716 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



September, 1917 



irT^Ds"^F~GMi?np™i|i^^ 



increasing the surplus; but as a general 

 proposition every brood or bee taken from a 

 colony means at least a little less surplus 

 from that colony. 



But from this it does not necessarily fol- 

 low that taking away from a colony all but 

 four of its brood incapacitates it entirely 

 from storing surplus. Think a minute; when 

 a colony sends out a natural swarm, it 's not 

 the mother colony, with all the brood, from 

 which you expect a harvest, but from the 

 broodless swarm. When you shake (or 

 brush) a swarm you take away all the 

 brood, but you expect the broodless bees to 

 go right on storing, without waiting to build 

 up. So when you take away from a good 

 colony all but four of its brood, it is still left 

 fit to do super-work. You have taken away 

 none of its field-force; they will return. If 



it has more than four brood, it is already 

 strong enough to store surplus, if its bees 

 have any get-up-and-go to them, and reduc- 

 ing to four will not knock it out. 



So the answer to your question is that it is 

 never too late to draw brood so long as you 

 can thereby fit another colony to do super- 

 work, even if it be in the middle of the 

 harvest. 



The Paper Bottles 

 Are All Eight 



I used the sanitary 

 paper bottle for two 

 years, and liked it 

 very well. To overcome the leakage around 

 the covers I sealed them with boiling-hot 

 paraffin wax — a plan that gave good satis- 

 faction. J. Stuart Scofield. 

 Kirkwood, N. Y. 



THE BACK-LOT BUZZER 



BY J. H. UONAHEY. 



Miss Nettie Sweetiemouf is such a stickler for precision sin^e she bought her new A B C on bee culture, 

 that when her beau calls her honey she makes him specify whether he memis golden rod, buckwheat, bass 

 wood, or clover. 



