good prolific queen 

 will insure tliat colony being a good one for 

 this purpose. My experience is that any 

 colony that does good work in sections has a 

 (jueen that keeps at least a reasonably good- 

 sized brood. But on the other hand I have 

 known some very prolific queens whose bees 

 did not seal and finish their combs as quick- 

 ly as others. So in working the colonies 

 for section honey during the flow I watch 

 for quick sealers. 



It has been my experience too (but this 

 may not be the same in all places) that tlie 

 colonies fed are quite apt to swarm. As 

 tliis should be avoided, I make it a point to 

 select among the quick sealers those that 

 have stood the greatest pressure without 

 swarming. Luckily these two traits often 

 seem to go together — those that are slow to 

 swarm usually being good storers and seal- 

 ers. It is hardly necessary to add that, 

 every thing else being right, the stronger 

 these colonies are, the better. One does not 

 want to use any more colonies than will 

 finish the numl)er of sections he expects to 

 have, as each colony uses considerable hon- 

 ey before doing the best work in the sec- 

 tions; and the more sections one colony fin- 

 ishes, the greater the chance for profit. 



This depends lai'gely on the weather and 

 length of time one has to continue the work, 

 and his success in clioosing the right kind of 

 colonies for the work. My experience for 



western Iowa is that the white-honey flow 

 from clover and basswood usually stops 

 about the middle of July, and heartsease 

 begins to yield a little from the 10th to the 

 loth of August, so that I can count on 

 about three weeks between flows in which 

 to feed. I am doubtful whether it pays to 

 feed during a flow. Mr. Alexander, whose 

 opinion we all respect, said it did; but the 

 one time I tried it, those colonies did not 

 do as much in the supers as the ones not 

 fed, and 75 per cent swarmed within a week 

 or ten days after the feeding was started. 

 One swallow, however, does not make a sum- 

 mer, we are told; so this experience might 

 not always be repeated everywhere. In the 

 two or three weeks' time between clover and 

 heartsease I have usually gotten from 15 to 

 25 supers finished per colony. The right 

 kind of weather is also necessary. But, for- 

 tunately, here in Iowa Ave usually have good 

 weather for feeding at just the time needed. 

 It is hardly necessary to say that it requires 

 good hot weather with warm nights. The 

 arrangement of supers and feeders is of 

 importance, as the better these are, the more 

 chance for success. I was never able to 

 make much headway at feeding back until 

 I began using the Alexander feeder. Tliere 

 may be others as good for this purpose, or 

 even better; but I know the Alexander feed- 

 er is all right. I have some made of 2 x G 

 stuff, and long enough for ten-frame hives, 

 which I use on eight-frame hives, and 1 

 ])refer two feeders on each hive. This gives 

 capacity for a large feed, so that, if one 

 does not feel able to take tlie time to feed 

 any during the day, a feed each evening is 

 equal to a good fair flow. When placing 



