THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



147 



[For tho American Bee Journal.] 



Scarcity of Honey, With national Bee-Culture (Apiculture.) 



Some centuries ago, the Old World was visited from time to time with devastating famine. 

 In la'ge districts of country sometimes half the population died from starvation. Then Progress 

 came, and with her came "Bright improvement on the car of Time;" Science became the hand- 

 maid of practical agriculture; death from starvation was relegated to less civilized countries. 



It will be the same with the bees. A few days of good harvestgbeing sufficient to enable my 

 populous colonies to fill their hives with honey, the whole secret lies in having strong stocks in 

 readiness to secure the harvest which those few days offer. 



The article of Novice, in the December number of the Bee Journal, page 113, is a fair illus- 

 tration of these allegations, and the parallel below is another : 



Rational Bee-culture. 



As soon as my colonies were taken out of 

 winter quarters, I gave them plenty of rye- 

 flour, and opened the hives frequently in order 

 to equalize all the colonies. 



In April all my hives were filled with worker 

 brood. I raised very few drones, as I allow 

 scarcely any drone cells to remain in my hives. 



Bees Self-managed. 



During the winter and spring the forty bee- 

 keepers within two miles around my apiary, let 

 their hives remain on their stands, without inter- 

 fering with the work of the bees. 



The last year's honey, in large part consumed 

 in the cold days of winter, was soon used up in 

 rearing workers, together with a great number 

 of drones. 



The weather being very wet from April till the 

 10th of June, the bees killed their drones, then 

 already full grown, and the queens stopped lay- 

 ing almost entirely. The apple blossoms yielded 

 no honey. The white clover ceased blossoming 

 on the 20th of May — three weeks earlier than 

 in previous years ; and by the 10th of June 

 more than half the blossoms were already 

 withered. 



From the 10th to the 30th of June, the queens 

 resumed laying ; but the flying of the bees on 

 rainy days had reduced the population of the 

 hives, and the brood consumed the honey as 

 soon as gathered. 



On the 1st of July the hives were filled with 

 brood, and young but not yet full-grown bees ; 

 and as the honey afterwards became very scarce, 

 they mostly starved or remained weak from 

 want of sufficient nutriment. 



From the 5th of July the queens stopped lay- 

 ing. The linden trees had blossomed three weeks 

 sooner than usual. Some hives swarmed very 

 late, but the swarms and the parent stocks re- 

 mained weak till winter. 



By the 10th of August the colonies were again 

 too weak for gathering honey from the summer 

 flowers, such as hemp, coral berries, &c, and 

 the fall flowers, buckwheat, &c. The queens 

 resumed laying; but, as in the spring, nearly all 

 the honey gathered was consumed by the brood 

 as rapidly as it was collected. 



On the 16th of September, brood and young 

 bees were plenty, but the flowers were gone. 

 The latter half of September, and the whole of 

 October, having been very cold, the asters and 

 all other fall flowers were cut short. 



Result. 



No swarms ! No surplus honey ! 



Bees starving in winter ! 



Poor Season for Bees. 



In April, the honey preserved in my hives by 

 underground wintering, was consumed in se- 

 curing brood. I gave to all my colonies, every 

 two or three days, in bad weather, several table- 

 spoonfuls of syrup to maintain the laying of the 

 queen. On the 10th of Juue, the bees had no 

 capped nor newly gathered honey in their hives. 

 I had to feed syrup to all my newly made 

 swarms to keep them from starving. 



From the 10th of June the remaining white 

 clover gave plenty of honey; but for ten days it 

 was so thin that it seemed to be very slightly 

 sugared water. This continued till the 5th of 

 July, my hives overflowing with working bees. 



On the first clays of July, all the cells unoccu- 

 pied by brood were filled with honey. I emp- 

 tied two or three frames ("18 inches by 11) from 

 all my hives. The bees had worked very little 

 in surplus honey boxes. 



As soon as the linden blossoms were gone, I 

 opened my hives frequently, to remove frames 

 for my swarms, as I had taken three swarms 

 from every two old colonies. I gave them some 

 sugar water till the 20th of July. 



On the 10th of August the young bees were at 

 work on the summer flowers, and later on the 

 buckwheat; and filling three hives, they stopped 

 breeding. By the 1st of September some of my 

 hives were so filled with honey that the queen 

 had no place for laying. I emptied two or three 

 full frames from every hive. In three days these 

 frames were filled again, and again emptied. 



On the 16th of September the frost killed all 

 the flowers; but my hives being too full of honey 

 to_ winter safely, I had to exchange full frames 

 with empty ones from my small swarms— thus 

 equalizing them for the winter. 



Result. 

 One and a half swarms and sixty pounds sur- 

 plus honey from every hive. 



Good Season for Bees. 



Moral. 



I advise all bee-keepers to subscribe for the Bee Journal, and to get the volumes for the three 

 preceding years. The precepts contained in that collection, if rationally practiced, will con- 

 vince every one that honey is more abundant than good apiculiurists are. 



Hamilton, III., December 10, 1868. Ch. Dadant. 



