PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE W T FALCONER MANFG CO 



VOL. II. 



fVUGUST, 1892. 



NO. 8. 



Successful Bee-Keeping. 



BY .INO. F. KATES. 



We should commence in midsum- 

 mer to prepare our bees for the next 

 year's harvest. Those who work for 

 fall honey to sell, do so at the expense 

 of June honey the next season. Fall 

 honey is always good to 'winter bees 

 on, but is poor honey to sell, and. our 

 markets would be better, and our bees 

 stronger, if we would allow our bees 

 to keep their dark honey. Why sell 

 fall honey when the bees will need it 

 the next spring? Without it you will 

 have to feed them in the spring to 

 make it up ; and even then perhaps 

 some will starve. Why be. so sparing 

 of bee stores as to always to be just 

 enough behind not to be able to have 

 your dish right side up when the honey 

 flow begins, and then charge your 

 failure to a bad season? It is the 

 thorough workman that always gets 

 over hard places. He is not always 

 dependent on exact conditions in or- 

 der to obtain success, but by good 

 judgment often succeeds where others 

 fail. We can hope for good seasons, 

 but should always be prepared for a 

 poor one ; and by this preparation 

 we will always be on the safe side. 

 How then can we obtain honey in 



poor seasons? Simply by keeping 

 more bees than our hives will hold. 

 And reason shows that the honey case 

 must hold what the hive can't ; and 

 then when a few honey days come 

 they are ready ; and the result is we 

 obtain a case of honey from each hive, 

 during that flow. Then we should 

 see that we are ready for the next 

 flow. Flowers don't secrete honey 

 continually, even in our best seasons. 

 There should be no colonies iu an 

 apiary to tinker. Don't waste your 

 time that way. We should pet no 

 colony, hoping it may do something 

 before the season is over. I want my 

 bees to do something now ; and if 

 one alone wont, then four united in 

 one will. With strong colonies I have 

 obtained good results, while my 

 neighbors called it a bad season. My 

 location is what I call only medium 

 for honey ; but the place or the sea- 

 son is not the thing. It's keeping in 

 shape to catch those few honey days 

 that makes a good season out of a 

 poor one. The majority of us can get 

 honey in good season, but we should 

 study to get honey in poor seasons. 

 Twenty years ago eminent bee-keep- 

 ers told us many things in their 

 books that we read, but understood 



