ISiCJ 



(iI.EANINCJS IN HKK CULTURE. 



417 



soon as tin' hci's covfi' tlii> food, upon wliit-li lie 

 liiis put sonic sliavliiLTS or straw, lie takes lli(> 

 trouiili. with all tlic bees, and S(>ts it und<'r tlic 

 weak colony. Tliis lie repeats fur tlire(> or four 

 eveninfis. In this manner lie jfoes on in April 

 and May till he has eqnali/.ed his colonies. If 

 the honey-llow in thes(> two niontiis is very 

 ijood. then he does not feed: hut if not. he will 

 feed V(>ry liberally for three or four days. ]{y 

 equalizing and feiuiing tlie colonics at tho right 

 time lie shortens the swarming season. All hi.s 

 first swarms will issue, accoiding to the weather, 

 within eigiit. lune. or ten (hiys. aiui those colo- 

 nies that (h) not swarm at tliis time lie will 

 swarm artiticially by driving. Most of tlie nat- 

 ural swarms lie takes in swarm-catchers to 

 prevent missing tiie swarms and killing the 

 queens. 



Every one of these swarms the bee-keeper 

 puts into a th(»roughiy cleans(>d liive. He does 

 not like very strong swarms, because they are 

 Inclined to build too much drone comb. There- 

 fore, if a prime or after swarm is not too weak 

 he lets it build its combs as well as it may. But 

 as soon as such a swarm lias made a good start, 

 the bee-keeper will build up this colony with 

 an after-swarm. This he accomplishes in this 

 way: He selects an after-swarm, and takes 

 from it every queen. After sunset he puts the 

 queenless bees into an eat th-pit, and sprinkles 

 them with salt water, and places over the pit 

 the colony ho wishes to build up. Early next 

 morning the bees have united friendly, and the 

 colony is placed on its old stand. Such a swarm 

 with its young bees will work very satisfac- 

 torily. The after-swarms are the pets of the 

 bee-keeper. 



If a parent colony has cast several swarms, 

 and has not as many bees as it should have, the 

 bee-keeper will return a good swarm; then the 

 stronger these stocks are, the better. 



To prevent queenlessnessof the parent colony 

 that has swarmed, the bee-keeper will give a 

 young queen in a queen-cage like this. The 



opening of it is closed with fresh wax. If the 

 colony has a queen, then the bees will not gnaw 

 open the cage, otherwise they will. 



In order to provide himself with young 

 queens, the bee-keeper will hunt out from the 

 after-swarms as many queens as he can get. 

 He puts all into such a cage, closes the (jpening 

 with a wooden plug, and then he puts from 

 three to six queens in an after-swarm that has 

 only these caged queens. Such a one will feed 

 all the queens for some time, and the bee-keeper 

 will use them as they are needed. Colonies 

 with a laying worker he cures without fail with 

 a little after-swarm. 



From .')() colonies, spring count, the bee-keeper 

 will get 100 swarms, so that he lias at least 150 

 colonies. The most care he takes is to get such 

 combs built as he needs; therefore he will, 

 three days after hiving the swarm, and every 

 third day after, turn over the hives in which 

 the bees build combs. Every comb runs straight 

 to the entrance. All drone comb is cut out till 

 three-fourths of the combs an; finished, then 

 the bees are allowed to build a little of it. Too 

 much drone comb will induce untimely swarm- 

 ing, and produce too many consumers of the 

 honey. As soon as a swarm issues, all drone 

 comb with brood in it is cut out. 



The bee-keeper has to take the utmost care 

 to prevent the swarming of the first swarms. 

 Cutting out drone comb will not save him that 



tridubh^ Hut what shall be done now to pre- 

 vent the loss of honey by swarming? As soon 

 as till' colony gives the signal that it will siindy 

 swafm, then tho. bee-kcu'per drives, by drum- 

 ming, the bees from tin? combs, and also from a 

 young after-swarm that has iDifiiiiHhejl combs. 

 Now he hives the first swarm on the combs of 

 the aftiM'-sw arm, and this on the combs of the 

 lirst swarm. The young (lueen destroys all 

 queen-cells, and tlui first swarm resumes comb- 

 building, and so swarming is prevented. 



As, with the beginning of July, buckwheat 

 comes in bloom at the home of our bee keeper, 

 he i)repares at the end of June all colonies for 

 moving home. Hcm'c^ he has a be(*-shed that is 

 so situated that the bees placed in it may have 

 the buckwheat fields on on(^ side, and lh(i large 

 plains of the heather on the other. If the 

 weather is favorable, the bees will work with 

 great vigor till the middle of September, when 

 his L50 colonies will have gathered so much 

 honey that S of them give 300 lbs. of honey. 

 However, in very bad years he will have only a 

 wax crop, and among his 150 colonies as many 

 as will winter well without much feeding in the 

 fall or spring. In good years he will i)ut only 

 .50 colonies into winter quarters; but in a bad 

 year as many as he can. recognizing that, in a 

 bad season, a better one may follow. 



During the whole season the bee-keeper has 

 watched his colonies. He is as familiar with 

 every one as a shepherd with every sheep of his 

 fiock, and he can tell you a long story of every 

 colony without any note-book. According to 

 this he now selects all the colonies he intends 

 to put into winter quarters, and the others he 

 puts on the sulphur-pits before he moves to his 

 home yard. 



Selecting his colonies for the next season, he 

 goes on with the utmost care. At first he selects 

 every after-swarm that has young combs, and, 

 of course, a young queen with the necessary 

 winter stores. The whole weight of a colony 

 must be from 26 to 36 or 40 lbs.; 10 lbs. is the 

 weight of a hive net. Bees, bee-bread, and 

 combs weigh perhaps 5 to 6 lbs. The best colo- 

 nies are those from 30 to 36 lbs. If he can not 

 find .50 colonies among his after-swarms, then 

 he selects some colonies that have swarmed 

 early, with a young queen, and combs from the 

 year before. From the utmost necessity he 

 selects first swarms with queens from the year 

 before. 



Hives with short combs, perhaps as long as a 

 hand, or shorter, he preserves. After he has 

 killed the bees he closes the entrance and the 

 opening of the hive with a cloth, and then he 

 hangs up the hives in a lofty room. At swarm- 

 ing time he puts swarms in them. He also pre- 

 serves some hiv(>s with good combs, and, say, 15 

 to 30 lbs. of honey. If he has wintered colonies 

 with 26 or less pounds of honey, then he will, 

 after the first cleansing fiightin February, drive 

 the bees off by drumming, and put them in 

 their reserved hives. All the honey in the other 

 hives goes into three grades. The best white 

 sealed hoiK^y-combs he cuts into pieces, and sells 

 them at from 25 to 37 cents. Then ha selects 

 the next best combs of sealed honey and pollen. 

 He puts these combs with honey in pans, and 

 pounds them all to " pap." This is his " futter- 

 honig," or honey for f(>eding. All the other 

 honey he strains. The honey for feeding bees 

 he will sell at from 24 to 26 cents, and the other 

 16 or 20 cents. 



I have now given the reader only an outline 

 of the management of bees by the bee-keeper 

 of North (rermany, but I think it will be suffi- 

 cient to see that these men very well know 

 what they are doing. .\t the end of my article 

 let me say that I am a descendant of the bee- 

 keepers of North Germany; that I have kept 



