April 5, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



303 



crease the number of their colonies and do not desire I 



to the trouble of making artificial swarms or divisions, but 

 to the man who has enough bees and wl nlj desires in- 

 crease enough to make up for winter losses, swarming is 

 objectionable, for it is usually the hives that would ~roduce 

 the greatest quantity of honey that do swarm, and what we 

 want from our fees is honey, not more 1 ei 



For the above-mentioned reasons, it has been our aim to 

 fit our out-apiaries with the necessary implements for the pro- 

 duction "i extracted honey. We have at each place two sets 

 of supers with full combs for each hive. There are colonies 

 which require only one super, but there are some that n 

 3 and even 4, and an average of -' supers full of combs for 

 each colony is about right. If the season is above average, the 

 Crop is usually protracted enough to enable the honey to 

 ripen before the end, and we extract all that is ripe, to make 

 room for more. 



We keep a few hives ready for swarms, in case some 

 should escape; but in an experience with out-apiaries of more 

 than .1(1 years, we have so few swarms that in many cases it 

 has been found unprofitable to watch for the few that might 

 escape. When colonies get a good start in large supers 

 already filled with combs, and are kept supplied with a suffi- 

 cient amount of empty comb, there is very little propensity 

 to the swarming fever, except in such colonies as may be 

 making preparations for superseding their queen. We have 

 usually secured the increase by rearing queens from our best 

 colonies and building up nuclei containing them into full 

 colonies by supplying them with combs of brood from time 

 to time. 



We never haul the bees back home, unless it is for a radi- 

 cal change from one spot to another. We never haul the 

 combs home to do the extracting, but we do all the manipula- 

 tions on the spot, thus saving time and annoyance in hauling 

 things back and forth. I have seen apiaries where the work 

 was done by taking the full supers home and bringing them 

 back again, but I am satisfied that our method is more prac- 

 tical and expeditious. 



With well-supplied apiaries, less than a dozen trips are 

 needed to do the most important work in an out-apiary: One 

 trip in early spring to investigate the after-winter conditions, 

 and clean out the dead bees; two trips during the spring to 

 look after queenless colonies and feed the needy ones; one 

 trip to put on the supers ; two visits during the harvest to 

 add room or equalize supers ; two trips for extracting ; about 

 three visits more for the late crop, and one for putting the 

 bees in winter quarters. If artificial increase is wanted, it 

 will require probably four additional visits. In very bad 

 seasons, extraordinary circumstances may make more fre- 

 quent visits needed, but in those bad years, no extracting will 

 be done, and some economy of time will be secured thus. 

 though much to the regret of the apiarist. 



This method of management, is. in my experience, the 

 most economical for the keeping of out-apiaries. 



C. P. Dadant. 



There followed a discussion on drawing home combs of 

 honey to extract. Many good bee-keepers advocate hav- 

 ing a central establishment fitted with storage-tanks, power 

 for running the extractor, etc., then haul home the supers 

 to extract, and haul the empty combs back to the yard 

 again. They claim that the trip must be made morning 

 and night anyway, and it is just as well to take a load of 

 empty supers and bring a load of full ones. Then the 

 honey is home without further hauling. Often there are 

 iiitalde buildings at out-yards for extracting. 



Mr. Manley overcomes the honey-house difficulty by 

 setting up stakes and covering with canvas to make a tent. 

 This is a very hot place to work, but it keeps the bees out, 

 and the honev strains well feu- being warm. 



Morley Pettit said he had tried the plan of hauling 

 combs home to extract and found it very objectionable. 

 There is the extra teaming; supers and combs have to be 

 drawn home and back again; the difficulty of keeping rob- 

 ber-bees out of the supers while so many are exposed at 

 once on the wagon; and some bees are sure to lie around 

 making it dangerous to take a team to the wagon. The 

 honey is all cold when it gets home, and must be heated 

 artificially — a slow and expensive process — else extracted 

 and strained cold, which is disagreeable and unsatisfactory, 

 to say the least. All this work has to be done at a time 

 when moments are dollars, and when often even the honey 

 is not wanted at home. 



Most of Mr. Pettit's honey never comes home, but 

 goes direct to the station, probably in an opposite direc- 

 tion. 



E. D. Townsend quite agreed with Mr. Pettit, and 



i .me yard in Northern Michigan where the honey does 

 M(l i even need to be loaded on wagons, but goes direct 

 [ ro m ill,, hom ) house to the car, placed on a convenient 



siding l^r the purpose. 



Quei \ f -., i i in rs Pollen in t HE Sections. 



Almost every one voted to use queen-excluders in the 



production of extracted honey, lor many reasons wi do 

 not want the queen nor the drones in the super-combs. 

 In the production of comb honej they are good to keep 

 pollen out of the sections, but increase the tendency to 

 swarm. 



With reference to pollen in sections, Mr. Aspinwall men- 

 tioned his .Iron,, foundation. Bees very seldom store pol- 

 len in it, and as it is the natural size for storing honey, 

 they seem better satisfied with it in sections than the other. 

 If some drone-comb is allowed in the brood-chamber, the 

 queen almost never goes up to lay in it. 



Performing Bee-Men at Fairs. 



One of the features of the convention was a talk by 

 E. R. Root, on showing bees in a tent at county fairs and 

 other public gatherings, and performing feats in handling 

 them with bare hands and arms, which, to the uninitiated, 

 are on a par with lion-taming and snake-charming. This 

 attracts great crowds, advertises the bee-keeper and his 

 honey, and sells large quantities of honey at the time. Mr. 

 Root said he had this idea from Mr. S. D. House, of New 

 York State. 



Mr. Holtermann complimented Mr. Root as his "grand- 

 son" in this idea, for he had exhibited bees in a tent at the 

 Toronto exhibition 11 years ago, and Mr. House learned 

 it from him. 



A discussion on obtaining better profits on honey fol- 

 lowed. Mr. Aspinwall showed that profits depend largely 

 on decreasing cost of production, by improved hives and 

 machinery. 



.Mr. Soper brought out the disadvantage of offering 

 small packages of honey. 



Mr. Chrysler said, always keep your dealer safe. 

 Never let him lose on your honey, and he will feel safe to 

 buy from you at any time. 



The main point in the sale of honey is to produce and 

 market a good quality of honey. Show dealers that you 

 have perfect confidence in your honey and so inspire their 

 confidence. 



The following paper was read by E. D. Townsend: 



FEEDING BACK TO GET PARTLY-FILLED SECTIONS 

 COMPLETED, AT CLOSE OF MONEY SEASON 



In discussing the subject of feeding back to get all of the 

 part-full sections in a good, marketable shape, we have a sub- 

 ject of verv great importance, for with the Barber, as the 

 comb and extracted honey from the same super plans, as with 

 any system known, even if we try to get the last super of the 

 season in the extracted form, we still have the season to con- 

 tend with, for next season may be only half as long as last, 

 and there you are, with sections in all stages of completion, 

 and the only alternative is to feed up these half-full sections 

 for the market, and the object of this paper is to tell the 

 members of this convention how to do it in a satisfactory 

 manner. 



Now, I am going to tell you what all practical comb 

 honey producers know, as by this way I can better illustrate 

 the main point. It is this : 



As the honey season begins to draw to a close, usually, 

 with a gradual falling off of the honey-flow, the bees begin 

 to cap the sections a little thinner each day, until S or 6 days 

 after the flow fails, when the capping will cease entirely for 

 want of honev to work with. Now, at this point, we mo 

 the sections from the hives, no matter in what stage oi 

 pletion they are. Thcv are all liken to the honey-house and 

 those that are in marketable shape are cased up, and all the 

 part-full sections are put back into the supers to be fed for 

 completion, selecting sections that are as near alike as 

 ble for each super; that is, the fullest sections are put in one 

 super, then the medium in the next, then those with only a 

 little honev in. in another. The object of selecting section, 

 that are in the same stage oi completion is so each super 

 will be finished in a more uniform manner. 



I told you above, as tin draws to a close, sections 



were capped over thinner and thinner until a few days after 

 the season closes, then capping ceases entirely. While the 

 sections finished during the main flow might weigh 15 to I0/2 

 ounces, these later ones likely would not weigh over 11 to \l 

 ounces; while the 15-ounce section will have the regular bee- 



