PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE W T FALCONER MANFG CO 



VOL. IV. 



DECEMBER, 1894. 



NO. 12. 



From November To May. 



I'.Y G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



November should be the month for 



commencing a new season of* work 

 with every practical apiarist. It is a 

 fallacy to suppose that a bee-keeper 

 has nothing to do during the cold 

 months of the year, as many seem to. 

 Tell me how a bee-keeper spends his 

 time from November to May, inclu- 

 sive, and T will tell you whether he is 

 a success in bee keeping or not. Tlv-n 

 we will suppose that you have your 

 honey all disposed of. and your bees 

 all prepared for winter on October 

 31st, and are ready to go to work for 

 the next season, whan shall we do. 

 Our first work is to get our surplus 

 arrangements and section boxes, which 

 have been in use the past season, in 

 readiness for next harvest. Get them 

 around, and scrape off all the propolis 

 or bits of comb which may be adher- 

 ing to them or the separators. All 

 bits of comb should be saved, and the 

 best way to save them is to have your 

 wax extractor or some suitable vessel 

 close at hand, and all waste pieces of 

 comb put into it during the whole 

 season. Bits of comb lading around 

 wasting, or breeding moths, shows, 

 that the one allowing such a thing is 



not up to the high privilege an apia- 

 rist should attain unto. As often as 

 is required render these bits of comb 

 into wax and you will be surprised to 

 see what thay amount to during the 

 year. All sections which are partly 

 filled with honey should have the 

 honey extracted from them, and all 

 combs in frames containing honey 

 al.-o, (unless you think you will need 

 it to feed in the spring), as the honey 

 will not correspond in color or quality 

 which the bees will put in to finish 

 out the same with the next summer. 

 To extract such honey nicelv, I fix a 

 shelf close to the ceiling of my room, 

 put the honey thereon, and keep the 

 room so warm the mercury will staud 

 at 90 to 100° for five hours I*. fare I 

 commence to extract. By placing the 

 honey near the ceiling, it does not re- 

 quire near the fire to heat it that it 

 would require if placed on the floor 

 or a bench. By thus warming the 

 the honey is as easily extracted as in 

 summer and our surplus combs put in 

 good shape to be used as " bait sect- 

 ions " to entice the bees to enter the 

 surplus arrangements early in the 

 honey harvest, during 1895. What- 

 ever form of surplus arrangement 

 vmi use, the center tier of sections 



