THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



147 



For the American Apimlturist. 



METHOD NUMBER FOUR. 



Dr. C. C. Miller. 



PLENTY OF BEES AND PLENTY OF 



PASTURAGE, THE TWO REQUISITES 



OF SUCCESS. 



To tell all I know about the pro- 

 duction of comb honey would 

 make a fair-sized book. To add 

 to it all I don't know, but would 

 like to know, would make it 

 much larger. So I can only- 

 touch upon some of the points 

 here. The first two requisites are 

 plenty of pasturage and plenty of 

 bees. 



I doubt if there are many local- 

 ities where as large an average per 

 colony can be had from one hun- 

 dred as from twenty-five colonies. 

 The largest number that can be 

 ke|)t in one apiary for the greatest 

 profit depends upon circumstances, 

 but is not likely to be much over 

 one hundred. 



In my own locality' about the 

 only source to which I look for sur- 

 plus is white clover, so the great 

 point is to have colonies strong- 

 enough at the opening of the clo- 

 ver harvest. In striving to secure 

 this, whether it pays to meddle 

 much with the brood-nest, I am not 

 prepared to say. To spread combs 

 of brood and insert between tliem 

 empty combs, or combs of hone3% 

 may, in many cases, lead to disas- 

 ter. If one of the outer combs of 

 the brood-nest have the side of the 

 comb toward the centre of the 

 brood-nest well filled with brood, 

 and the outer side containing lit- 

 tle, it may hasten its being filled 

 to reverse its position, 'providing 

 there are plenty of bees to cover 

 it well. Or, sometimes, the brood- 

 nest in a Langstroth hive may be 

 toward one end, and by reversino- 

 the central comb of the brood-nest 

 we may force the bees to work 

 the full length of the frame, always 



providing we do not chill brood 

 by it. 



In the majority of cases, how- 

 ever, if bees have abundance of 

 honey, I believe the queen will lay 

 about as fast, in spring, as the bees 

 can care for the brood, and I think 

 I prefer to have this abundance of 

 stores left in the hive from the 

 previous August. Of course, if I 

 depended on a fall crop of honey 

 the case might be different. 



I would rather be too early than 

 too late in putting on supers, and 

 so I begin to put supers on the 

 strong colonies before the bees be- 

 gin to work very mucfi on clover, 



I have lately used the T surplus 

 holding twenty-four one-pound sec- 

 tions each, and in the first super I 

 put on each hive I generally put a 

 section containing, or which has 

 contained, some honey. The bees 

 are quite prompt to occupy this 

 section, and although they may 

 entirely empty it, they will be 

 pretty sure to re-fill it at once. A 

 few sections partly filled are easily 

 kept over from the previous sea- 

 son, and after the first two or three 

 colonies have fairly commenced on 

 nearly all the sections in their su- 

 pers, these sections may be taken, 

 bees and all, to be put, one each, 

 in the supers of colonies commenc- 

 ing later. This matter of urging 

 the bees to commence work iirthe 

 supers as early as possible, I con- 

 sider of importance. There seems 

 to be something in getting bees 

 into the habit of storing in supers. 



The time for putting on the sec- 

 ond super depends somewhat on 

 circumstances. If the colony is 

 strong, and there are plenty of 

 bees to fill two supers, I do not see 

 why they may not have a second 

 super as soon as the first is one- 

 fourth filled. 



On the other hand, if a colony 

 is so weak that it can only fill "a 

 twenty-four-pound super dui-ing 

 the whole season it would be a 



