(Entered as second-class uiail-matter at the Chicago, 111., Post-Offlce.j 

 Published Monthly at 50 ots. a Year, by George W. York & Co., 118 W.Jackson Blvd. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL,, SEPTEMBER, 1907 



VoL XLVII— No. 29 



itorial ^ofcs 

 ,. and Comments 



Backvvai'd Season Genei'al 



Reports from different parts of the 

 world seem to show that almost every- 

 where cold and wet have delaj'ed the 

 season. One result has been loss of 

 colonies from starvation where the own- 

 ers have not been thoughtful enough to 

 replace stores used up tjy the unusually 

 long spring. The editor of the Irish 

 Bee Journal says: "In our own apiary, 

 feeding was continued daily up to July 

 9. when the rain stopped." 



Where colonies were kept supplied 

 with stores, bees seemed to develop in 

 strength wonderfully, in spite of the 

 cold, and in some places at least, the 

 spring running into summer did not 

 seem to have such a very bad efifect, 

 for it merely postponed the time of 

 blooming. In Northern Illinois June 

 and July are par excellence the months 

 of white-clover bloom generally. This 

 year there was more clover bloom in 

 August than in June, if, indeed, not 

 more than in July. 



Next spring may not be so late as 

 the past one, but it is likely to be late 

 enough, and this is a good place to re- 

 peat the advice to store up a number 

 of combs of sealed honey to be used 

 next spring wherever they will do the 



most good. 



-^ 



Strengthening Weak Colonies 



If one has a greater or less number 

 of weak colonies on hand, the manner 

 in which they are to be strengthened de- 

 pends upon circumstances. Whatever 

 the plan taken, the idea should be to 

 have each colony so strengthened or 

 united that it shall have enough bees 

 to cover 5 or 6 combs. A colony with 



3 frames of bees may be united with 

 another having 2 or 3 frames of bees; 

 understanding by a frame of bees 

 enough bees to cover well a brood- 

 frame, or brood-comb. Three colo- 

 nies having 2 frames of bees each may 

 be united into a single colony. If one 

 should have several colonies of 4 frames 

 each, then one or more of them can be 

 broken up, and one or 2 frames given 

 to each of the others. If, fortunately, 

 there is only a single weakling, its bees 

 may be given to one or more of the 

 weaker of the full colonies. These will 

 be just so much the stronger, whereas, 

 if the weakling is left it will be prac- 

 tically worthless. 



E.\tra Conib.s of Honey for Next 

 Spring 



This subject may have been men- 

 tioned times enough so that many may 

 be excused from reading this item. But 

 its great importance for the many new 

 readers is a sufficient excuse for men- 

 tioning the subject again. 



Unwarned upon the subject, the be- 

 ginner who has an early flow of light 

 honey and a late flow of dark honey 

 is likely to get all of the fall honey as 

 surplus, except what the bees store in 

 the brood-chamber. This last, if it be 

 not exhausted before, is pretty certain 

 to be all used up at the time the white- 

 honey harvest begins the next season. 

 Of course, the brood does not entirely 

 fill all of the cells in the brood-cham- 

 ber, and the vacant cells will be filled 

 with several pounds of white honey. 

 Now if said beginner had had extra 

 combs of fall honey to give to the 

 bees in the spring, this first white honey, 

 instead of going into the brood-combs, 



could just as well have gone into the 

 surplus apartment. It will be seen that 

 it is a plain question as to whether so 

 many pounds for the market shall be 

 light or dark. 



Nor is this all the difference in the 

 case. .\ colony in the spring will not 

 rear as much brood with a meager sup- 

 ply as it will when abundant stores are 

 present. The beginner is likely to 

 think, "So long as the bees are not 

 allowed to run out of stores, I don't 

 see why they'll not rear as much brood 

 with a half-pound ahead as if they 

 had 10 pounds in sight." Well, they'll 

 not ; no matter how they may reason 

 about it, they seem to know that when 

 they have a big lot of stores in sight 

 they can go into brood-rearing on a 

 large scale. 



So when the fall flow begins' see that 

 a fair share of it is in sealed brood- 

 combs ready for the next spring, as 

 well as to meet any emergency in the 

 fall. For 8-frame hives 2 or 3 such 

 combs for each colony in the spring will 

 be none too many. For 10-frame hives, 

 a less quantity may or may not be 



needed. 



^ 



Wintering Reserve Queens 



About this time of year the question 

 is often raised whether one may not 

 keep over extra queens, ready to be 

 given in the spring to any colonies 

 that may have become queenless. No 

 way seems to have come into general 

 favor that differs greatly from keeping 

 each queen in a weak colony. Consid- 

 erable can be gained, however, by keep- 

 ing 2 nuclei in a hive. Separate the 

 hive into two compartments by means 

 of a division-board >4 to J^-inch thick, 

 and be sure that it is bee-tight. Let 

 the brood-nest of each nucleus come 

 close against this division-board. The 

 bees of each nucleus will cluster close 

 against this partition, forming what 

 seems to be one globular mass, with the 

 partition thrust between them. 



In the spring, if one of the queens 

 is needed elsewhere, it can be taken, 

 and the 2 nuclei united into a full col- 

 ony. If there is no need to take either 

 queen away, let the nuclei build up un- 

 til too large for their narrow quar- 



