1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



485 



" This looks quite reasonable, and such 

 a course would require much less work 

 with less expense than would the making^ 

 of sug-ar S3'rup, feeders, and the nightly 

 feeding of bees for weeks at a time. But 

 how can I secure these combs of honey? 

 It would take lots of them if a man kept 

 many colonies."' 



" Yes, a great many combs could be used 

 advantageouslj' in this way, and ofttimes 

 such are almost a necessit}'^ to supply bees 

 with winter stores, where short, and also 

 to keep colonies from starving in the spring. 

 I intend to keep as many as two full combs 

 of honey to each colony I expect to have in 

 the fall, so that I may be fully supplied for 

 any emergency that may come along; and 

 if these combs of honey are not needed for 

 feeding, then they can be used for this 

 stimulative feeding; and should the flowers 

 3'ield nectar so they are not needed for this 

 purpose, then thej' can be used to advan- 

 tage in the swarming season." 



"Yes, but that is not answering- my 

 question of how I can obtain them.'' 



"In Gleanings for Feb. 1 1 told something 

 of how I made shook swarms, and how I 

 kept tiering- the brood as the bees were 

 shaken off it on the weaker colonies in the 

 apiary, till I finally had combs massed on 

 some colonies till some had four and five 

 stories." 



"Yes, I remember reading- that conver- 

 sation." 



" Well, now, instead of carrying- that out 

 to such an extent as there given, which 

 was on the plan of securing- all of the comb 

 honey possible, and using only bees enough 

 to protect the broodless combs from the rav- 

 ages of the wax-moth, stop the tiering of 

 brood with only two stories of the same over 

 a rather weak colony, using a queen ex- 

 cluder over the lower hive having the queen 

 in it, and, when fall comes, unless the sea- 

 son has been very poor you will have twenty 

 combs filled solid with honey. If the season 

 proves to be a good one, then I keep adding 

 hives of combs as they are filled, till the 

 season for honey is over; and in this way I 

 often get 40 L. frames nearly solid full of 

 honey ; for you will realize that those hives 

 of brood give monstrous colonies in bees at 

 the end of 21 days from the time the brood 

 was given." 



" I see now, and the way is very simple, 

 also. ' ' 



" Yes, and there is no loss with it either; 

 for if we get more of these combs of honey 

 than we need, it is the easiest matter in the 

 world to extract from those combs when we 

 have all the honey not needed by the bees 

 in a perfectly salable form, and just as 

 good, to all intents and purposes, as if we 

 had worked those colonies for extracted 

 honey. ' ' 



"Truly. I wonder I did not think of it 

 when I read that February first conversa- 

 tion. But you said something about using 

 these full combs in swarming time. What 

 about that? " 



"As much of this honev as is not needed 



for feeding, either in fall, winter, or spring, 

 and we have not considered it best to ex- 

 tract, it can be used to advantage by giving 

 the combs to our new swarms, whether they 

 are from natural swarming or made on the 

 ' shook ' plan." 



"How many frames of this honey would 

 you give to a swarm? " 



" If the season previous has been a poor 

 one, and the combs are only half to two- 

 thirds full of honey, then you may secure 

 the best results by hiving your swarms on 

 the full number of frames your hive con- 

 tains, and putting the sections on at the 

 time of hiving. But if the combs are com- 

 pletely filled from top to bottom, and from 

 side to side, it will be better to use only 

 half the number your hive holds when hiving 

 swarms, filling out the rest of the hive with 

 wired frames full of foundation." 



"Why do you made the difference be- 

 tween full frames of honey and those part- 

 ly full?" 



" If a swarm is given a full hive of full 

 combs of honey the bees may be thrown into 

 an abnormal state and not carry much of 

 the honey to the sections, as they generally 

 will do with nearly the whole, where only 

 a few are used. If the bees do not immedi- 

 ately si art to carrying the honey from these 

 full combs, the result will be little or no 

 honey in the sections, and little brood and 

 few bees in the hive in the fall — they appar- 

 ently concluding that they are all full of 

 honey now, ready for winter, and so loaf 

 the rest of the season away. But where 

 part of the space is empty, enough to start 

 them laboring, then the queen gets a good 

 start, and pushes her egg-laying till near- 

 ly all of the honey given is put in the sec- 

 tions in salable shape." 



"I see now. But I'll be going. Instead 

 of the one question I thought to ask you 

 when I came, they have kept coming and 

 coming. I hope I have not wearied you." 



"No. I wish to have every thing made 

 as plain as possible when any one desires 

 knowledge on bee- matters. I know that 

 was what I wished when I was a beginner 

 in apiculture. But there is one point I came 

 near forgetting, which is this: If the combs 

 of honey which you have are of an inferior 

 quality, or of dark color, or both, then the 

 only thing to do with them is to use this 

 honey for spring feeding; for if such inferi- 

 or honey is given at swarming time, more 

 or less of it will find its way into the sec- 

 tions, and become mixed with that coming 

 from the fields, thus injuring the sale of the 

 honey stored, and giving yourself a bad 

 reputation, or a bad reputation to your 

 honey." 



Convention Notice. 



The Victoria Co. Beekeepers' Association of Ontario 

 will hold its annual session May 23, at I,ittle Britain. 

 We expect \Vm. McEvoy and other prominent bee- 

 men to be present. Sessions will be held at 10 a.m. 

 and 2 p.m. All interested are invited. 



Cresswell, Ont. A. Noble, Secretary. 



