1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



2-21 



to be gathered before we can finally 

 " tot " up our figures as to the results 

 of 1896, For those who have honey- 

 ready to take, ray advice is, do not 

 remove it from the hive till wanted. 

 Honey keeps better on the hive than 

 indoors. In fact, I think it improves 

 by exposure to the warmth of the 

 bees, and will ripen in such a position 

 far better than it will olf . In most 

 districts there is something still to be 

 had, and until honey begins to fail 

 bees will not carry the contents of 

 supers below. Be careful, too, that 

 the bees have not too much room at 

 this season. Excepting in late dis- 

 tricts, all supers not yet taken off 

 should be removed, allowing the bees 

 only room enough to complete their 

 unfinished work. If the honey flow 

 holds out longer than expected, and 

 more storage-room is really needed, 

 drawn out combs should onh'' be given 

 at thisseason. The end may come 

 any day, and half-finished combs are 

 not desirable, in so far as it takes hon- 

 ey to build them, and so lessons our 

 present harvest. The great aim now 

 should be to get our supers, whether 

 sections or small frames, as sealed over 

 and as ripe as possible. When this 

 condition is reached the combs may be 

 removed in order to crowd the bees on 

 the imperfectly finished ones, and so 

 be induced to finish them. If, howev- 

 er, the bees are very strong, surplus 

 chambers may be left until finished. 

 Bear in mind that stocks will not now 

 grow stronger, but rather in the other 

 direction. Swarming is practically 

 over with the end of June, and so the 

 anxiety about loss of swarms has now 

 passed away. The removal of honey 

 in bulk is a much more pleasurable 

 operation now than formerly. With a 



good " Porter " bee escape to slip on 

 between the racks and body-box, and 

 the thing is done. 



I now come to the " Then " which 

 appears at the head of this chapter, 

 for it involves the (question of the fu- 

 ture of our stocks. Thus, no sooner 

 has one season ended than another 

 practically begins. We must be cer- 

 tain (1) that our bees shall have suffi- 

 cient stores to last them well into the 

 following year, or we must feed liber- 

 ally. (2) As to the " mother-bee," the 

 beee keeper must ask himself — Is she 

 qualified to run the colony successful- 

 ly another year ? (3) Have our bees 

 been entirely satisfactory, and given 

 us the best results attainable ? If not, 

 " why not " must be disposed of ; these 

 and many other minor points should 

 now have attention. 



Increasing Stocks. — There are 

 some who, having secured their honey 

 crop, are still unsatisfied, and find 

 themselves possessed of a great anxie- 

 ty to increase their stocks, but we must 

 be steady on this point. July is here, 

 and operations on this line possible in 

 ]\Iay, would mean utter failure in the 

 present mouth. If increase of stocks, 

 then, is desired, it can only be done 

 by division, and for this there is not a 

 day to lose, especially if young queens 

 are to be reared, mated, and laying, 

 so as to produce a stock able to stand 

 the coming winter, the following 

 spring, and to give a profitable account 

 of themselves next summer. Do not, 

 under any circumstances, divide the 

 strongest stocks into more than two 

 colonies. Rather make two strong lots 

 into three ; it is far safer now. 



Re-QUEENING. — The re-queening of 

 hives should also have attention where 

 it is known that the queeu is past her 



