E 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



1\ 



APRIL, 1917 



^r^^^^:^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



EDITORIAL 



THE OUTLOOK for the honey-producers 

 of the country is exceedingly bright. While 



the winter has 

 THE HONEY been a little se- 

 OUTLOOK FOR vere in some lo- 

 1917 BRIGHT calities, especial- 

 ly in the North- 

 west and in the extreme South, it is reason- 

 abl}^ certain now that there will be an 

 enormous demand for extracted honey next 

 season. The markets are practically clean- 

 ed up, and the new crop will be snapped 

 up at good prices. There probably will be 

 a good demand for comb honey altho the 

 demand may not be so active. 



In the early part of 1916 the clover crop 

 looked to be so enormous that prices began 

 to sag; but toward September they began 

 to advance, and they have been going up 

 ever since. If there should be a big crop 

 in sight this season, prices will start off 

 mcderate again; but winter losses in some 

 sections indicate that there will be a short- 

 age of bees ; if so, prices will be firm at the 

 very start. See our " Just News " Depart- 

 ment for reports on winter losses. 



There has been a large amount of snow 

 in the clover districts, and, so far as we 

 know, in most localities clover is looking 

 well. The prospects in the alfalfa and 

 mountain-sage districts are also good. If 

 there should be a good crop all over the 

 country, pi-ices will continue good because 

 it will be impossible to glut the. market next 

 season with extracted. If the crop should 

 be short, we predict that the liqiiid article 

 will reach a figure that it never touched 

 befoi-e except in its early history, when it 

 brought 25 cts. a pound; but it will prob- 

 ably never reach that figure again unless 

 the purchasing power of a dollar goes lower 

 than it is now. 



There is sure to be a big demand for 

 honey, whether the Great War continues 

 or stops. If it keeps on, the armies of the 

 world will continue to ask for honey. If 

 it stops, the demand will still be great on 

 account of the general sliortage in sugar 

 and other food products. 



IN THE Beekeepers' Review for May, 1916, 

 appeared an article by A. H. Guernsey, 



of Ionia, Mich., 

 TWO KINKS 

 IN TRANS- 

 FERRING 



in which he des- 

 cribes his meth- 

 od of transfer- 

 ring. The Guern- 

 sey method has been used by many beekeep- 

 ers, and there have also been a number of 

 other plans quite similar to it. 



Mr. Townsend, in his comment on the 

 plan, suggests a couple of " kinks." These 

 we are incorporating into the plan itself, 

 which then appears in substance as follows: 

 Do not transfer until the old hive is full 

 of bees in the spring; then expose the combs 

 by taking off the cover or by turning the 

 hive upside down. Set the new hive on top 

 with full sheets of comb foundation, or, bet- 

 ter still, with drawn combs. Select a comb 

 l^artly full of brood and put this in the cen- 

 ter of the new hive. In four or five days the 

 queen will probably be found laying eggs 

 in this comb. When looking for the queen 

 at this time, instead of taking the frames 

 out, first lift the new hive off, in order to 

 catch the queen above; othenvise, at the 

 first disturbance, the queen is likely to run 

 down below. 



When the queen is found, place a queen- 

 excluder between the two hives, thus keep- 

 ing the queen in the new hive. 



Supers may now be put on if conditions 

 warrant, and the work will go on without 

 interruption. 



Close all openings or entrances at the bot- 

 tom of the old box hive, so that not a single 

 bee can get in or out. Then provide a wide 

 slanting alighting-board to direct the bees to 

 the entrance of the new hive, now one story 

 above the old entrance. 



Any time after 21 days replace the queen- 

 excluder between the (wo hives witli a bee- 

 escape board put on upside down, so that 

 the bees will be trapped out of the old hive 

 below up into the new hive. It is easy for 

 bees to go down thru an escape, but not so 

 easy for tliem to work their way up thm it. 

 To make it easier, tack a strip of wood 



