1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



925 



ties give surplus at three stated periods, others at 

 two, while the majority give only one such yield. 

 Hence, it is apparent to all, that, if such a honey 

 yield or yields pass without any surplus, none can 

 be obtained during the season. From this it will be 

 seen, that, in order to be a successful apiarist, a 

 person must have a knowledge of his locality, 

 whether he lives in New York, Iowa, Florida, or Cu- 

 ba, and also know how to get the laborers (bees) in the 

 right time, so they can be on hand at the time of 

 the honey harvest. Failing to do this, there is no 

 profit in apiculture, and I can not conceive why 

 this should not hold good in any section of the 

 country, except in the time of commencing to get 

 the bees. First, then, we have the location. Here 

 in Central New York our honey crop comes mainly 

 from linden, or basswood, which blooms from 

 July 5th to 1.5th, and lasts from ten days to four 

 weeks, according to the weather; while in other 

 localities of this State white clover is the main 

 crop, coming in bloom June 15th to 30th; and, again, 

 in others buckwheat, yielding honey in August. 

 Other States, without doubt, have as great a varia- 

 tion as to time of surplus honey as has this, and it 

 should be borne in mind that it devolves on the 

 reader of this to ascertain, by careful watching, 

 just when and what is the source of his surplus 

 honey crop so as to work accordingly. 



After having determined when we may expect 

 our honey harvest, the next step is to get the bees 

 in just the right time for that harvest, not before 

 or afterward; yet how few pay any attention to this 

 matter, letting the bees take care of themselves, 

 and thus they are generally produced so as to be- 

 come consumers instead of producers! This is one 

 of the reasons why so many persons who enter the 

 ranks of bee-keeping make a failure of it. The 

 queen is the mother of all the bees, she laying all 

 the eggs which produce them. She is capable of 

 laying from 3000 to 4000 eggs a day, yet often she is 

 laying only from .500 to 1000 eggs daily, at the time 

 she should be doing her best. After the egg is laid 

 it takes three days for it to hatch into a little larva. 

 This larva is fed six days, during which time it has 

 grown so as to fill the cell, when it is capped over 

 and remains hid from view for twelve more days, 

 when it emerges a perfect bee, making a period of 

 twenty-one days from the egg to the perfect bee. 

 This bee now works inside the hive for sixteen days 

 more, doing such work as feeding the larva, build- 

 ing comb, etc., when it is ready to go outside as a 

 field laborer; and at forty-five days from the time 

 of hatching it dies of old age, and another genera- 

 tion takes its place. From the above it will be seen 

 that the egg must be laid at least 37 days before the 

 honey harvest, in order that the bee have the op- 

 portunity of laboring in that harvest to the best 

 advantage. Now, if the harvest is white clover, 

 commencing to bloom say June 18th, the eggs for 

 our laborers should be laid on or before May 2d; 

 if basswood, blooming about July 10th, then the 

 eggs should be laid on or before June 3d, and so on 

 for any yield that may come in our locality, wheth- 

 er we are in Iowa or Cuba. The principle is the 

 same for all localities where there is an intermit- 

 tent flow of honey, and I can not see where any 

 " radical change " of this mode of management oan 

 be made, no matter in what part of the world we 

 may reside. If there is a steady flow of honey all 

 of the year, during which the bees are active, then 

 we should aim to keep the bees strong in numbers 



all of the time; but where one such place is found, 

 fifty others can be found that give large yields on- 

 ly at certain periods when certain flowers are in 

 bloom. Only as the locality is thoroughly under- 

 stood, and the bees raised to apply to that locality, 

 can we secure the best possible results. To keep 

 the results obtained, just as few bees should be 

 reared at all other times as is consistent wMh keep- 

 ing the colony where it can be gotten in good work- 

 ing order when we wish it, so as to secure the har- 

 vest, otherwise we are supporting a horde of use- 

 less consumers. I know this is an old theme, but it 

 is the one which has helped me to secure the re- 

 sults of the past; namely, that of getting a good 

 yield of honey during all of the past 16 years; and if 

 understandingly followed it will help others the 

 same as it has me. Try it, brothers and sisters, and 

 see if I am not right. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Yes, friend D., this is an old theme, and, 

 if we are correct, you have touched upon 

 the same matter before. But it is a very 

 important subject, one of the few which 

 need reiteration, and we are therefore very 

 glad that you have given it such emphasis. 

 Beginners— yes, and even some old bee- 

 keepers — need to bear it in mind, that there 

 should be a large force of working bees in 

 time for an expected honey-flow. This 

 honey-flow may prove to be very meager. 

 All the more important, then, is it that there 

 be lots of bees. You do not say how you 

 managed to restrain the unseasonable breed- 

 ing and the cousequent rearing of many bees 

 when their services will " not be required ; 

 neither do you say how you procure a large 

 force of bees just at the right time. As to 

 the latter, you no doubt practiced stimula- 

 tive feeding— that is, when natural sources 

 failed ; but what do you do when a season 

 (as the past was in some ilocalities) furnish- 

 es a small amount of nectar daily and con- 

 tinuously for some time, in such a way as to 

 cause excessive brood-rearing, the resulting 

 bees arriving at maturity just at the time 

 when they will be heavy consumers instead 

 of gathering surplus ? 



HONEY VINEGAR. 



FURTHER SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING IT. 



fRIEND ROOT:— I was very much interested in 

 the article on honey vinegar in GijEANINGS 

 for Nov. 1, by friend Black, and I oflt-r a few 

 comments. Having two or three gallons of 

 crystallized honey, considerably ofl" in flavor, 

 that had begun to work and get sour, 1 concluded 

 to throw it away; then it occurred to me to try to 

 make a drink called mead, which I understood was 

 fermented honey and water. First let me say that 

 I'm a temperance man, my object being more to ex- 

 periment than any thing else, so I tried but a little. 

 I set a gallon jar of honey and water out in the sun, 

 with a cloth tied over tight. The proportions I 

 guessed at, so I do not know how much honey I 

 used. In the course of two or three weeks I found 

 I had— not mead— but some pretty good vinegar 

 that was beginning to be quite sour, so now I had 

 discovered something that I had not thought of be- 

 fore, and would enable me to save my honey that 

 was worthless for any thing else. I don't like to see 



