366 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



the last of May, sumac early to mid-July; 

 clethra, buttonbush, and clematis the last 

 of July and early August, and goldenrod in 

 August and September. This makes a noise 

 like" a bee paradise, but 'tisn't. We have a 

 little something coming in much of the time, 

 except when a drouth butts in now and 

 then, and we almost never have a " flood " 

 of honey. Bees seldom get such " a load 

 on " that they have to be helped into the 

 hive. They are more temperate hereabout. 



The other problems are transportation of 

 supplies and crop, and getting to and from 

 the yards. Trolley express goes right by 

 one yard, while freights plus farm teams 

 cover the others. Trolley or train carries 

 me to one yard and train and auto to the 

 others. All yards are run for both comb 

 and extracted honey. 



Comb honey is cased at tlie yard, and 

 generally shipped in by auto. Extracted 

 honey is put into cans, and goes to town by 

 the farm team. A little money, a little 

 honey, and a little jollity is all that is 

 needed. 



A room in some one of the buildings at 

 each place serves all purposes of prepara- 

 tion, extracting, etc. 



Supers are put on when it suits my 

 convenience. To be sure, the bees now and 

 then gnaw the foundation if there chances 

 to be a dearth before the flow starts; but 

 what's the odds when they make it all good 

 again as soon as there is something coming 

 in? 



Most of the honey is removed by use of 

 escapes. When I cannot go down the night 



before, I have some one at each of the more 

 remote yards whom I can usually get to do 

 it for me. 



And it all sounds so simple and so easy! 

 Well, it is; but every step is planned out 

 ahead, every kind of short cut is used, and 

 no operation is followed which can be omit- 

 ted. In other words, the whole thing is a 

 machine with every Avheel doing its duty in 

 its turn, and not a useless cog in it. 



Pardon me. I must hedge a little. I do 

 do quite a bit of experimenting, but it is 

 all in attempts to find other short cuts. 



Did you ask which factor T considered 

 most important in swarm prevention? All 

 of them. The young queen comes first, 

 perhaps; combs second, and the other things 

 bunched. You see those good combs prop- 

 erly spaced give the queen all needed room, 

 and the supers on ahead of time give the 

 bees loafing room before the flow and stor- 

 age room during it. If honey happens to 

 ijo' r in before any comb is ready in the 

 ppctions, and brood combs are pretty well 

 filled by the queen, the bees just pop it 

 into every empty cell having only eggs 

 (T have never seen them submerge larvje). 

 This is rem.oved and ripened during 

 the night, and then goes above (where 

 combs by then are growing fast), for they 

 are pretty careful not to hamper the work 

 of that young queen, and the temporary 

 honey bath never harms the eggs. 



The secret of success in handling out- 

 apiaries here or anywhere is preparation, 

 material and mental. If you cannot work 

 out the second, never mind the first. 



Providence, R. I. 



CONTROL BUT DO NOT PREVENT SWARMS IN OUTYARDS 



Hive Swarms on Starters and Put Full Sheets of Foundation in the Supers 



PY F. W. LESSER 



It is easy enough to prevent swarming 

 in outyards run for comb honey if we do 

 not consider the work or loss of honey in- 

 volved; but after trying all sorts of non- 

 SAvarming schemes for years I haA^e come to 

 the conclusion that it pays much better to 

 direct the SAvarming impulse into proper 

 channels than to try to prevent it entirely. 



The dequeening or caging method will 

 prevent SAvarming, but it requires a lot of 

 expert labor, and the results in storing are 

 far from satisfactory. 



The plan of allowing the bees to fill an 

 upper story full of honey, and, Avhen the 

 flow is well on, shaking the bees on to it 

 and ]iutting boxes on is not to be recom- 

 mended, as Italian bees Avill not carry up 

 the honey satisfactorily, and what is car- 



ried up will be of poor quality. Also, this 

 plan requires good judgment as to the 

 proper time to put on the boxes, and makes 

 a lot of Avork at a critical time. 



Any plan which requires an extra set of 

 brood-combs is bad, as it increases the in- 

 A'estment, risk of disease, and makes a lot 

 of work to keep the combs the rest of the 

 year. I knoAV of no greater nuisance to the 

 comb-honey man than a lot of empty combs 

 to keep from moth, disease, robbers, mice, 

 etc., for eight or ten months of the year 

 Avhen not needed under the sections. 



After trying about everything the plan 

 T like bes*^ is " sliook " swarming, Avhich I 

 learned in Colorado fifteen years ago. I 

 believe it is the best plan to use wherever 

 there is foul biood. Those Colorado fellows 



