928 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



who thoughtlessly take such doctrine for 

 sound sense. 



It is a difficult matter to tell when a field 

 is overstocked. A location may be good 

 enough, during the height of the honey-flow, 

 to support a thousand colonies with ease; 

 yet when the flow begins to fall off a little 

 there will not be enough honey to go around. 

 Times will come when nearly all the honey 

 the field affords is consumed in brood-rear- 

 ing. In times of scarcity the bees will be 

 consuming more than they can gather. 

 Especially in the spring there will not be 

 enough of either honey or pollen to enable 

 brood-rearing to be carried on as it should be. 

 Heavy feeding will be necessary at times 

 to supplement the lack of natural sources of 

 supply, and in the end it may be found that 

 the location that, at times, was good enough 

 for a thousand colonies, will not support, for 

 an average term of years, more than 100 

 colonies with the greatest economy and profit. 



My own experience may be interesting, 

 and perhaps shed a little light on the subject. 

 When I came here the location was plainly 

 capable of supporting profitably many more 

 bees than were in it; but as my bees in- 

 creased in numbers I took advantage of a 

 vacated location to establish an out-apiary 

 of sixty colonies only two miles away from 

 home. It was not as far away as I should 

 have liked; but locations are scarce here, 

 and it was better than nothing. That season 

 nearly every bee-keeper in the neighborhood 

 doubled the number of his colonies, some 

 even more than that. I decided to move out 

 more bees and start another apiary; but be- 

 fore I had my arrangements completed, 

 several new apiaries were started in my im- 

 mediate neighborhood. It seemed like poor 

 business policy to move my bees out to let 

 them come in, so I kept all my bees at home, 

 with the exception of the one apiary of 60 

 colonies which I had been obliged to move 

 nearer home, so that it was now only If 

 miles away, though I felt pretty sure that 

 the home location was badly ovei'stocked. 

 Now for results. The out-apiary, though 

 well within the field of the home apiary, ac- 

 cording to most authorities, and having the 

 same stock of bees in the same hives, and 

 with exactly the same management, av- 

 eraged nearly double the yield of honey per 

 hive that those at home gave. This experi- 

 ence taught me several things. First, that 

 the profitable range of bee-flight may be 

 much less than is commonly supposed. 

 Second, it was very evident that the home 

 location had more bees than it could profit- 

 ably support. Now, according to many who 

 have wi'itten on the subject, these people 

 had a perfect right to bring more bees into 

 this locality. 



All the bee-keepers in the neighborhood 

 own their homes, and none of the apiaries 

 lately established have been large ones. 

 There is no question as to the legal rights of 

 all, and yet the number of colonies in the 

 neighborhood must be reduced or nobody can 

 make as much money from bees as he ought 

 to. Let's hear from Dr. Miller. 



By the time this journal is going out to its 

 readers the great St. Louis convention will 

 have just closed its sessions. I will endeav- 

 or to bring back short sketches of the dis- 

 cussions. 



The Review editor, in his capacity as foul- 

 brood inspector, says he sees all kinds of 

 hives and fixtures. One thing that he has 

 been able to notice is that wide and deep 

 top-bars ' ' will prevent at least three-fourths 

 of the combs that would otherwise be built. " 



The Western Bee Journal has absorbed 

 another bee-paper, the Southland Queen. 

 Mr. Atchley, the publisher, will be retained 

 as one of the writers. The Journal shows 

 evidence of permanency— something that 

 bee-papers on the Pacific coast have lacked. 

 There is a large field for a Western bee- 

 journal, and we wish the present one abun- 

 dant success. 



COLONIES NOT NECESSARILY QUEENLESS. 



Every year we get a great lot of letters 

 saying that colonies are queenless because 

 there are no eggs nor brood in the hive. 

 Beginners especially need to be reminded 

 that average queens, especially if they be 

 six months or more old, will taper off in egg- 

 laying during August, and probably stop al- 

 together in September unless they are fed 

 or there is a fall flow of honey. A little 

 careful search will often reveal the queen, 

 although she will look very much smaller 

 than she did in the height of the season, and 

 to the novice she looks much like a woi'ker- 

 bee. 



WHEN TO WINTER INDOORS AND WHEN TO 

 WINTER OUTDOORS. 



The question as to whether it will be wise 

 to winter in the cellar or outdoors will de- 

 pend on conditions. A cellar should not be 

 used if the temperature can not be kept 

 from going below 40; and under no circum- 

 stances should one use the indoor method if 

 the temperature outdoors does not go much 

 below freezing, and the bees have an oppor- 

 tunity to fly once in two or three weeks. 

 Continued zero weather outdoors for a 

 month at a time with almost no warm spells 

 requires the indoor method with uniform in- 

 door temperature of about 45 degrees F. If 

 the repository warms up to 60 degrees much 

 ventilation will be required. 



LOCALITY, AND ITS BEARING ON APICULTU- 

 RAL TEACHINGS. 



In this issue, in the department of Bee- 

 keeping among the Rockies, will be seen 



