76 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



adapted to set hens in than to keep 

 bees in, then by all means you better 

 buy your hives. Then, in the event of 

 your w^anting- to sell out, you can do so 

 at a good price; otherwise, your outfit 

 w^ouldn't be w^orth anj' more than box- 

 hives to the averag-e bee-keeper. 



I would advise making- just as little 

 increase as possible, then you will 

 secure the greatest amount of honey 

 possible, and this will bring- you the 

 money. Remember, if you never make 

 much increase, you will never have 

 much decrease. There may be in your 

 field a hundred colonies of bees that 

 you want, and need, and they may be 

 better worth to you $600, or even 1800, 

 (tog-ether with this location) than an- 

 other hundred brought in from the out- 

 side at $400. 



WHEN TO PRODUCE COMB HONEY — 

 WHEN EXTRACTED. 



As to whether you shall produce 

 comb or extracted honey, I will say, 

 study your resources first; and if you 

 have a long honey flow of white honey, 

 then produce comb honej'; but if you 

 have a short flow of either white or 

 amber honey, then produce extracted. 

 You may have a location where there 

 is a long honey flow, the first half 

 being white honey, and the latter half 

 amber honey, in this case I would 

 advise the production of extracted 

 honey, taking great care to produce a 

 well-ripened article of white honey for 

 table use, selling the dark or amber 

 honey to the manufacturers, as they 

 prefer a dark and strong flavored 

 article. 



CONTROL SWARMING BY "SHAKING" — 

 UNITING THE BROOD. 



Answering the question of how 

 swarming is to be controlled, I will 

 sa3^ that with me, where the weather is 

 such that I can work avery day, where 

 I meet my appointments with nearly 

 the same accurac3' as a railroad can 

 run its trains on schedule time, I 

 much prefer to handle swarming by 



the shook-swarming method. The 

 modia; operandi of which cannot be 

 given here, but I will make a sugges- 

 tion that I think will be found profit- 

 able in practice. When swarms have 

 been shook out, and brood carried to 

 a new location, always put two hives 

 of brood together, either close beside 

 each other or one on top of the other, 

 give one a ripe cell or a laying queen, 

 then, in 18 or .20 daj's (or sooner if you 

 need the hive) shake the other right in 

 with the one having the queen, and 

 watch the results. I had such colonies 

 store 100 pounds comb honey in Aug- 

 ust this season. 



If engaged in the production of comb 

 honey, it all must be brought to the 

 central station, which, of course, is the 

 shipping point, and where all sections 

 are put up during the winter, and, as 

 all supers are needed there, it is not 

 necessary to have any tents nor build- 

 ings at the out-apiaries; a good tight 

 wagon bpx and a large wagon sheet 

 being all the honey house necessary. 



All help should be paid wages; ex- 

 pert help wages according to the 

 value. 



In regard to carting bees home to 

 winter, I will say, from my own view 

 point, if I intended keeping bees in 

 large numbers, when I got them on the 

 cart, I would cart them to where they 

 would winter out of doors, and I 

 would not cart them back in the 

 spring. 



LAZINESS THE GREATEST OBSTACLE TO 

 SUCCESS. 



You ask what is the greatest obstacle 

 to overcome in keeping bees in large 

 numbers, I will answer by simply say- 

 ing indisposition to work. I know now 

 that the large honey producer has a 

 much easier task in disposing of his 

 crop than does the small producer, and 

 the greatest help to any one starting on 

 a large scale is to adopt a complete uni- 

 formity of fixtures. 



In recapitulation I wnll say, be sure 

 you love the work if you intend to keep 



