584 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Sept. 13. 1900 



keepers who do not agree with me here, but would say : 

 " Fill the frames full of foundation every time ;" but when 

 I answer any question I, of necessity, must answer it from 

 my own standpoint : and if any reader thinks otherwise 

 than I do, he or she is at perfect liberty to follow any plans 

 given : test them to know that these different ways are bet- 

 ter, or let them alone altogether. I have never seen where 

 there was any occasion to feel hard toward a brother or sis- 

 ter bee-keeper who honestly differs from me in opinion, for 

 there is room enough for all. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



Moving Bee.s to Fall Pasturage When and How. 



BV GEO. DEMUTH. 



MY locality furnishes surplus honey from clover and basswood 

 only. No honey is gathered after the basswood harvest 

 closes, the bees thus becoming consumers in July. Tweuty- 

 five miles away, in a region of small lakes, are numerous '' dead 

 lakes," or swamps and prairies. In August and September the 

 goldenrod and Spanish-needle transform these prairies again into 



have been by no means dazzling, yet the cash realized on the time 

 actually spent makes B.}j(i'iiiem wage, which, if continuous, would 

 tempt most of us. 



One year very little surplus was secured, yet if there had been 

 none, the increast amount of brood reared, and the filling of the 

 hives for winter, would have been ample pay for the time spent in 

 moving. 



Many have askt why 1 do not locate permanently in this 

 prairie region. It I were located there I would need to move here 

 for the fitrhj honey-flow. When the honey-flow ceases here, the 

 sections are removed, and, as far as they will go, extracting-supers 

 are adjusted. If I had enough extracting-supers I would ordi- 

 narily extract all the amber honey; yet, as I have no trouble in 

 selling this amber comb honey at more than double the price of 

 the same extracted, I have not seen fit to provide extracting-supers 

 for all colonies to be used only in autumn. 



Any colonies that are very heavy have the heaviest combs ex- 

 tracted to prevent cramping the brood-room. New swarms that 

 have their brood-nest contracted are given empty combs to com- 



Loading the Hives on tlie Wagon for Moving to Belief J'ailures — [Fiorn Bee-Keepers^ Review.) 



lakes, surpassing even their former glory, with their brilliant yel- 

 low surface stretching from shore to shore. Those that are dry 

 enough to pasture present a silvery appearance from the abun- 

 dance of boneset. In the adjacent corn-fields, heartsease is plenti- 

 ful during wet seasons; and on the sandy upland, goldenrod 

 monopolizes the waste land. 



My management at home has been such that the bees are 

 brought thru the white honey harvest short of stores, the honey 

 having gone into the supers. This necessitates feeding for winter; 

 the expense of which, after a poor season, when most of the cash 

 receipts must be invested in sugar, has sometimes almost made 

 me wish I had never seen a bee. In IS'JO I moved a load of bees to 

 this location of autumn flowers, and secured an average of about 

 40 pounds of comb honey per colony. In addition to this, each 

 hive contained enough honey to last until the next spring. 



Since then a part of each year's program has heen this " mid- 

 summer outing;" and I have not fed any for winter since I began 

 moving. 



While the net returns from surplus honey secured by moving 



plete the set. The bottoms are now fastened to the hive-bodies by 

 two nails driven thru the bottom into the sides of the hive-body. 

 To drive these nails the hives are stood on the back end. The bot- 

 toms are left on from year to year, unless there are reasons for 

 taking them off, when they are easily removed. Rims 3' ., inches 

 deep, having the same outside dimensions as the hive, and covered 

 with wire-cloth, take the place of the cover. These rims are fast- 

 ened to the hive-body by two long, slender wire-nails, driven down 

 thru the rim into the edges of the sides of the hive. The cover 

 and bottom are thus fastened with four nails. Hives having on 

 extracting-supers have the stories fastened together by tacking 

 on lath or frame-stuff. Sometimes neither the bottom nor rim are 

 nailed to the hive-body, but a lath is nailed on each corner to the 

 bottom, bodies and rim. 



As there are generally at least two weeks after the close of the 

 harvest here before there would beany great advantage in having 

 the bees in their new location, I sometimes wait for a cool night. 

 Moonlight nights are preferable for moving, but not necessary— 

 we are sometimes glad to have even the light of the stars. 



