358 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



DSElPOra® DM ®^Q.D^(E)[SraD^ 



p. C. Chadwick, Redlands, Cal. 



The orange bloom is already nearly over, 

 and but little extracting has been done. In 

 localities where bees depend entirely on sage 

 ranges there is about as much honey stored 

 per colony as in those depending on the 

 orange alone; and there is a prospect of the 

 sage flow lasting from four to six weeks yet, 

 while the orange is nearly gone. This ought 

 to be consoling to the sage man who got 

 nothing last year. 



•^ 



In spite of the fact that this spring has 

 been an ideal one for building up weak col- 

 onies, the fact remains that the strength of 

 colonies Mar. 15 would have been about nor- 

 mal for .Ian. 15. It is impossible to force 

 three frames of brood in a hive that contains 

 only bees enough to cover one frame; but 

 new honey came in so rapidly, beginning 

 early in the season, that it was necessary to 

 spread the brood repeatedly to keep the queen 

 busy, and the bees from wasting time by 

 covering the combs on each side of the brood- 

 nest that contained only new honey and pol- 

 len. They would have removed this in time, 

 but time was precious. 

 ■^^ 



Seven cases shipped from Kedlands the 

 first of the season brought 1)4 cts. Sounds 

 good, doesn't it? Three buyers this week 

 wanted to contract for the season's output 

 of white and water-white honey. The first 

 offered 5 cts., F. O. B., but the last one came 

 up to 6j^;7 would have looked better to me. 



The best-posted man I have seen for 

 some time is a honey-buyer who told me of 

 14 different places where there would be a 

 big honey crop this season, in some of which 

 the bees were only a few weeks out of their 

 winter quarters. I have no use for these 

 men who try to scare us out of our honey 

 and money. 



Since my rejiort that this locality has sus- 

 tained a loss of 50 })er cent, I have been ac- 

 cused of overestimating the loss; but after 

 further and more careful investigation I am 

 convinced tliat my report was not an error. 

 Besides, I am getting letters from other dis- 

 tricts that lead me to believe that this con- 

 dition is general over the southern ])art of 

 the State. In one apiary near Monrovia 

 only 100 colonies were saved out of 400; and 

 in another locality 25 were left out of 150. 



Not very much can be expected of colo- 

 nies that start into winter quarters with a 

 small forceof bees already old enough to die, 

 even tliough such colonies are often the ones 

 that produced the most honey the season 

 previous. In our locality many colonies 

 died, leaving jilenty of stores of both honey 

 and pollen, and, of course, all died that were 

 not well supplied. However, probably 75 

 per cent of the bee-keepers who lost in this 

 way read no bee-journals, are not experienc- 

 ed, and therefore not up to date. They do 

 not know what caused these conditions,'and 



they never will know, but will ignorantly 

 let the same thing happen again. 



One of the most essential things that bid 

 for success is room sufficient to keep every 

 bee working to the limit, and everlastingly 

 at it. Valuable time is often lost, even 

 when there is little sealed honey in the hive; 

 colonies with scarcely a cell sealed become 

 as completely blocked from a field-worker's 

 standpoint as though every cell had been 

 sealed. I learned this bitter experience dur- 

 ing 1909, when my hives became filled to 

 the limit; but there was little sealing done, 

 because the bees would not seal until the 

 honey was properly ripened, and the ripen- 

 ing was slow in the extreme. Where there 

 were extra combs to supply room, the yield 

 per colony was far greater, showing conclu- 

 sively that plenty of empty combs are a 

 most valuable asset to an extracting apiary. 



This honey was from the orange, princi- 

 pally, which yields the thinnest nectar, and, 

 besides, was gathered when weather condi- 

 tions were not favorable to the rajjid evapo- 

 ration in the hive. With the sage it is dif- 

 ferent, the nectar being much more easily 

 reduced, and the weather conditions inore 

 favorable. We can often extract this when 

 no more than half sealed, yet have a splen- 

 did honey in all resi)ects. 



Successful management depends on hav- 

 ing every colony treated as regards its own 

 condition. When a colony is ready to ex- 

 tract, the work should be attended to im- 

 mediately, without waiting for the entire 

 apiary to get ready, or even enough for a 

 day's extracting, for valuable time will be 

 lost by some colonies before others are ready. 



One year, when the season was half over, 

 a friend of mine who had had but little ex- 

 perience allowed his hives to remain full 

 and sealed because he had read that honey 

 should be left on the hives until well ri- 

 pened. Think of it! hives full, sealed, and 

 waiting, and a honey-flow on that would 

 yiekl to any good colony not less than 5 

 lbs. daily! There are some who go to the 

 othel- extreme, and wait for little sealing 

 under any condition, removing mere nec- 

 tar at times M'hen buyers sometimes refuse 

 to handle for lack of body and danger of 

 souring in the can. Others seek to do 

 things on a big scale. They have several 

 yards which they run on the let-alone plan 

 until har\'est time, when they rush into the 

 yard witli a power extractor, and begin on 

 one side and strip it clean. If the owners of 

 such yards are late, and the hives have been 

 full for seven or eight days, from 5 to 8 lbs. 

 of honey lost per day for lack of room, they 

 are none the wiser, but go on with a feeling 

 of satisfaction that they are "boring with 

 a big auger." Details are lost sight of; 

 swarms are let go, and conditions are not 

 watched closely. The day is coming when 

 these men will finish up with a gimlet! 



