SEPTEMBEK 1, 19 Ki 



BEEKEEPING AMONG the ROCKIES 



Wesley Foster, Boulder, Colorado 



CAKMIOLIZED CLOTHS. 



J. A. Green's article on freeing; 

 l)ees from sujiers is very interest- 

 ing'. My experience with nsing 

 carbolized cloths is rather limited, 

 hnt r look at it tliis way: During 

 the honey-fiow the bees may he 

 smoked out as rapidly as tliey can he run 

 out with the carbolized cloths. At tlie end 

 of the season, when the weather is cool, the 

 escapes will do the work far more satisfac- 

 torily. In fact, it is practically impossible 

 to remove bees with carbolized cloths when 

 the weather is cool. Bee-escapes have work- 

 ed well with me, and it does not take more 

 than twelve hours when not to exceed three 

 supers are piled up on an escape. T am 

 going 40 ti\v carbolized cloths again, follow- 

 ing pointers learned from Mr. Green's 

 article. 



THE CROP AND :\rARKET. 



The honey crop is pretty well accounted 

 for in the Rocky Mountain region now ; 

 and while the bees are still gathering' (Aug. 

 12), little is being done in the supers except 

 finishing. The total crop for the West will 

 not be large — nothing like 1913, but prob- 

 ably near last season's crop. It is better in 

 places than last season's crop and poorer 

 in others. The drouth in July cut the crop 

 in Colorado fully fifty per cent, and the 

 cool spriiig in Idaho made things turn out 

 unsatisfactorily there. One and a hall: 

 cases of coinb honey per colony is about the 

 averaae yield in some districts, and much 

 less than that in parts of Idaho. Probably 

 a few small areas will show higher avei'- 

 ages. The demand for comb honey has not 

 been brisk, as the white-clover crop has 

 supjjlied the early market. The local de- 

 mand for extracted honey has been good ; 

 and with a little moi'e work the home mar- 

 ket will absorb a larue part of our crop. 



GRADIN-G COAfB HOXEV. 

 It is easy to grade com!) honey so that it 

 will comply with almost any grading rules 

 it a few simple I'ules are folloAved. 1. Pack 

 all sections of like color, weight, and tinisii 

 rogether. Recognize ihat general poor ap- 

 pearance will consign a section to the cull 

 class, evei! tho there may be little said in 

 t'.ie grading rni"s applicable to Ihat special 



case. In packing, the lower aradcs require 

 more cases to receive !lie various colors and 

 weights than the higher grades. Three casss 

 will generally acconnmidale the No. 2 

 grade; two cases for the Xo. 1 and two 

 cases for the fancy grade. Learn to decide 

 in a second or two just where each section 

 of hnney goes as yon jiick it up. It will 

 -^oop. become necessary to weigh but \'ery 

 tew sections of honey unless-you are stamp- 

 ing the exact weight on each section. 



In polishing comb-honey sections a steel 

 initly-knife, a piece of glass, or sharp- 

 edged juece of steel will do the work nocfis- 

 >i\vy v.'itheut the dust injuring the surface 

 of the comb the way the polishing-macliines 

 do it. The manner of ])r!i(huing tlie honey 

 is (juite an item also. 



SUPERIXn AXD DESUPERINC;. 



Early in the season tlie beekeeper is con- 

 cerned with getting the bees into the supers; 

 later he concerns himself with the problem 

 of how to super; still later he is perplexed 

 to know how to desuper his colonies. If 

 sjiring woi'k lias heel! done properly, and 

 the season is favorable, it is easy to get the 

 bees into tlie sujriers if you have eight-frame 

 hives, Kere in Colorado it is far easier to 

 secure a crop of comb honey from an eight- 

 frame than from a ten-frame colony. Colo- 

 nies may be forced to super work by lifting 

 the body from the bottom-board an inch oi' 

 by the use of bait combs. 



In supering, it is rare that a season is so 

 fa\orable that lifting supers and placing 

 empties beneath is advisable. Thi.s season, 

 all (or practically all) supers have been 

 placed on toj), and even at that there arc 

 some ten and eleven ouiice sections. Full 

 to]) starters and bottom startei's are used 

 too. Comb honey is removed when s'lUiers 

 are four-fifths finished, and the nntini-;hed 

 sections are returned. 



At the wane of the How t!ie bees are 

 ci'owded down to what they can tinisli. 

 When the hives are '' skiinied " of supers 

 two combs are removed from each, and 

 empty drawn coml)s are inserted in the 

 brood-nest to induce more brooding for 

 winter l>ees of youth and vig'or. We have 

 iiioi'c trouble here with too much honey in 

 I lie hive than too little; ])ul we save combs 

 ior rse in feeding too. One way that is a 

 good one is to have shallow extracling- 

 !oinl)s to i)nt on when the season w'anes. 

 rhrse mav be left no th • hives all winter. 



