312 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



All the supers had been removed from the hives (G. C. Gieiner's apiary). 



swarmed this summer, and only one of the 

 divisions run for extracted honey swarmed 

 normally during the white-clover flow. 

 Later in the season I had five superseding 

 swarms from the same divisions — those 

 with old queens and flying bees. Two went 

 back of their own accord, and the others I 

 returned to their home by taking their 

 queens away when being clustered on small 

 trees or berry-bushes. 



As my method insures me this much-de- 

 sired swarm control I liave no queens to 

 clip; no queen-cells to hunt and destroy, no 

 shaking off or running after young swarms 

 — nothing of the kind ; in fact, I have hard- 

 ly opened a brood-chamber after all colo- 

 nies had received their full equipment of 

 combs at the beginning of the white-clover 

 flow. Instead, I can spend all my time 

 forcing the production of surplus honey, 

 and my bees are not troubled with swarm- 

 ing notions, but are bent on expending all 

 their energy in the super work. 



Another advantage, and one of great im- 

 portance in producing a heavy yield of sur- 

 plus, is the breeding-up of a hive full of 

 young vigorous field workers at the right 

 time. My method brings this about. 



On page 831, Gleanings for Oct. 15, the 

 editor justly cautions the comb-honey pro- 

 ducer against the use of bait sections and 

 finishing up sections by feeding back ex- 

 tracted honey. From experience T can en- 

 dorse every word he says, but with this pro- 

 viso ; " If not properly done." Both fea- 



tures are an important part of my method, 

 and are the raeai^s of my unusual surplus 

 yields, and, in a certain way, the preven- 

 tion of swarming. To produce desirable 

 bait sections they must be drawn out and 

 filled, taken from the hive, extracted and 

 cleaned by the bees as soon as possible, and 

 then stored in air and dust proof compart- 

 ments until wanted. Honey produced on 

 bait sections managed in this way is in no 

 way inferior to any produced in the usual 

 way. It would puzzle the honey-expert as 

 well as the every-day consumer to detect the 

 difference. 



It is the same Avith feeding back to finish 

 sections. It must be done properly. Feed- 

 ing must begin before the honey-flow en- 

 tirely ceases. Sections to be finished should 

 not be off the hives any longer than is 

 strictly necessary to prevent them becoming 

 stale at the cell-tops, and feeding must not 

 be allowed to suffer any break from begin- 

 ning to end. If the honey to be used for 

 this purpose has not been extracted in its 

 green state, when still nectar, it must be 

 diluted to about that consistency. Some of 

 ray best fancy honey, exhibited at the fair, 

 was finished by feeding. However, from a 

 honey-producer's standpoint I admit that 

 both features, bait sections and feeding, are 

 detrimental to the quality of comb honey, 

 but not any more so than the use of full 

 sheets of foundation. 



The accompanying illustration was taken 

 after all the hives were stripped of their 



