182 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



who have been too^busy to requeen 

 their apiaries by superseding the old 

 and worthless ones should attend 

 to it now ; as the young queens are 

 easily reared and will be in fine 

 shape to commence work early next 

 season, and if you rear them at 

 once they will help build up the col- 

 onies before winter arrives. 



You will find directions for rear- 

 ing them, in any of the standard 

 works on apiculture, but Alley's 

 Handy Book gives the simplest and 

 best instructions regarding this 

 special branch. 



As Mr. L. C. Root states in this 

 number, " good queens are essen- 

 tial to the well being of the apiary ;" 

 and we would strongly advise our 

 readers to rear a few for themselves 

 and then compare them with the 

 average dollar queens. 



If you have some choice drones 

 to keep, watch them carefully ; or 

 vrhen the first chilly spell or honey 

 dearth conies they will all be mas- 

 sacred. Give them to a queenless 

 colony and they will be all right. 



When you begin to crate up 

 3'our honey, grade it very carefully 

 and do not put a lot of poor honey 

 in the centre of the crates and put 

 the nice honey at the outside. 

 Make two grades and it will pay 

 you better and you will feel better 

 about it. 



There are those who try to con- 

 trol swarming until after the main 

 honey harvest and then divide the 

 colonies artificially. Now, if your 

 hives are arranged so that you can 

 winter two colonies in each hive 

 and on the summer stands (as we 

 always should), it is a good time 

 to add empty combs or foundation 

 and build up the colonies, giving 

 the bees an entrance at opposite 

 sides of the hives. Then, when 

 3^ou have some young laying queens 

 you can put a division-board in 

 the centre of each brood-nest and 

 give a queen to each queenless half. 

 We will speak more about these 



colonies and their management 

 later on. 



Remember that all work in and 

 about the apiary should be done 

 promptly and systematically. 



If 3'ou want the best prices (both 

 at lunne and abroad) for your 

 honey put it up in neat crates and 

 packages. It does not cost nmch 

 more to do this and the results will 

 show that it pays. 



Do not be in too great a hurry to 

 ship your honey ; hold it for a while 

 as there does not seem to be an 

 overplus of thisyear's crop on hand. 

 Try first and see how much you can 

 sell at home as 3'ou will realize the 

 most profit on that. 



Remember that as the hone}' flow 

 begins to slacken, the bees grow 

 more irritable, and hence must be 

 handled more gently ; also lookout 

 for robber bees, and do not leave any 

 honey around the apiar}'. Do not 

 get the brood spread out so that 

 the bees will leave it to chill when 

 the nights are cool, and try if possi- 

 ble not to allow your bees to fill up 

 the combs with fall honej^ for win- 

 ter stores. 



Some of these hints might be 

 better later on, but perhaps it will 

 be better to speak of them early, 

 and then those who are just begin- 

 ning will be prepared for what may 

 come. 



Do not forget that it is very in- 

 jurious to disturb bees too much 

 late in the fall. It is much better 

 to begin preparations early and 

 then ^ let them alone." 



It is a good time during the lat- 

 ter part of this month and next to 

 unite our weak colonies. This 

 can be done even in our northern 

 climate much later, but we do not 

 alwaj's consider it advisable. Of 

 course, those who have large apia- 

 ries will have their S3''stem of oper- 

 ations established, but these notes 

 may benefit some of our younger 

 readers. If you have any queens 

 whose colonies seem to be lazy or 



