4'jt 



Gleanings in bee cultce 



Fig. 3.- 



-D. L. Woodward's bees moved to their temporary location to catch the buckwheat honey-flaw. 

 Hundreds of acres of buckwheat surround the yard in every direction. 



Those that I expect to leave at the home 

 yard I set on permanent stands; the rest, 

 which are to be moved, are set near tlie 

 cellar, to save steps. 



As soon as the weather conditions are 

 favorable we go tlu-ough all the colonies, 

 clipping" the young queens and making out 

 new record-cards. Tliese cards or tags are 

 made of boards sent out with new liives for 

 division-boards; and as we do not use many 

 of these division-boards we make use of the 

 lumber by cutting the boards in pieces four 

 inches long for use as record-tags. These 

 tags are tacked on the rear right-hand 

 corner of the hive, and the record is kept 

 with a blue leadpencil. The whole season's 

 lecord can be kept on this tag by writing 

 compactly and abbreviating where possible. 

 Some beekeepers I have noticed keep a 

 record on a similar tag, or piece of card- 

 board, but place it under the cover of the 

 hive; but tliis necessitates removing the 

 cover whenever one wishes to look at the 

 recoid; and, besides, there is a great chance 

 of the tag being mislaid or lost. Some others 

 prefer to keep their records in a book; but 

 that is cumbersome and slow. With my 

 method the record is always at hand, and 

 after a while one learns to know the condi- 

 tion of each colony in the yard almost by 

 heart. 



'^hs fiist recuid to be put on the new tag 

 is the age of the queen. This is taken from 



the old tag before destroying it (of course 

 the tags will become weather-beaten during 

 a season, and the writing will be rather in- 

 distinct, and on this account we prefer to 

 make out new tags each spring. The first 

 record would read " Q 1912 C," C meaning 

 clipi3ed. If a later reading on the old tag 

 states that the bees have swarmed, then we 

 know that there must be a young queen 

 there to be clipped. If there is no record of 

 a swarm Ave skip it, leaving it to be looked 

 after when all the young queens are clipped. 

 After the young queens are clipped we pro- 

 teed to go through those that have been 

 skipped, in order to ascertain if the old 

 queen has been superseded or not. At tliis 

 time we also note on the tag the condition of 

 the colony, whether "strong," "medium/' 

 or "weak." Later in the season other things 

 are recorded as they come along, such as 

 " Swarmed J. 7," " Queenless Jy 1," or 

 " Short of Stores Oct. 1." 



All this work we like to do while tlie bees 

 are at the home yard; but it is not always 

 possible to do sa, as we want to get the bees 

 moved to the outyards, and get the supers on 

 before the swarming fever is started, as we 

 find from experience that it goes a long way 

 toward ju'eventing swarming. About May 

 15th we move tlie bees to the outyards, after 

 first moving the supers there ready to be 

 put on when the hives are opened up. 



After the white-honey How is over, which 



