352 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



States have a 5'ield of honey from basswood I 

 will speak of that as the harvest in illustrat- 

 ing what I wish to. Bear in mind, however, 

 that it devolves on the reader of this to ascer- 

 tain by careful watching just when and what 

 is the source of his surplus honey, so as to 

 work accordingly. 



After having determined when we may 

 expect our harvest of honey, the next step is 

 to secure the bees in just the right time for 

 that harvest. If you have a field of grain to 

 cut, you hire the laborers when the grain is 

 ripe, not before or afterward, yet in keeping 

 bees hundreds pay no attention to the matter 

 of securing laborers, so that, as a rule, they 

 are generally produced so as to become con- 

 sumers rather than producers, and for this 

 reason we often hear persons claiming that 

 bee-keeping does not pay. 



The queen is the mother of all the bees in a 

 colony, she laying all the eggs producing 

 them. Under the greatest stimulation, 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. 

 This bee now works inside of the hive for six- 

 teen days more, when the colony is in a nor- 

 mal condition, doing such work as feeding 

 the larvte, building comb, evaporating nectar, 

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

 laborer; and at forty -five days, during the 

 working season, from the time of hatching, it 

 dies of old age, and another generation takes 

 its place. 



From the above it will be seen that the egg 

 must be laid at least thirty-seven days before 

 the honey-harvest in order that our bee have 

 the opportunity of laboring in that harvest to 

 the best advantage. 



Now, if the harvest is basswood, commenc- 

 ing to bloom, say, July 7th, the &g^ for our 

 laborer should be laid on or before June 1st. 

 But how shall we secure the laying of the eggs 

 j ust when we want them ? There are several 

 ways of doing it, such as feeding the bees 

 thin sweets when you wish the queen to lay 

 more prolificly; giving young bees from other 

 colonies that will feed the queen an extra 

 amount of egg-producing food, etc. ; but I will 

 speak here only of the plan that has proven 

 the most successful in my hands, with the 

 least drawback, of any I have ever used. 

 A.bout May 10 to 20, according to the weather 

 (if warm or an early season, the 10th; if cool 

 or a late season, then the 20th), I commence 

 to do what is known as ' ' spreading the brood, ' ' 

 which is simply reversing the brood-nest at 

 this time, putting the combs having the least 

 brood in them from the outside in the center, 

 and those having the most brood on the out- 

 side. This stimulates the queen to fill these 

 nearly broodless combs vnth eggs clear down 

 to the bottom and out at the sides, laying 

 twice the eggs she had been during the days 

 just past. In a week or so the combs of eggs 



and larvae are spread apart, and a frame of 

 comb having honey in it set between them. 

 The removing of this honey causes great 

 activity; the queen is fed abundantly, and the 

 comb is filled with eggs in a " twinkling. " 

 If the colony is strong in bees, and we have 

 the combs of honey on hand, two combs can 

 be set in at this time. In a few days more 

 the brood is reversed again, soon after which 

 the brood is likely to fill every comb except 

 the two outside ones, and these will soon be 

 admitted into the brood-circle. This plan of 

 manipulation causes the queen to fill the cells 

 much more quickly with eggs than she would 

 otherwise have done, and thus many valuable 

 bees are gained, so that there will be a multi- 

 tude of laborers at the right time, and, as I 

 have often proven (by manipulating one row 

 of hives in the yard, leaving another row 

 untouched), nearly twice as many as there 

 would have been had the bees been allowed to 

 take their own course. In this way the best 

 possible results in honey are secured, and I 

 would advise any beginner to familiarize him- 

 self with this method. 



DUCKS AND bees; A HARD WHACK AT THE 



editor; t supers vs. section-holders. 



JMr. Root: — I notice on page 222 you say 

 that ducks and bees thrive nicely together, 

 quacks to the contrary notwithstanding. Now, 

 if you are right I am one of the quacks you 

 speak of, for, ever since all our young ducks 

 died with their throats full of bee-stings, I 

 have been making the ridictilous statement 

 that young ducks and bees do not thrive at 

 all together — at least, mine all died. I have 

 never dared to try to raise any since, but I 

 wanted to this year; and I'd give quite a little 

 to know you are right Some of my neigh- 

 bors claimed last season that my bees were 

 killing their young ducks, as several had died 

 with stings sticking in their throats; but per- 

 haps it is a common thing for live ducks to 

 have bee-stings sticking inside their gullets, 

 and perhaps the bee-stings did not cause 

 death; but it looks rather bad. 



I notice on page 208 you call for a show of 

 hands from those who have used both the T- 

 super and section-holder arrangement; and as 

 my name is Hand, and as I have used the T 

 super ever since it came to light, I ought to be 

 a judge of its merits by this time; however, I 

 have used the section-holder only the past 

 season. I always considered the section-hold- 

 er a wide frame mutilated to fit a super which 

 was made for some other arrangement; and 

 after one season's use I am convinced that the 

 wide frame was completely spoiled by the 

 mutilation, and I have 200 of them I'd like to 

 give to some one who would take them away, 

 as I shall never use them again. I think a 

 wide frame or a bottom slat is preferable to a 



