760 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



fruit-srowers of the State, which a State 

 convention deliberately declared us to 

 be. We should be false to our trust if 

 we assume less, or spoke otherwise. 

 Those who have created the Exchange 

 are bound to sustain us in all wise meas- 

 ures, and to excuse and rectify our er- 

 rors. For this year we stand as the 

 representatives and servants of the fruit- 

 growers of the State, promising faithful 

 service, and relying on solid support. 



The above is by no means a complete 

 outline of the work committed to the 

 Exchange ; but it includes all matters 

 wherein our duties touch the relations 

 of the grower to the trade. It seems 

 best to state them squarely at the be- 

 ginning, that there may be no misappre- 

 hension on that point. What we have 

 above set forth is our conception of our 

 proper relations with those who sell 

 goods for us, and of the reforms neces- 

 sary to perfect those relations. We seek 

 nothing which all tradesmen will not 

 recognize as proper and necessary. We 

 ask the hearty co-operation of the trade 

 in our work. We hope they will effect- 

 ively organize themselves, and act with 

 us through their authorized representa- 

 tives in putting the fruit trade on a 

 sound basis. We do not wish for them 

 in our organization, and we have no de- 

 sire to enter theirs ; but we wish to deal 

 with them as man to man in the friendly 

 spirit which those must have who expect 

 to work together effectively. — California 

 Fruit Bulletin. 



SmninerManaEeMlofBees. 



WHtteu for the ^' Farm, tStock and Home " 

 BY B. TAYLOR. 



What system of summer management 

 is best for securing the object of bee- 

 keeping — surplus honey ? There are 

 nearly as many methods as bee-keepers, 

 and each claims his way the best, and all 

 have some good features, no doubt, but 

 the most of them are in many things 

 badly behind the times. We will now 

 give the system that has, after many 

 years of trial, proved most satisfactory 

 with us, all things considered. 



We will assume that the bees have 

 been given good spring care, so they 

 will be ready to cast big swarms. Near 

 the first opening of the white clover 

 harvest give each strong colony one 

 super of sections filled with drawn 

 combs, if possible, or full sheets of comb 

 foundation in the absence of drawn 

 combs. Hives for the new swarms 



should be in readiness, each with frames 

 filled with full sheets of brood-founda- 

 tion. 



Thus equipped, one will be ready for 

 the first swarm. When it comes, remove 

 the hive from which it issued to a new 

 stand, and set one of the empty pre- 

 pared hives in its place. Capture the 

 new swarm in any way most convenient, 

 spread a sheet in front of the new hive, 

 shake the bees in front of it, and with a 

 soft, slender brush gently drive them in. 

 Now remove the super of sections from 

 the old to the new hive, and the work is 

 done. The super of sections will doubt- 

 less be at least partly filled with honey, 

 and the new swarm, having no combs in 

 the brood-chamber to store honey in, 

 the very first will be stored in the sec- 

 tions, and work thus begun will be con- 

 tinued if the flowers yield nectar. Other 

 supers of sections should be in readiness 

 to give, by raising up the partly filled 

 one, as soon as needed to give the swarm 

 sufficient room at all times until the end 

 of the white honey harvest. 



In six or seven days go to the parent 

 hive, spread a hiving-sheet in front of 

 it the same as if hiving a new swarm, 

 blow a little smoke into the entrance to 

 drive away the guards, raise up the hive, 

 cover gently, blow in a little smoke to 

 subdue the bees. Now begin at one side 

 and take out a comb, shake all the bees 

 from it in front of the hive. Search it 

 for queen-cells, and remove all you find. 

 Set the combs into an empty hive, to 

 make room for handling the remaining 

 combs; take them out one by one, brush 

 the bees in front of the hive, as before ; 

 search for queen-cells, and if you find a 

 large, fine one situated so you will not 

 be in danger of injuring it in replacing 

 the combs, leave it and carefully destroy 

 all others. Now return the comb to the 

 hive, making a notch in the frame over 

 the cell, so you can find it again easily 

 if you should wish to. Take out the re- 

 maining combs, brush the bees from 

 them as before, destroy all remaining 

 cells, return the first comb to its place, 

 and the job is done. 



This swarm, having but one queen- 

 cell, will not swarm again. But after 

 three or four days you should open the 

 hive, lift the frame in which is the cell, 

 to see if it has hatched. If it has, look 

 again in ten days to see if the queen has 

 begun to fill the cells with eggs. Young 

 queens are often lost in mating or other- 

 wise, and in such case a new cell or 

 hatched queen must be given them. In 

 our practice these colonies with their 

 young queens are allowed to become 

 heavy with winter stores, so they will 



