266 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



Septeynber 



winter his bees. In winteriug, as in 

 many other lines, the beginner with 

 one or a few more colonies cannot 

 adopt the same system as the advanced 

 bee keeper. I am now writing in par- 

 ticular of outside wintering. But there 

 are certain conditions in which the 

 colony should be, which applies to all. 

 In districts iu which there is no fall 

 flow of honey the bees should be pre- 

 pared for winter, as far as the con- 

 dition of the colony is concerned, early 

 in September. Those with the least 

 experience with bees are generally the 

 most spasmodic in the preparation of 

 their bees for winter. If the bees 

 have done well during the past season 

 they are cared for and every effort 

 made to carry them through for the 

 following season. On the other hand, 

 if they have given little or no surplus, 

 the bees are pretty well allowed to 

 shift for themselves with the "root hog 

 or die" principal to the front. No per- 

 son can succeed in a line of business 

 by such methods and the sooner the 

 beginners look upon bee keeping as a 

 business the better. I have been in 

 pretty close touch with bee keeping 

 for seventeen years and I find that the 

 successful men in bee keeping are 

 those who pursue an even tenor, they 

 look forward or prepare for a crop each 

 season and then quietly take matters 

 as they come. If the season has been 

 poor and the bees have not gathered 

 enough for winter they buy the gran- 

 ulated sugar and feed. If it has been 

 an exceptionally good season they do 

 not lose their heads and buy up all 

 the bees in the country. These men 

 have the best success. 



Then we have those who let their 

 bees slide after a poor season, they 

 have had no returns and will not lay 



out extra money or labor until they 

 bring .«ome returns. As a result most 

 or all of their bees perish and the 

 empty combs are destroyed by moths, 

 or perhaps sold at a sacrifice. Next 

 season, or perhaps the following, bees 

 do better, a neighbor or two makes a 

 little money, and the third, our dis- 

 courged bee keeper, .'crews up his 

 courage to a sticking point and he in- 

 vests and the investment is again fol- 

 lowed by a bad season. He says it is 

 "my luck," when the fact is it is not 

 what he has, but what he lacks or 

 fails to exercise, "common sense" that 

 leads to trouble. 



Then, no matter what the season 

 has been like, keep right on. First 

 see that the colony has a queen, if 

 there are no queen cells built and 

 there is brood in all styles down to the 

 egg you are fairly safe in assuming 

 that the queen is there, but it is bet- 

 ter still to see her. It may be that 

 there is no brood in all styles, and 

 particularly may this be the case when 

 there has been no honey flow after 

 basswood. Then there is no other way 

 than to actually see the queen. In 

 ninety-nine cases out of a hundred I 

 know when a colony is queenless be- 

 fore I examine the combs, but this is 

 something which can only be acquired 

 by long and much experience. Look 

 for the queen, smoke the bees as little 

 as possible. Take the combs out 

 quietly and do not be too long looking 

 over them the first time, otherwise 

 the bees gets restless and leave their 

 position on the last combs before you 

 reach them. If the colony is queen - 

 less, but has good brood and is a good 

 full colony and you want the bees you 

 better get a queen at once. If fifty 

 cents is an item of some importance 



