364 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



accompany them, in person, to their 

 destination. 



SECURING SURPLUS COMBS AND HONEY. 



As soon as the honej' flow opens in 

 earnest, and the hives are full of bees, 

 brood and honej', I expect to put an 

 upper storj' on each colon}-, raising up 

 half the roinbs from below, and alter- 

 nating- the combs in both stories with 

 full sheets of foundation. You must 

 remember that I have no surplus of 

 drawn combs, and that one of the steps 

 for another year will be that of secur- 

 ing the building of surplus combs. 

 When the sheets of foundation are 

 drawn out and filled with honey and 

 brood, and the colonies and honej'flow 

 are in a condition to justify the addi- 

 tion of another story, it will be added, 

 some of the combs being raised from 

 lower stories to alternate with the 

 foundation. This plan will be fol- 

 lowed until the season is over, let the 

 added upper stories be one or half a 

 dozen. When the season is over, the 

 surplus honey will be extracted, leav- 

 ing each colony' one body and one set 

 of 10 combs. 



Until I am satisfied that an apiary 

 will remain permanently in some par- 

 ticular location, it is likely that the 

 bees will be wintered in clamps. 

 When I decide upon a permanent loca- 

 tion, a cellar and honey house will be 

 built. Previous to that, it is quite 

 likely that I shall use a portable 

 honey-house, one that can be taken 

 apart and moved. 



ONLY FIVE VISITS A YEAR ! 



I also have plans as to how I shall 

 make increase and establish other 

 apiaries after the first one is started, 

 but this article is already stringing 



out to an unpardonable length, so I 

 will close by saying that I wish to 

 develop a system whereby I can man- 

 age apiaries for extracted honey by vis- 

 iting them from four to six times in the 

 course of a year. Go in the spring 

 and dig them out of the clamps, or take 

 them out of the cellar, and protect them 

 with tarred paper (if it proves advan- 

 tageous); go at the beginning of the 

 main flow and put on two upper stories 

 of empty combs (shall I use a queen 

 excluder ?) go when the flow has been 

 on two or three weeks. This visit 

 might not be necessary were it not that 

 some colonies will far out-strip others, 

 and may need more surplus room, 

 whileothers have not made much head- 

 way in the supers. This visit will be 

 for the sake of equalizing matters; giv- 

 ing more room where needed, and, 

 possibl}', reducing the room on others. 

 At this visit it is quite likely that the 

 increase will be made, queens that 

 have been reared in the home-apiary 

 being carried to give the new colonies. 

 The next visit will be after the 

 season is over, and will be made to 

 extract the honey. The fifth and last 

 visit will be to bury the bees or put 

 them in the cellar. Actual practice 

 may change some of these plans, but 

 this is as nearly as I can outline them 

 in advance. Now then, I wish the help 

 of my readers. Remember, if you see 

 that I am making a mistake somewhere, 

 it is not going to hurt me a particle to 

 have it pointed out. That is what I 

 desire, above all things. In retnrn I 

 will tell you, as the plan unfolds, ex- 

 actly how it turns out, even if, in the 

 telling, I am forced to acknowledge 

 that some of my cherished schemes 

 have come to naught. 



Flint, Mich., Nov. 24, 1905. 



