1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



127 



extract poor grades of honey ; and if I have 

 any occasion to say any more about this I will 

 tell you about it. 

 New London, Ohio. 



[Since the publication of Mr. White's valu- 

 able article, given on page 767, last year, we 

 have had a good many calls for it in pamphlet 

 form, and we have finally decided to issue it 

 for a merely nominal sum. After this came 

 out I asked Mr. While to start his pencil to 

 pushing again, for I was satisfied that one who 

 could fill the article referred to so full of 

 bright practical suggestions, could give us 

 something more of value. I also asked for 

 his picture. He objected to letting me have 

 it; but as he did not absolutely refuse, I press- 

 ed my request and finally succeeded in secur- 

 ing his photo, made especially for these col- 

 umns. I now take pleasure in introducing to 

 you — 



DAN WHITE. 



Mr. White is a fair representative of those 

 farmer bee-keepers — the despised class who 

 have the reputation of putting honey on the 

 market in all sorts of shapes and conditions. 

 While our friend nominally belongs to that 

 class I do not need to tell you that he is not 

 guilty of any such practice — at least, not of 

 late j'ears. Mr. White is one of our American 

 noblemen, a plain farmer whose very appear- 

 ance is suggestive of rugged honesty and good 

 hard practical common sense. 



We have said a great deal about grading 

 comb honey, in years past; but, as Mr. White 

 says, I believe we ought to give attention to 

 that in the extracted form as well. Now, then, 

 as to combining into a trust. The scheme is 

 all right, for it is a sort of trust that seeks not 

 its own. I do not exactly know how such an 

 association could be formed; and I somewhat 

 question whether any more organizations than 

 we now have are needed; and I am not sure 

 but we could secure the object sought by ask- 

 ing those who join the U. S. B. K. U. to sub- 



scribe to certain conditions, one of which 

 might be to this effect: 



1 hereby agree not to put on the market extracted 

 honey weighing less than 11 lbs. to the gallon. 



Well, the matter is now up for discussion. 

 —Ed.] 



SET YOUR BEES OUT EARLY. 



Why and How to Uo it; Valuable Suggestions from 

 a York Stater who Owns Over 500 Colonies. 



BY N. D. WEST. 



My bees are now all in the cellars, sleeping 

 very quietly. They had a grand fly Nov. 18th. 

 Then I put them into cellars as soon as possi- 

 ble after that. I carry them out the last of 

 March or by April 1st. I do not wait for a 

 warm day to set them out as I used to do. I 

 do, however, have some anxiety about the 

 state of the weather the day they have their 

 first fly. I prefer an early setting-out of bees, 

 and getting an early brood started in cool 

 weather before the old bees do very much fly- 

 ing in search of pollen or any thing else. 

 They will get what water they need, without 

 much effort. 



After the first fly the queen will begin la}'- 

 ing, and fill all the combs with eggs that these 

 old bees can take care of ; and they will care 

 for more brood than any one would suppose, 

 even if the thermometer should mark zero for 

 a day or two. 



Young bees should be hatching before the 

 old bees are foraging verj' much for pollen and 

 food; for when the old bees begin to work out- 

 side of the hive they die off very rapidly; and 

 unless they have young bees to take their 

 place the colony dwindles, and it takes time 

 to recover, and the swarms are not as strong 

 b}' May 15th, when the brood is started late, 

 as when started earl}-. By setting bees out 

 early (not too early) bees will spring-dwindle 

 some, but it will be earlier, and not so much 

 at the time bees should be working. The 

 dwindling will not be so perceptible either, 

 as, by the time the old bees are dying off fast, 

 young bees are hatching plentifully to care 

 for the younger brood at a time when the 

 swarm is at its weakest point. After this the 

 swarm will rapid!}- increase in bees. The old 

 ones will soon be gone, with a hive full of 

 young bees for the honey harvest, and ready 

 for early swarming. It is for this reason that 

 bees wintered out of doors in chaff hives, when 

 they do winter well, do not show spring dwin- 

 dling as do those wintered in cellars by most 

 bee - keepers. Cellar wintering, however, 

 needs more experience to be successful, I 

 think, than to winter out of doors, about the 

 same as to produce comb honey successfully 

 requires more experience than to produce ex- 

 tracted. 



It is very important that bees do not waste 

 much in their first flight after setting them 

 out of the cellar. I have had bees waste very 

 badly when I set them out on a very warm 

 day, and let them fly as fast as carried out — 

 that is, open the hives so that a hundred colo- 

 nies will leave the hives the same day they are 



