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23 



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The Secretary then read the follow- 

 ing from G. M. Doolittle, Borodino, N. 

 y.o ititled, 



UoM- to Kiiiia lip Colonics in the 

 Sprins: tor tiie Homey Harvest. 



As an introduction, I wish to say 

 that a bee-convention whose time is 

 all taken up with long essays, is nearly, 

 or quite, a failure ; at least they have 

 always been so, as far as I am con- 

 cerned. I also wish to say that a bee- 

 convention without any essays, is little, 

 if any, better than one that is all es- 

 says. What do we want, then ? Simply 

 some thoughts on several points re- 

 garding our pursuit, written by as 

 many different persons, as " stai'ters " 

 for a discussion of these various points. 

 Am I right ? If not, let this matter be 

 discussed, and the apiarists in conven- 

 tion show where the above is wrong. 



After this" introduction^ let no one 

 think that I am going to " bore" them 

 with a long essay on building up colo- 

 nies for the honey harvest. In 1876 

 and 1877, Mr. J. H. Townly, of Jack- 

 son, Mich., pressed upon the bee-keep- 

 ers of the land the necessity of keep- 

 ing bees warm as soon as out of winter 

 quarters, by means of some extra pro- 

 tection on the outside of single-walled 

 hives, if we would have our bees build 

 up so as to take advantage of the first 

 honey-flow, recommending that the 

 hives be put in I'ough boxes somewhat 

 larger than the hives, the space be- 

 tween being filled vyith chaff or fine 

 straw. 



Ten years later, Mr. W. Z. Hutchin- 

 son, of the same State, emphasized the 

 matter in his book, "Production of 

 Comb Honey," and I so far agree with 

 them, that I lay down this proposition, 

 viz : No bee-keeper residing north of 

 latitude 40°, can secure the best results 

 in dollars and cents from his bees, un- 

 less he so protects them in the spring, 

 whether wintered in the cellar or on 

 the summer stand. Some say that the 

 cost of so protecting them is more than 

 the gain amounts to. What says this 

 convention ? 



Prof. A. J. Cook, and others, say 

 that in addition to all other favorable 

 circumstances, bees must be fed, by 

 way of stimulative feeding, at all times 

 when they are not gathering honey, in 

 order to build colonies up rapidly in 

 the spring ; for in proportion to the 

 number of days that sweets are carried, 

 so will the brood make a gain over 

 what it would if no sweets were 

 carried. 



Without contradicting the above 

 statement, I wish to say that the daily 

 feeding of colonies is a task that most 

 bee-keepers do not relish, and for this 

 reason it is to be avoided, if possible 

 That it maybe avoided, I make this 

 statement : Bees having a large sup 



ply of honey in their hives, will build 

 up just as fast without any stimulative 

 feeding, as will a colony having little 

 or no stores, under daily feeding ; and 

 if the full combs of honey are placed 

 on one side of a divison-board, and the 

 brood on the other, so that the bees 

 have to carry their food around this 

 board, they will build up faster than 

 they will in either of the other cases. 

 Can any one disprove it ? If not, it 

 stands a fact. 



Some say that in the foregoing we 

 have all that is necessary, and that 

 further "fussing" is time worse than 

 wasted ; but I say that when any col- 

 ony becomes strong enough to have 

 brood in five combs, so that these 

 combs average two-thirds full, a gain 

 is to be made which will much more 

 than pay for the time employed, by 

 reversing the brood-nest, regardless of 

 the style of the hive or frame used. 



By reversing the brood-nest, I mean 

 the putting of the center combs, which 

 are full of brood, on the outside ; and 

 putting those having the least brood, 

 that were on the outside, in the centre. 

 Now leave them until the hive is so 

 well filled with bees that they have 

 brood in all but the two outside combs 

 (the centre combs being filled out to 

 the frame on all sides), when the brood 

 is to be reversed again, putting the 

 combs that ai-e entirely filled with 

 brood, out next to these outside combs, 

 and those having the least in them, in 

 the center. A gain of a week, at least, 

 is made in this way to each hive, and 

 this week of honey-gathering will more 

 than pay for the necessary trouble and 

 time. If this is not true, give us the 

 reason why. 



In these three items, we have the 

 main points used in building up colo- 

 nies, where the bee-keeper desires to 

 work all the colonies that his apiaiy 

 contains. If he has more colonies 

 than he cares for, a greatgain is made 

 by shutting all colonies that are not up 

 to the full standard of strength, on 

 one-half of the combs that each hive 

 contains, and when these combs are 

 perfectly filled with brood, unite two 

 of them, by putting combs, bees and 

 all into one hive, leaving the queen of 

 one of them and the few bees which 

 adhere to the sides of the hive, in the 

 other hive, to form a nucleus. If they 

 are given an empty comb, or one hav- 

 ing some honey in it, and an empty 

 frame, you will soon have a two-frame 

 nucleus that will be a source of com- 

 fort. 



The united colony will be ready for 

 the sections at once, and when they 

 swarm, if they do, all you have to do is 

 to shake all the bees off the combs of 

 brood, putting empty frames in their 

 places, or frames of comb foundation ; 

 and carry the brood to the nucleus, 



thus giving you the full working-force 

 on the old stand, and two good colo- 

 nies in the fall. 



The half-depth chambers work very 

 handily in using the foregoing plan, 

 as they can be used singly until the 

 time of uniting, and then one put on 

 top of the other, in uniting. If no one 

 has tried this plan, he will be aston- 

 ished at the results which can be ob- 

 tained. 



All the foregoing is for a locality 

 where white clover, or an early crop of 

 honey is to be worked for. If buck- 

 wheat or fall flowei'S are to give the 

 crop of honey, then the bees will build 

 up in time, of their own accord, and 

 the only thing the apiarist has to look 

 after, is to see that they have plenty 

 of stores at all times. 



G. M. Doolittle. 



Geo. E. Hilton strongly advocated 

 the use of double-walled hives, and the 

 equalization of brood from one hive to 

 another. Some did not think it best 

 to disturb the brood in the spring, 

 while others thought the changing of 

 brood from centre to outside was bene- 

 ficial, but dangerous unless the hive 

 was protected by an outer ease filled 

 with straw, leaves, sawdust, or other 

 material. 



On a vote being taken, a lai'ge ma- 

 jority voted in favor of single-walled 

 hives, with outer ease, packed in the 

 spring. A. I. Root, M. H. Hunt and 

 several others were in favor of chaff- 

 packed hives, the entire year. 



Dr. A. B. Mason was in full accord 

 with Mr. Doolittle, and strongly ad- 

 vocated spring protection. 



W. Z. Hutchinson did not believe it 

 best to disturb the brood at all. 



A. I. Root would caution all novices 

 in spreading brood. He had never, 

 by practical tests, seen any benefit 

 from it. 



M. H. Hunt had seen gi-eat benefit 

 from spreading the brood. 



Prof. Cook asked dift'erent ones, if 

 they were to start an apiary, what kind 

 of hive they would use. 



H. D. Cutting would use a simple, 

 plain Langstroth hive, single wall, with 

 loose bottom-board. 



W. Z. Hutchinson would use the 

 same, but wanted spring protection. 



Dr. A. B. Mason would start with 

 chaff hives, and use them the entire 

 year. 



W. D. Soper had taken nearly all of 

 his bees out of the chaff hives and 

 placed them in the cellar. 



Geo. E. Hilton explained how he 

 placed his bees in clamps ; he had 100 

 colonies so protected. His out apiary 

 had done much better than the home 

 apiary. The pasturage was much bet- 

 ter than the bees had at home. 



