GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



C 



Beek 



eeping as a 



Grace Allen 



Ur 



IN T r y o n , 

 North Caro- 

 lina, is a self- 

 confessed "in- 

 curable siclelin- 

 er" who finds 

 this world "too 

 full of fascinat- 

 ing things to do" 



— "and I cannot quite eliminate all but 

 one." Finally, out of bees, greenhouse 

 work, flower stores, vegetable-growing, and 

 orcharding, things seem to have settled 

 into a little market garden with bees as a 

 side line. But this spring her four colonies 

 cast seven swarms, which, of course, is alto- 

 gether too — but Avait. In Robbins, Tennes- 

 see, is one colony that cast thre? swarms, 

 and one of these three cast three, so that 

 this one colony has by natural swarming 

 increased this season to seven. And this, 

 as I was saying, is of course altogether too 

 much swarming, if one is trying to secure a 

 honey crop. 



If increase is the one thing desired, and 

 if these multiplied swarms grow to full- 

 sized colonies, possessed of sufficient stores 

 to winter on, well and good, but only if in- 

 crease is the thing desired. Even then 

 many beekeepers prefer to control swarm- 

 ing and to make their increase some more 

 convenient way. Many allow the first (or 

 prime) swarm to issue, but try to prevent 

 after-swarms. Still others mean to permit 

 i]one at all, preferring to keep the force of 

 bees absolutely intact if possible. One of 

 the bulletins issued by the extension de- 

 partment of this state begins, "A frequent 

 cause of serious loss in the production of 

 a honey crop is natural swarming. The 

 general practice of beekeepers in Tennessee 

 of allowing their colonies to swarm indis- 

 criminately" (personally I seriously ques- 

 tion its being a general practice) "is one of 

 the common causes of a small return in sur- 

 plus honey. While natural swarming can- 

 not be entirely prevented, it can be reduced 

 to a minimum, and tl:e amount of the honey 

 crop may be more than doubled by the 

 methods of management here described." 



Can you imagine anything more delight- 

 ful than to drive along a good road near a 

 pretty lake, and come upon a summer cot- 

 tage with both honey and wild-strawberry 

 jam for sale? Neither can I, except to live 

 in the cottage by the lake and produce the 

 ho!^ey and the jam! Doesn't that make a 

 delightful way for schoolteachers to sum- 

 mer? "Richards and MeCollum" is the 

 business-like name under which two school- 

 teachers conduct this pleasant summer busi- 



Side Line 



1 



lUl 



September, 1917 



ness on the shore 

 of H a r V e y's 

 T ake, in Ander- 

 son, Pennsylva- 

 nia. Thru three 

 nittnths' vacation 

 they work with 

 their fifteen col- 

 onies of bees, 

 put their own hives together and paint them, 

 gather wild strawberries, and make them 

 into delicious jam. Then as one of them 

 writes, "September 1st finds us with nerves 

 quiet, health good, and a little cash." 

 Practically ideal, isn't it? 



Enthusiasm and energy are certainly con- 

 tagious, especially when they go right out 

 into the highways and the hedges and com- 

 pel others to get energetic and enthusiastic 

 too. Mr. R. W. Etheredge, of Selma, North 

 Carolina, a fourteen-months beekeeper with 

 twenty hives, who declares he studied, not 

 merely read. Gleanings and A B C all the 

 first summer and winter, says that whenever 

 he sees any bees thru the country he goes 

 right in and gets acquainted with their 

 owner. Then if the man isn't a member of 

 the association, he sends the name in to the 

 state office, so getting him on a list to be 

 approached for membership, and tries to 

 get him to transfer his bees. This season 

 he has thus persuaded thiree men to try 

 movable frames, with the inevitable result 

 of their being so pleased that they plan to 

 transfer the rest of their hives in the spring. 

 That's a ease of one man doing his bit to 

 advance the industry to the higher plane it 

 deserves. I trust the meeting that was 

 planned to be held in his yard was a suc- 

 cess. 



« * * 



Mr. Clesson Merriman, of Leominster, 

 Massachusetts, calls attention in an inter- 

 esting letter to the great contrast between 

 the methods of beekeeping fifty years ago, 

 when bees were brimstoned to get the honey, 

 and those practiced today, when progi'ess 

 is the watchword, and books and magazines 

 and modern equipment make so different a 

 business of beekeeping. But nearly as 

 great is the contrast right today between 

 different men. Take Leominster, as refer- 

 red to in Mr. Merriman's letter. One man, 

 owning five colonies, but no smoker or veil 

 or other equipment, has his bees in old box 

 hives with cracks big enough to accommo- 

 date mice, and a piece of blanket for a 

 cover. Thus unprotected, they stand on the 

 cold side of tlie barn, buried in snow in 

 winter. They seem to live thru it all, how- 



