AMERICAN BEE JODENAL 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



AT TAVO DOLLARS PEU ANNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



Vol. VI. 



JULY, IST^O. 



No. 1. 



[TransLated for the AmericaB Bee Journal.! 



Practical Bee Culture. 



HOW CAN WE SECUKE THE LARGEST YIELD OP 

 HONEY ? 



This is nnqnestionably one of the chief prob- 

 lems in bee-culture, well deserving to be fre- 

 quently considered and thoroughly investigated. 

 I do not, however, propose to discuss it here in 

 its fullest scope, but only so far as a special case 

 is involved ; and would therefore limit the ques- 

 tion more definitely by putting it in this form — 

 " How can we secure the largest yield of honey 

 from a colony prepared and inclined to swarm, 

 when in a movable comb hive, and with a pros- 

 pect of plentiful pasturage ?" The range of in- 

 quiry becomes thus very considerably restricted ; 

 yet, properly viewed, it retains sufficient impor- 

 tance to challenge thorough discussion, and in- 

 terest enough to engage attention and invite 

 reflection. To a knowledge of the facts and 

 principles which I shall adduce in illustration of 

 this topic, I have attained only very gradually, 

 as the result of numerous experiments ; and I 

 communicate them now, as acquired from actual 

 practice in the apiary. As I do not belong to 

 that narrow-minded class of bee-keej^ers who 

 confine to their own breasts whatever observa- 

 tions and discoveries of general importance and 

 value they chance to make in the course of their 

 experience, using them only for their own exclu- 

 sive benefit, it affords me gratification to com- 

 municate imreservedly my views in elucidation 

 of the question before us. 



To enable a colony generally, or when an 

 abundance of forage is suddenly presented, to 

 store up a large quantity of honey, two prereq- 

 uisites are indispensable. In the first place, the 

 colony must be populous ; and, secondly, it must 

 be in a condition to husband its gatherings. 



I regard a colony as populous when it can 

 properly cover ten or twelve full-built frames in 

 a movable comb-hive ; and such a colony is in 

 a condition to lay up stores, first, if it has no 

 occasion to build combs, and, secondly, if at the 

 time when pasturage is most plentiful, it has not 

 an excessive amount of brood to nurse. Comb- 

 building makes larger demands for material — 

 honey, and likewise exacts much time and 

 labor. We frequently hear bee-keepers say, on 



such occasions— "Oh, the bees will build just 

 as rapidly as they can gather honey." This 

 is equivalent to saying — ' ' when flowers yield 

 honey, the bees instinctively know that vessels 

 must be provided to contain it!" This, how- 

 ever, is an entirely erron' ous view of the mat- 

 ter ; and exi:)erience last summer clearly dem- 

 onstrated it to be such. When a colony has no 

 occasion to build combs, it expends no honey 

 for such purpose ; and that which, in other con- 

 ditions, would be so used may be stored up ; 

 and the time thus saved by the busy bee, may 

 be devoted to more profitable labor. The proof 

 of this position is annually furnished by those 

 colonies from which a swarm has issued, for 

 these notoriously become the best honey stocks, 

 in seasons ordinarily propitious. 



Again, if a colony has too much brood to 

 nurse, while forage abounds, we commonly hear 

 it said — "Precisely when pasturage is plentiful, 

 (at about the time of the linden blossoms) my 

 bees clustered densely on the brood combs, and 

 hence did not store up as much honey as we 

 thought we had reason to expect." Very true ; 

 for under such circumstances not only will 

 many workers be constrained to remain at 

 home, in order to keep up the requisite brood- 

 ing temperature in the hive, prepare food for 

 the larvae, and discharge household duties in 

 general ; but the masses of brood reciuiring to 

 be nursed, consume a very large proj^ortion of 

 the honey daily brought in. Hence, an accumu- 

 lation of stores, in such contingencies, is wholly 

 out of the question, unless forage be uncommonly 

 abundant and the weather peculiarly favorable 

 for out-door labor. It is thus manifest, that if 

 a colony is to produce the utmost possible yield, 

 the bee-keeper must strive not only to have it 

 jjopulous at the opening of the season, but that 

 it shall likewise be in the best possible condition 

 for gathering and storing honey. 



The question now recurs, what must we do in 

 order to be certain of having riglt populous 

 stocks, in the most favorable condition, at the 

 opening of the honey season? 



If a colony has been properly wintered and 

 no special mishap occurs to check or prevent 

 due development in the spi'ing, it w li hardly 

 fail to become populous seasonably, without 

 foreign aid or stimulative feeding. We have, 

 therefore, only to consider how we may jjroperly 

 and seasonably strengthen 7ceak colonies. There 



