MARCH 15, 1914 



217 



queens would become honey-bound and 

 siiither but very little of the later flow. If 

 extracting' fi'om the brood-chamber would 

 increase the amount of brood during- the 

 period just before and while the main flow 

 is on, the lioney crop of the later flow could 

 be doubled ; and even with my small apiary 

 the extractor would pay for itself the first 

 season. The late honey is of a much heav- 

 ier body than the main flow, and does not 

 grade as higli. The main flow is about 7") 

 per cent No. 1; the later flow, about 75 pei' 

 cent No. 2. 



A strong colony produces three cases of 

 honey which has the largest per cent of No. 

 1. A weak colony produces three cases 

 mostly No. 2. A colony that keeps strong 

 throughout the season will produce five 

 cases averaging more tlian 50 per cent No. 

 1. 



For extracting from two to three combs 

 per season per colony in an apiary of 75 to 

 150 colonies, what size of extractor would 

 you advise? The chances are that this will 

 remain a comb-honey territory on account 

 of the heavy body of the honey, and the 

 extractor would be used only to relieve the 

 brood-chamber or for extracting from combs 

 discarded on account of drone-cells or other 

 faults. 



Bishop, Cal. 



[After reading the above, one can not 

 fail to be impressed by the fact that locality, 

 in spite of the frequent jests whenever thj 

 name is mentioned, is an important item to 

 be considered, for it is emphatically true 

 that one system of management will not 

 apply in all places by any means. This 

 question of extracting before the main hon- 

 ey-flow is one of these problems that depend 

 upon the locality. In our opinion there are 

 few localities indeed where extracting be- 

 fore the honey-flow is necessary ; but under 

 the conditions mentioned by our correspon- 

 dent it is probable that the judicious use of 

 the extractor in giving the queen room to 



lay Avould be the wise course to pursue. If 

 there is any regularity about the oversup- 

 ply of stores before the main honey-flow, 

 one might ask whether it would not be 

 better to supply less stores in the fall, and 

 so avoid the necessity of extracting in the 

 spring. Perhaps, however, it wonld be 

 risky, if not altogether impossible, to do 

 this.^ 



('oncerniiig the use of the honey-extractor 

 in the spring, no less an authority than E. 

 W. Alexander advocated this very thing. 

 We quote from page 28 of Alexander's 

 " Writings on Practical Bee Culture: '* 



I honestly think a moderate use of the extractor 

 through the latter part of May and fore part of June, 

 fspecially when running an apiary for comb honey, 

 would be the means of many beekeepers securing 

 twice as much surplus as they usually do. Here at 

 the North, May is the month of all the year when 

 our bees require the closest attention. It is then 

 that we should care for them so that every inch of 

 comb in the hive may be utilized for brood-rearing 

 that can possibly be used for that purpose. Bring 

 your extractor into use, cleaning your hives of near- 

 ly all capped honey, and see to it that every queen 

 in the apiary is doing her very best to crowd the 

 combs with brood; then you will soon have those 

 strong colonies that will give you a fine surplus, and 

 at the end of the season you will hardly believe it 

 when told that the summer has been a poor one for 

 the production of honey. 



If the main honey-flow is preceded by a 

 comparatively long period of warm weather, 

 no doubt there would be no risk in using 

 the extractor; but it would seem to us un- 

 wise to extract just before the main honey- 

 flow, as otherwise the bees would probably 

 have a tendency to put the new honey di- 

 rectly back into the same combs, and it 

 would then be harder to get them broken 

 of this habit than if the honey had been 

 left there in the first place. Moreover, 

 nothing would be gained along the line of 

 providing more room for the queen. 



We do not feel competent to cover the 

 whole ground suggested by our con-espon- 

 dent, and we should like to hear from oth- 

 ers, therefore, who may have had experience 

 along this line. — Ed.] 



A BOTTOM-BOARD FEEDER MADE ENTIRELY OF METAL 



BY JOSEPH FINSTED 



The accompanying picture shows a metal 

 bottom-board feeder which has proved more 

 satisfactory than any other feeder I have 

 ever used for feeding bees in cold weather. 

 Last fall I had over 200 colonies that had 

 to be fed from 5 to 20 lbs. each to give them 

 ample stores for winter; but on account of 

 other work I neglected the bees until the 

 first i^art of October. Being so late in the 



season I had planned to feed in a wholesale 

 way so as to be ready with the feeding be- 

 fore cold weather set in; but, alas! when I 

 was ready to go on with the wholesale feed- 

 ing my plans were shattered on account of 

 cold weather that set in unexpectedly. 



I tried several feeders that are now on 

 the market, which are used over the brood- 

 nest ; but those feeders failed entirely to 



