504 



THE; aBdSMiesif mmw jQvwrmmjL. 



wrote me in a very gentlemanly man- 

 ner — made out the bill, advised rae 

 what books to get, and the periodicals 

 to take. I sent him the 110.00. and 

 never added a dime apiece for the 

 questions ! Well, the more I read, and 

 the more I saw, the more I wanted, 

 until I sent him over 120.00 before the 

 first season was fairl}- under way. 



Now in my case, I never could have 

 gotten started rightly if I had met witli 

 a "cranky" supply dealer. So, gentle- 

 men, have patience with beginners, 

 even though you employ an extra clerk 

 and charge for it in the bills. Our 

 bee-keepers have not all attended bus- 

 iness colleges, but were kept behind, 

 perhaps, by stern duties that will crip- 

 ple them all their lives. So, be patient 

 with us all — it will pay you best to do 

 so, in the long run. 



Centre Chain, Minn. 



COMB HONEY. 



The Proper manasement for 

 Its Prodiiclion. 



Read at the Ontario Convention 



BY F. A. GEMMILL. 



In preparing an article on the pro- 

 duction of comb honej', I certainly feel 

 my inability to do full justice to this in- 

 teresting part of apiculture. I trust, 

 therefore, you will overlook any ap- 

 parent attempt on my part at posing 

 as an authority on the same ; especially 

 as this essay is intended for the ama- 

 teur rather than the expert. 



I may as well state right here, that 

 much of my information has been re- 

 ceived from the perusal of the various 

 bee-periodicals, the attendance at con- 

 ventions, and from conversation, with 

 friendly bee-keepers, all of which is of 

 great benefit to those engaged in the 

 production of honey in any shape 

 whatever. I wish, too, while on the 

 subject of conventions, to mention that 

 I never yet attended one, but that I 

 was more than repaid in dollars and 

 cents aside from the pleasure afforded 

 from meeting other bee-keepers. 



While much depends on the style of 

 hive used, still too much stress can be 

 laid upon this point, as more actuall}- 

 depends on the character and duration 

 of the honey-flow, the mode or system 

 carried on by the operator, aud his 

 love for producing this particular kind 

 of nature's sweets in the best market- 

 able shape. All hives and supers 

 should, however, be of the same out- 

 side dimensions, in order to permit 

 thorough tiering, one above the other, 

 and all painted alike in color if pos- 

 sible. Again I am painfully aware 

 that but a short distance in location 

 makes a very great difference in man- 



agement, so that one must be thor- 

 oughly posted as to his immediate 

 vicinity regarding flora, etc. 



I will now proceed with the result of 

 my experience, combined with the in- 

 formation received as already stated, 

 and it may surprise some to learn that 

 the method actually commences with 

 the successful wintering and spi'inging 

 of the bees themselves, as very good, 

 strong colonies having prolific young 

 queens are what is required for this 

 purpose. Weak colonies are only a 

 vexation, and should be doubled up at 

 the commencement of the honey-flow 

 proper, or assisted with hatching brood 

 taken from the colonies jthat have just 

 swarmed. When little or no increase 

 is desired, this system will prove very 

 satisfactory. The time for placing on 

 supers is generally when th'e bees be- 

 gin to whiten the tops of the brood with 

 new wax ; instead, however, of giving 

 them a case of prepared sections, I 

 prefer adding a half story of drawn 

 comb above a queen-excluding honey- 

 board, and the giving of such a super 

 is preferable for the following reasons: 



1. The bees are less inclined to 

 swarm, as they enter it more readily, 

 thus relieving the pressure on the 

 brood-chamber by the depositing there- 

 in of honey from below, or that newly- 

 gathered from the fields. 



2. The centre sections are generally 

 occupied first, especially if the honey 

 comes in slowly, and consequently 

 these sections are first filled and 

 sealed, becoming travel stained by the 

 bees before any of the outer ones are 

 ready for the additional room, thus 

 affecting the snow-white appearance 

 which all comb honey should possess 

 if possible. 



3. I have not been able to dispense 

 with the use of separators when giving 

 a case of sections before the super of 

 drawn combs referred to, as the cen- 

 ter sections are often bulged (for the 

 reasons given in No. 2) to such an ex- 

 tent as to render crating them a great 

 inconvenience. I have little or no 

 trouble, however, in this line, provided 

 the supers are well tilled with bees 

 througliout, and the honey is coming 

 in rapidly. 



4. As soon as the half story is about 

 two-thirds full of honey, and capping 

 has commenced, it is then raised up 

 and a full case of sections containing 

 either starters or full sheets of thin 

 foundation is inserted between it aud 

 the brood-chamber. 



5. With me the first honey deposited 

 in the surplus department is not as 

 nice in color or flavor as that gathered 

 after the flow is thoroughly established, 

 therefore as soon as the bees are nicely 

 at work in the sections below, it can 

 be removed, the honey extracted as a 

 second-class article, and again re- 



placed on another colony to be filled 

 with a first-class article of extracted 

 honey. 



TREATMENT OF SWARMS. 



Swarming is generally expected 

 about this time, and as I practice the 

 cutting of the queen's wings, for rea- 

 sons too numerous to mention at pres- 

 ent, the swarm is treated as follows, 

 viz : 



As soon as it commences to issue, 

 the hive is approached and the queen 

 secured in a small wire-cloth cage, and 

 while the swarm is still in the air, the 

 parent colony is removed and a new 

 hive is substituted, containing five 

 Langstroth frames, or their equivalent, 

 filled with foundation, the balance of 

 the hive being filled with dummies or 

 division-boards, or a still shallower 

 brood-chamber may be used, contain- 

 ing starters only, and the bees allowed 

 to build their own combs. As soon as 

 the swarm returns, and about one- 

 third of the bees have entered the hive, 

 the queen is liberated, and allowed to 

 run in with them. The surplus ar- 

 rangement is now removed from the 

 old colony and replaced over the new 

 one, having a queen-excluding honey- 

 board as before, when honey-storing 

 goes on apace as though no swarming 

 had taken place. If little or no in- 

 crease is desired, the bees are all 

 shaken from the combs of the parent 

 colony in front of the new hive, and 

 the brood placed above the queen- 

 excluding honey-board, on other colo- 

 nies that have not yet swarmed, and 

 as fast as the brood hatches from them 

 they are filled with honey for replac- 

 ing in the brood-chamber proper, in 

 the event of any being short of winter 

 supplies. 



If. however, increase is desired, the 

 old colony may be left intact — in other 

 words, the bees are not to be shaken 

 from its combs, but allowed to remain 

 alongside the new one, its entrance 

 being turned away at an angle of 45 

 degrees, and gradually moved close to 

 the new one so that at the seventh or 

 eighth day the two hives are side by 

 side. Now, at mid-day, when most of 

 the bees are flying, the old colony is 

 removed to a new location in the 

 apiary, thus depriving it of nearly all 

 the field-bees, which go to replenish 

 the new swarm, aud at the same time 

 depopulating the old one to such an 

 extent that no further swarming may 

 be expected. This latter plan is 

 termed the Heddon method of pre- 

 venting after-swarms, and has proved 

 a success with me in every instance 

 when properly carried out. 



Additional secttion-cases are given 

 from time to time as required, care 

 being taken, of course, that too much 

 room is not given, aud as a result a 



