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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



We are now ready for the main question, 

 "How many bees should ea h queen have 

 in the spring to be in the best condition for 

 the honey- flow from clover?" 



That will depend something upon the 

 queen. If the queen is a good one, one that 

 is capable of laying 3000 eggs every day 

 for three weeks in succession, such a queen 

 does not need as many bees as does the 

 queen that is not so go d, or the one that 

 will not lay more than from 1£00 to 2000 

 eggs daily during the time specified. And 

 the latter named queens will not give as 

 good results in honey as the former, no 

 matter how many bees they may have in 

 early spring. With a queen of the first 

 class, I much prefer the colony which has 

 a five-range cluster on a cold morning in 

 early April to one which has a greater 

 number of bees. . And what do I mean by 

 a "five-range" cluster? I mean any colo- 

 ny which shows bees between six c^mbs, 

 or in the five spaces which are made by the 

 six combs, the bees in the center space 

 nearly touching the sides of the hive, and 

 coming nearly down to the bottom-bar to 

 the frames, on a cold morning in early 

 April, the same being found in this way on 

 tipping up the hive from the bottom-board, 

 and before the colony "breaks cluster" 

 from the disturbance of the tipping. The 

 clusters in the spaces on either side of this 

 center space will rot be as large as ihe 

 center cne, and the two still further out are 

 s ill smaller than those nearest the center. 

 If I have made this plain (and I think I 

 have) I will say that, in Central New York, 

 that size of cluster will give better results 

 than will a cluster either larger or smaller, 

 according to an experience of over 30 years; 

 and if I could have each colony in the whole 

 apiaty in thj-t shape, I would ask for noth- 

 ing better Such a colony I consider A No. 

 1 in every respect, if it has a good queen 

 and a reasonable amount of stores. I used 

 to thirk that, where I had a colony at this 

 time of the year (first of April), that had 

 bees in from eight to ten spaces, as I some- 

 times would have with large colonies when 

 set out of the cellar, I had something that 

 would show a great record in honey; but 

 such large colonies have never produced the 

 honey that colonies of thf five-range clus- 

 ters have done from clover and bass wood. 

 I have had these large colonies fill their 

 hive with brood in about four weeks from 

 the time of setting from the cellar, and it 

 seemed that they would do great things 

 when the honey harvest arrived; but soon 

 the queen would cease her prolificness to a 

 great extent, or just at the time she should 

 be laying the most profusely in order to 

 bring the largest amount of bees on the 

 stage of action at just the right time for 

 these bees to take advantage of the clover- 

 honey harvest. If it was honey from the 

 fruit-bloom that gave us our main crop, 

 then these large colonies in April would be 

 just the thing: but a surplus from his 

 source, to amount to any thing as a market- 

 able product, is something which does not 



materialize once in a dozen years. With 

 the five- space cluster the bees arrive at the 

 maximum amount of brood-rearing in just 

 the right time for the bees from that brood 

 to become laborers in the harvest from clo- 

 ver, and that is the reason that a cluster 

 of this size is the best. 



But what about those which have a small- 

 er amount of bees than a five cluster? 

 These are not united, as I have already ex- 

 plained; but as soon as any of the large 

 coknies have frames of brood from which 

 the 3 oung bees are just beginning to emerge, 

 such a comb of this emerging brood is lak- 

 en and carried to one of the colonies which 

 was only a four-space cluster, and an empty 

 comb or comb of honey (according as they 

 have stores) is given to the strong colony. 

 This helps both colonies by bringing each 

 up or down, as the case may be, to the place 

 which the five- space colony now occupies. 

 In a week or so, another frame of emerging 

 brood is taken from the strong colony and 

 given in the same way to the colony which 

 was still weaker in early spring, or the 

 three- space cluster; and in still another 

 week, another frame is taken from the 

 strong one and given to this s^me three- 

 space colony In this way the strong c< lony 

 is brought, as nearly as may be, to the con- 

 dition of the five-space colony at the time of 

 the clover harvest, and the three and four 

 space colony c mes up so that they nearly 

 equal the ideal one, which had five spaces 

 occupied with bees in early April. 



In my earlier bee-keeping I used to bring 

 the two-space cluster up in early June by 

 giving it a comb of emer» ing brood from 

 two or three of the now complete colonies; 

 but since I learned more of the " shook- 

 swaim" plan I consider these very weak 

 colonies of nearly as much value as one 

 that was fairly good in the spring, using 

 them to care for the brood from which the 

 swarms are shaken, as I gave in the "Con- 

 versation" found in the February 1st issue 

 of Gleanings for this year. This bring- 

 ing of a colony up to its maximum strength 

 in bees in just the right time for the hDney 

 harvest may be a hobby of miae; but I 

 found, by careful watching for years, 

 watching to find out why it was that cer- 

 tain colonies in the apiary did so much bet- 

 ter at honey-storing than did others, or, in 

 other words, what it was that made certain 

 colonies "lucky colonies," as it was termed, 

 that it was just this thing of having the 

 maximum amount of bees on the field of ac- 

 tion, just when the harvest was at its best, 

 that gave these "lucky" yields; and as 

 twenty years' experience along this line 

 has given the same "lucky yields" every 

 time, I am still riding the same old hobby; 

 and allow me to say that it is just the best 

 hobby any bee-keeper can ride who is de- 

 pending upon the honey yield from his api- 

 ary for his success If I am correct, Mr. 

 A. I. Root and Dr. Miller do not discoun 

 tenance the riding of hobbles, and claim 

 that the man who never has any hobby is 

 not much of a success in the world. 



