AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



331 



CONDUCTED BY 



Greenville. Texas 



kjkjm, 



Oiir Scliool in Bee-Keeping. 



FIFTH LESSON — PRODUCING HONEY ON A 

 LARGE SCALE. 



You must, to be a successful bee- 

 keeper, study your honey locality, and 

 know just about what time each plant 

 blooms, and be venj particular to note 

 down those that give you your crops. 

 Work your bees to have them ready to 

 catch all you can, as a few days too late 

 has lost a good part of many a bountiful 

 harvest. 



Now we will go through the operation 

 of producing honey on a large scale — 

 say an apiary of 100 colonies or more. 

 This is an important lesson, and pay 

 strict attention, as I would not have you 

 to fail now for a good, big sum. 



Producing honey on a large scale is 

 the same as on a small scale, except that 

 it seems our skill must be greater to 

 make a large apiary pay as well as a 

 small one, in proportion. But after we 

 get the " hang of it," it is easier to get 

 our bees in good condition to gather in 

 the harvest, as we have more bees, and 

 can take from one and help another, 

 and get the whole apiary in about the 

 same shape to catch the harvest. I 

 know that some apiarists don't approve 

 of doing this, but where it can be done 

 long before the honey-flow, it is the best 

 thing to do, as we can have our colonies 

 all equalized in time for them to start 

 off on the sections, or in the extracting 

 supers, at the same time. 



It is no use to be wasting brood on a 

 colony that has a poor queen. You had 

 better pinch her head off at once, and 

 let them rear a queen, or give them one 

 from some other source. One of the 

 main reasons why we fail in a large 

 apiary is, we neglect our duty, and do 

 not have our extra hives, supers, and 

 sections all ready, just because it is a 

 bigger job. And now I will tell you that 



it is just as important to prepare for 

 100 colonies as it is for one, or more so, 

 as the loss is not so great with a few. 

 But, to sum it all up, we can make a 

 large apiary pay as well as a small one 

 if we will be up and doing, and attend 

 to everything as we should. I mean, a 

 large apiary will pay as well as a small 

 one, unless we overstock a pasture, and 

 we should look sharp and not do this, 

 and when we see that we are overstock- 

 ing, divide our bees out into out-apiaries. 

 But when a good year comes, there is 

 not much danger in overstocking in this 

 locality ; however, when we see that we 

 are going to have a poor year, it is best 

 to give the bees better range by moving 

 them to out yards. 



By all means do not think of using 

 but one size of frame in your yards, as 

 it is a serious mistake, as you cannot 

 manipulate your apiary to advantage. 



Now, when you get to 100 colonies, 

 you may, if you wish, make increase 

 enough every year to make an out-yard 

 until you get all the bees your brains 

 can manage, and in this you will have 

 to be governed as you go along ; and 

 when you get as many as you are mak- 

 ing pay, you had better stop ; do not be 

 mistaken about this, as you are in a 

 shape now to lose something, should you 

 fail. But please bear in mind that you 

 must not try to increase your bees in 

 poor seasons, rather decrease, if any- 

 thing. 



The Summerland of Florida. 



Suffering greatly with sciatic rheuma- 

 tism in Grand Meadow, Minn., and find- 

 ing no relief among the Minnesota doc- 

 tors, I was, in November last, banished, 

 so to speak, for the winter, at least, to 

 Florida — the perpetual summerland. 

 Here in the warm sunshine and balmy 

 air relief has so far come as to enable 

 me to walk without crutches or cane. 



Before leaving my home, the bees 

 were carefully stored in a dark depart- 

 ment of my cellar, and I bade them an 

 affectionate farewell for the long, cold 

 winter. How I have wished to have 

 them here with me, to share my banish- 

 ment, and that they might revel in the 

 blossoms of February. For a week past, 

 the peach, plum, cherry, blackberry, 

 yellow jessamine, and other blossoms, 

 have been in full beauty, and the bees 

 are swarming among the branches, eager 

 to gather the sweet nectar. Soon this 

 will be followed by the orange, lemon, 

 grape-fruit, dogwood and magnolia, 

 with many others. 



