1^)04 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



6'A 



draw the frames filled with pollen back 

 awaj' from the brood, and place such frames 

 as ma3' contain honej' which are in the hive 

 between these frames and the brood, thus 

 causing' great activitj^ with the bees in 

 changing things back as they wish them 

 again. The result of this is the converting 

 of both pollen and honey into brood much 

 faster than would have resulted had things 

 been left as they were." 



" I see how that would work in the maple 

 bloom, and where colonies did not have 

 much brood in the hive; but how about the 

 matter when the hives are more nearly fill- 

 ed? " 



" If the brood has increased enough so 

 that this and the combs of pollen fill the 

 hives, then the combs of pollen are taken 

 away for the time being, and combs of hon- 

 ey (if I have them) put in their stead. If I 

 do not have combs of honey, then empty 

 combs are used. If there com a few rainy 

 or windy days at this time I find that what 

 seemed to be a damaging- amount of pollen 

 is all exhausted, so that the cells are once 

 more empty or filled with eggs, as you 

 spoke of finding- once in your colonies, as 

 it takes large quantities of food for the 

 brood at this season of the \ear. " 



" What do 3'ou do with the combs of pol- 

 len you took out when the bees had so 

 much? " 



" After apple-ble)om there is little for the 

 bees to work on, and the surplus pollen is 

 soon worked up into brood, and more need- 

 ed, when I set back that which I removed, 

 and thus brood- rearing is kept up more ef- 

 fectually than by feeding syrup or honey, 

 as is advised by many. I always consider 

 plenty of pollen in the combs during the 

 period of scarcity before clover as a great 

 advantage." 



" But what about the later pollen, in time 

 of clover-bloom? " 



" The pollen g-athered during the time of 

 the clover-bloom is treated differently by 

 the bees from that gathered earlier. The 

 latter rarely has honey placed en top of it, 

 while that from clover is placed in the cells 

 till they are from half to three- fourths full, 

 when the cell is filled with honey, and 

 sealed over so as to preserve it against a 

 time of need during the latter part of win- 

 ter and early spring. Whenever I find col- 

 onies sufi"ering from too much clover pol en 

 I take away two or three of these combs 

 and place them ever weak colonies to care 

 for till all danger from moths is past, when 

 they are stored away for winter." 

 ' " How can you tell these combs of pollen 

 from those not having any, after the pollen 

 is covered with honey and the cells sealed 

 over? " 



"Combs containing pollen under honey 

 are readily distinguished from those with- 

 out by holding them up before a strong 

 light and looking through them." 



" What do you finally do with these 

 •combs?" 



" When spring opens I place one of these 

 combs in each hive (if I have that many), 



many bee keepers. In this way all pollen 

 is used up to a far better advantage than 

 the inventing of machines for its removal 

 from the combs." 



" Well, I do not know but you are right." 



As a general rule, western comb honey 

 should all be marketed by the first of Oc- 

 tober. 



E. J. Atchley, the editor of the Southland 

 Queen, is spending the summer at Little- 

 ton, Colo., where he recently arrived with 

 a full carload of Texas bees. 



Don't hold back the facts in regard to 

 production. Not only is there no gain in 

 such a policy, but positive harm is usually 

 the result. Prices inevitably reach the nat- 

 ural level of supply and demand. 



One of the severest trials of the honey- 

 buyer is careless and incompetent grading. 

 Every bee-keeper should seek to grade ac- 

 cording to the established rules that govern 

 the market where he desires to dispose of 

 his product, do his work carefully and con- 

 scientiously, and study it as a fine art. 



I wish to register most emphatically my 

 approval of the editorial on page 537, June 

 1, relative to the early marketing of comb 

 honey. The facts therein stated tally with 

 our experience in Colorado last year, and 

 in former years, and the advice given is 

 sound as "old wheat." Read it again, Mr. 

 Bee-keeper, and then paste it in your hat 

 and read it daily until your crop is sold. 



If I succeed in collecting sufficient relia- 

 ble data, I shall be able to give a fairly 

 accurate summing-up of the western crop 

 situation in this department for August 15. 

 I hope that every western bee keeper who 

 scans these lines will sit right down and 

 write me a postal- card report for his local- 

 ity. If the size of the crop can be known 

 with approximate correctness, and that in- 

 formation generally diii'used, no bee-keeper 

 need sacrifice on his crop by holding the 

 price either too high or too low. 



The United States government has at 

 last decided to construct the Gunnison tun- 

 nel, which will provide water to irrigate 

 about 90,000 acres of now desert land in the 

 vicinity of Montrose, Colo. Two years will 

 elapse before tunnel and canals will be 

 completed and the land reclaimed. This is 



