^42 



0-LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1917 



ed. We try to extract all the white honey 

 if possible, and get tlie supers back on th?" 

 hives in time for the fall flow, which usually 

 constitutes more than half of the crop. In 

 October we again extract, but reserve for 

 fall and spring" feeding at least one comb 

 for each colony wintered. We also leave 

 (in the hive, until late in the season, one 

 super of honey, preferably that which is 

 not capped, for the bees to carry down. 



As our honey is nearly all sold direct to 

 consumers and to retail dealers, our busiest 

 season is thru September, October, and 

 November, for at this time orders come 

 fast by mail, telephone, and otherwise; but 

 selling the honey is another story. 



It has been my practice to cut down the 

 number of colonies to be wintered to about 

 350 and to build up in the spring and sum- 

 mer to 450 or more, in this way reducing 

 the labor and the amount of honey consum- 

 ed. In preparing for winter the work is 

 begun in, August by removing old and in- 

 ferior queens and in placing their hives 

 above colonies with young queens, using 

 news^japer and an excluder between, or by 

 using the brood and bees to build up nuclei 

 into full colonies. It is important to see 

 that every hive is made strong in bees. 

 Care must be taken, however, as cells allow- 

 ed to hatch above an excluder may result 



in swarming even in September. In this 

 way the old bees are useful in storing the 

 fall crop and are out of the way before 

 winter. 



After the extracting in October is finish- 

 ed the colonies at the outyards are hauled 

 in, in November, and about December 1 the 

 bees are all carried into the cellar and 

 stacked up around the wall five hives high, 

 spacing the center of the cellar for better 

 ve^ntilation. 



Fortunately I succeeded in getting rid 

 of foul brood several years ago, and do not 

 now have that to contend witli. I usually 

 manage to raise about two hundred queens 

 each year. I find my queens long-lived and 

 more vigorous than those purchased. 



From this outline given it is not dilficult 

 to estimate approximately the actual time 

 silent in hanclling 350 to 450 colonies. It 

 is found well within one hundred days. In 

 1916, in which there was an exceptionally 

 good clover flow, the tim>e, including the few 

 (Uiys when I had help in carrying bees and 

 in extracting, was not more than one hun- 

 dred days, and in 1915 it was considerably 

 less. My crop last year amounted to about 

 30.000 pounds, notwithstanding the killing 

 frost in the early part of September, which 

 probably reduced the crop by 15,000 pounds. 



V'alparaiso, Ind. E. S. Miller. 



J. H. Doiiahey, of the Cleveland I'laui Dealer, and A. I. Root, as caught by the staff photn2;iapher of the 

 Plain Dialer, at the beekeepers' field meeting that was held in Medina in July, 1914. What the two were 

 s'uilins: so broadly over no one can recall. But it is evident that tiiev were " smiles that wouldn't come 

 off. ' Nuff said." 



