AirousT, lO'jn 



G I> P. A N r N G S IX B K K C U I. T U K K 



I 



C 



TALKS TO 



By lona 



F some time 

 (•lapses b o- 

 t \v e c 1) tl>e 

 Ilia in honey flow 

 ami the fail How, 

 the beginner will 

 tind his bees 

 need very little 

 attention, y e t 

 the little work 

 that should be done is \ erv important. This 

 work is to examine earelully all colonies and 

 be certain eaeli is in normal condition with a 

 laying queen and enough honey- to last until 

 they are again able to gather. 



Necessity of Rearing Brood. 



Immediately after the main lionej' flow, 

 queens often lay very sparingly or even stop 

 entirely, so that in many eases very little 

 brood is reared for several weeks. Now this 

 is a very serious matter, for, since it re- 

 quires five weeks to produce a mature field 

 bee, it is clear that unless brood is being 

 reared at this time( the last of August and 

 the first of September in the clover regions) 

 the colony will not have enough young bees 

 for good Avintering. The old worn-out bees 

 will die during the winter, and, if there are 

 but few young bees, the colony will dwindle 

 and probably die by spring. Of course, in 

 case of a fall flow the queen would in the 

 fall rear more brood; but, even if none of 

 this brood chilled, many of the young bees 

 would emerge from their cells so late that 

 they would have no chance for flight before 

 winter. 



Young queens will continue laying after 

 the main flow, but old ones are not as apt to 

 do so. Therefore, unless the queens are 

 young, it would be a good plan to requeen 

 with young queens. 



Need of Sufficient Stores. 



During the main honey flow the brood- 

 chamber often becomes so crowded with 

 brood that there is very little room for 

 honey. So that when the supers are remov- 

 ed, the colony is left short of stores. Un- 

 less stores are supplied to them, such colo- 

 nies may dwindle to such an extent that 

 they will be worthless or will have to be 

 united with other colonies in order to make 

 tliem strong enough for winter. As soon 

 as the supers are removed, therefore, 

 it will pay the beekeeper to examine the col- 

 onies and if he finds any without stores, to 

 exchange combs having no brood for combs 

 of honey from the super, or, if he has no 

 such stores, to feed his colonies a good hard 

 candy. (See recipe, page 231, April Glean- 

 ings.) 



Care of Combs. 



Last month we advised the beginner to 

 jiile his sticky extracting combs on the hives 

 for the bees to clean. Before the beginning 

 of another honey flow these supers should 

 bo rcmo'.e<l and stored in nice, straight piles 

 to which moths cannot gain access. These 

 combs should be examined at least twice be- 

 fore winfiT til br cHrtiiiii tlii'\- contain no 



BEGINNERS 



Fowb 



1 



487 



tnoths. Any time 

 moths are found 

 in unused combs, 

 they may be 

 piled over strong 

 colonies for the 

 lees to destroy 

 t ii e m t h s or 

 they may be 

 fumigated by 

 placing an empt}' super at the top of four 

 or five moth-infested supers, piled carefully 

 on u level surface, so that none of the gas 

 can escape. Place in the empty super at the 

 top a few ounces of carbon bisulphide (two 

 ounces is required for 10 cubic feet of 

 space) in an open dish and then cover 



Motli welj and 



the pile of supers tightly. This fumigation 

 shouhl be done outdoors, since the fumes 

 wluMi mixed with air are inflammable. 

 Marketing. 

 One may perhaps -wish to keep all the 

 honey for his own family, but if he decitles 

 to sell any of it, he should take pride in its 

 presenting the best possible appearance 

 when ready for market. The section boxes 

 should be carefully scraped, as recommend- 

 ed in our last lesson, and the extracted hon- 

 ey should be sold in clear, colorless glass jars 

 that best display the beauty of the honey. 

 Just because the beginner has a small 

 amount to sell, let him not sell at half price. 

 He should receive just as large a price as 

 does the large producer. 



