34 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



February 



days, hence it will be seen that the 

 queen can place two and one- seventh 

 generations of bees on the stage of ac- 

 tion, to where one generation dies off. 

 Two and one-seventh times 75,000 

 equal 160,700, as the number of bees 

 in the hive during the basswood yield. 

 It was a sight worth beholding when 

 they were just starting for the field in 

 the morning, for they would rush out 

 like an army, and then, later, the en- 

 trance would be a' living mass going 

 to and fro. From clover, they gave 

 186 pounds ; from basswood 287| 

 pounds, and from buckwheat, 76 

 pounds, making 566 in all. Now, 

 supposing that instead of securing 

 this large amount of bees in one hive, 

 I had not worked them at all, but had 

 left the bees to take care of them- 

 selves, as the most of the doubting 

 ones do leave their bees, what would 

 I have had ? The queen would have 

 only laid moderately, so that by the 

 time white clover had begun to yield 

 honey they would have had only 

 about from 25,000 to 30,000 bees. At 

 about this time the bees would have 

 swarmed, thus dividing their number, 

 while there would have been no lay- 

 ing queen in the old hive to lay eggs 

 for the basswood and buckwheat 

 workers, for nearly or quite three 

 weeks. Besides this there would in 

 all probability have issued one or more 

 after-swarms, this dividing the bees 

 still more, thereby defeating the pros- 

 pect of any honey at all from the old 

 colony, so that were we to call 20,000 

 bees an ordinary colony as kept by 

 the majority of bee-keepers we would 

 not be far Jout of the way. This 

 would give but about 71 pounds per 

 colony, had that colony of bees been 

 divided up in this way, so that in 



reality that big yield when brought 

 down in this way to its proportion, 

 according to the number of bees, there 

 were in the hive, is nothing very 

 great after all ; for no one would call 

 71 pounds of extracted honey per col- 

 ony, in a good season, an exaggerated 

 report. How long will it take would 

 be bee-keepers to understand, that it 

 is bees that gather honey, not the 

 number of hives that they have stand- 

 ing in the yard. A large colony of 

 bees will do more than will a small 

 one, in proportion, for the outside 

 elements do not have that chilling 

 effect on the hive' of a populous col- 

 ony that they do on a hive with a few 

 bees in it. Thus more bees go to the 

 field, and all work to better advantage. 

 For years it has been forced upon me 

 more and more that the main secret 

 in securing a large yield of honey, is 

 to get plenty of bees, just at the right 

 time to take advantage of the honey 

 harvest. If these bees are brought 

 on the stage of action too early, they 

 are of little use, and if too late, they 

 only become consumers instead of 

 producers. Sensible people hire lab- 

 orers just when they have labor to be 

 preformed ; not before, and not after- 

 ward, and why should we not be as 

 sensible in regard to the producing of 

 the bee laborer ? If a^ person under- 

 stands their location and secures their 

 bees as above, they will have no cause 

 to complain of their yield of honey, if 

 the season is such and they have flow- 

 ers to secrete nectar. On this one 

 thing of securing bees in time for the 

 harvest, more than on any other one 

 thing, depends our yield of honey, 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



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