16 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 





BestforBng Colonies for tot Season. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Query 895, on page 559 of the Bee 

 Journal, for Nov., 1893, is answered 

 by 23 persons, all of whom are supposed 

 to know what they are talking about, 

 and yet when we come to classify the 

 answers we have to make five grades or 

 classes of them. 



Two persons — Mrs. Atchley and R. L. 

 Taylor — hardly express an opinion on 

 the subject pointed enough to guide any 

 one seeking light, hence go in a class by 

 themselves. 



Seven of the 23 say, in substance, 

 that it makes no difference whether a 

 colony consumes 5 to 10, or from 20 to 

 25, pounds of stores during the winter, 

 as to the amount they will accomplish in 

 honey during the next honey harvest ; 

 these seven being Mrs. Harrison, and 

 Messrs. Larrabee, Abbott, Pond, Cook, 

 Mason and Demaree. This we will call 

 class two. 



In class three we have but one — Mr. 

 Cutting. I was almost tempted to put 

 him in the first class, as the answer he 

 gives points out no special light on the 

 subject, but as he takes the ground that 

 " All conditions [may be] being equal," 

 and have such a disproportionate con- 

 sumption of honey, I could not do it, as 

 the first class would hardly allow that 

 such was a " mutual ground," especially 

 R. L. Taylor. 



Class four is composed of seven, name- 

 ly : Messrs. France, Brown, Hamburg, 

 Miller, Barnum, Dibbern and Mahin. 

 All of these convey the idea that the 

 stronger colony, or the one that con- 

 sumes the most, will secure the most 

 honey during the coming season. Of 

 course few in any of the classes word 

 their reply alike, but the general idea 

 amounts very nearly, if not quite, as 

 given. 



Next comes the last class, number 

 five, with 6 in it. This class is composed 



of Mrs. Heater and Messrs. Secor, Green, 

 Freeborn, Elwood and Dooliitle. Sum- 

 ming up what they think, and we have 

 this : The colonies consuming the least 

 stores during the winter, are those 

 which are likely to prove the best colo- 

 nies for gathering honey the next season. 

 I wish I had the other five of this class (to 

 which I belong) where I could ask them 

 for further particulars regarding their 

 belief, for then I might give a more 

 modified view of why I believe as I do, 

 than I may now ; but as I do not have 

 their "ear," I must give my reasons for 

 believing that the colony that consumes 

 the least will be the best the next sea- 

 son, without being biased by theirs. 



All will note by turning to this query, 

 that the one asking it lives in Minnesota 

 — a State having a cold climate during 

 winter, hence I understand that the 

 word "winter" means wi?iter, not win- 

 ter and spring, as some interpret it. 



R. L. Taylor hits the nail squarely on 

 the head when he says : " No healthy col- 

 ony would require 20 to 25 pounds for 

 winter alone ;" and had he reasoned from 

 that stand-point, in his usually clear 

 way, there would have been no occasion 

 for this article. It is just the reason 

 that hundreds of colonies do consume 

 from 20 to 30 pounds of honey during 

 winter, and thus fall into an unhealthy 

 condition, that I answered, in substance, 

 that the colonies consuming the least 

 stores are the best colonies for honey 

 the next season, and I believe that this 

 was the point the questioner wished 

 brought out, although I have not the 

 least idea who he or she may be. To 

 illustrate what I wish to get at, let me 

 give you a bit of experience. 



One winter, along the middle of Janu- 

 ary, I found one of my colonies (which 

 I supposed of average strength in the 

 fall) occupying fully the space between 

 eight ranges of comb. As this was 

 when I was quite young in our pursuit, 

 I thought that in this colony I had a 

 bonanza, hence kept watch of it with 

 more than ordinary interest. About the 

 first of February, upon going to this 

 hive, I found the bees ready to fly out 

 on the snow as soon as one corner of the 

 quilt covering them was raised, while 

 the hive was apparently full of bees. 



A few days later, whefl a chance for 

 a flight occured, I opened the hive and 

 found brood in four combs, much to my 

 delight, for I figured from this how 

 many bees there would be hatched in 21 

 days, and so on till the time of fruit- 

 bloom, when I would have a hive over- 

 flowing with bees ready for swarming, 

 or rolling in the honey till a pile of sec- 



