1888 



GLt;ANm(JS lii BEE CULTURE. 



285 



tice monopolizes very nearly all of my time, and the 

 time that I give to my bees is limited to a very few 

 hours a week during the summer. 



GEO. GRIMM'S 'SURPLUS ARRANGEMENT. 



Let us start with spring. The bees are brought 

 from the cellar. The first warm day I don't look 

 them through. No, they are left untouched till 

 steady warm weather has come. Then I look them 

 over, unite queenless ones, and make sure that 

 they have plenty of food. A little later I clip the 

 queen's wings. Nothing more is done until white 

 clover appears. Upon the first appearance of any 

 honey, a section-rack with sections (prepared win- 

 ter evenings) is put on every strong colony. An 

 examination of a few minutes every few days 

 keeps me informed as to the progress of all the 

 colonies, and, when needed, sections are given. 

 Now mark: No sections are taken off until both 

 white clover and basswood are gone and nearly all 

 the honey Is sealed. 



GEO. GRIMM'S SECTION-RING. 



Whenever the sections are filled, ready to seal, 

 another ring or more, according to the strength of 

 the colony and advance of the season, is placed on 

 top of the others; and this is kept up until the sea- 

 son has nearly closed. Sections are added before the 

 lower ones are sealed, and always on top. The rea- 

 sons for this are many: They are readily accepted 

 by the bees; in the rush to fill the upper ones, the 

 lower ones are more slowly pushed to completion; 

 in case the flow of honey should suddenly cease, all 

 lower sections will still be finished because the 

 honey has evaporated and is thick, and the cells can 

 be filled from the partly finished upper ones, thus 

 leaving very few unfinished sections, even in case 

 the crop is cut off in its prime; you can see at a 

 moment's glance at the top whether more space is 

 needed; and all the work is simplified. Let me an- 

 ticipate the objection possibly to be urged, that the 

 lower sections may be soinewhat soiled, by saying 

 that this rarely happens when uppers are added he- 

 fore sealing has begun. I have only in rare in- 

 stances had trouble with it. We will proceed: 

 Swarming has begun; well, my wife hives the 

 swarms (while baby and the dog look on and get 

 stung), and at the proper time I destroy all extra 

 queen-cells. In the meantime honey is being lit- 

 erally " piled up " till the season closes. Then 

 when it has closed I wait ior a few weeks longer till 

 nearly all is sealed, and the harvest can begin. 



And this is how I take off the honey: The cover is 

 taken off; all rings and side boards removed from 

 the sections; the bees mostly driven down into the 

 body of the hive, with tobacco smoke, and all the 

 honey laid bare almost as quick as I can. tell it; 

 section after section is taken up, the bees shaken 

 and brushed off, and the load then carried into the 

 shop. Unfinished sections are concentrated into 

 one or more rings as the case may be, and I am 

 ready to go to the next hive. 



The body of the hive is left undisturbed, and 

 usually contains more than sufficient good ripe 

 healthy white-clover or basswood honey, to last the 

 colony till spring. Nothing more is now done till 

 fall, when the remaining sections are removed by 

 taking off the whole rack from the hive and placing 

 on a honey-board instead. If the colony has brood 

 and the proper weight. It is not again touched un- 

 til it Is carried into the cellar for the winter. I be- 

 lieve that all the work that I do in the apiary in a 

 year would not make ten full days, and I do all 

 that is to be done except hiving the swarms, taking 

 them in and out of the cellar, and weighing them in 

 the fall. In 1886 I sold over $400 worth of honey 

 from about 75 colonies; last year I sold none, the 

 crop being an entire failure, but I had no work to 

 do either. 



This is the reason why I am of the opinion that it 

 pays better to raise comb honey than extracted. 

 And, again, aside from the great labor required in 

 raising extracted honey, the condition in which a 

 colony is left in the fall furnishes the strongest ar- 

 gument against raising extracted honey— usually 

 short of honey, and loaded with bee-bread, a fit sub- 

 ject for feeding and dysentery. It is my experi- 

 ence, at least, that a colony run for comb honey is 

 in better condition for winter, and will winter bet- 

 ter than when it has been run for extracted honey; 

 and this must not be left from view in estimating 

 the "cost" of extracted honey. 



I have certainly reduced the labor and risk to a 

 minimum, and, I think, sacrificed nothing In the 

 yield; and I think 1 have demonstrated that a man 

 can make money out of bees, without constant at- 

 tention. 



Since writing the foregoing, Gleanings has 

 come to hand. I appreciate the high compliment 

 you paid the Grimms at the end of Mr. France's ar- 

 ticle on page 165. The foregoing may serve as a 

 partial explanation and answer to Mr. France. I 

 will answer more fully at another time. The de- 

 scription of his work is exceedingly interesting, 

 and It seems as though we had worked together. 

 While I am satisfied that I can teach him nothing 

 new, he has satisfied me that he can manage 1000 

 colonies of bees with two assistants, and do it well. 



Katie Grimm that was, is Mrs. Hermann Gieseler, 

 of Jamestown, Dakota, no longer a bee-keeper, but 

 the queen of a happy home. George Grimm. 



Jefferson, Wis., Mar. 9, 1888. 



I will explain to our readers, that friend 

 Grimm has six sections, about what we 

 should call a two-pound section, wedged up 

 in these little rings, with a little board at 

 each outside end. The wedges are not 

 shown plainly in the drawings. Well, the 

 little board that covers the six sections also 

 answers as a cover for the opening in the 

 crate when the sections are removed. The 

 broad division-pieces, that hold what we 

 should call the T tins, leave openings for 



