JAXUARV, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



my strength warrants, they have been 

 wasted; but if I can profitably employ help 

 and equipment so as to make the work 

 pleasant, how much better it is! On the 

 other hand, I think it pays to employ help 

 enough so I can attend to details for which 

 many producers say they have not time. I 

 endeavor to strike the happy medium be- 

 tween management which is too intensive 

 and that which extends so far as to become 

 unprofitable. 



Management Facilitated by Useful Records 

 and Memoranda. 

 Besides having the best of equipment and 

 plenty of it we study constantly for the 

 best and simplest of methods. These also 

 are standardized as far as possible and are 

 based on sound principles of bee-behavior 

 so far as they have been determined. Not 

 only is each colony given individual atten- 

 tion, but varying conditions of each location 

 are noted on the different trips. For this 

 purpose we have a set of records which tho 

 exceedingly simple enable us to plan intelli- 

 gently for the next trip. The individual 

 hive records simply show the age and par- 

 entage of the queen, and the number of 

 supers of honey taken. The dates of de- 

 queening and requeening are also noted on 

 the hive. That is practically all the colony 

 records kept. The queen-rearing records are 

 another matter. 



The record of visits to each apiary is 

 kept on a plain 3 x 5-inch card, which bears 

 a letter representing the name of the yard 

 in question, such as N for the North vard, 

 H for the Home yard, and so on. These 

 yard cards are filed in the desk according 

 to the dates on which the next visits are 

 to be made. Each visit to the N yard, for 

 instance, is recorded on the N yard card 

 with one or two words showing what was 

 done, and the nature of conditions found; 

 e. g., "May 11, finish clipping, supering;" 

 "May 26, unpack and super, all have 1 and 

 many 2 supers." If the record shows a 

 yard well supered and no swarming im- 

 pulse, and if the weather is backward the 

 next visit may be delayed provided queen- 

 rearing operations there do not demand at- 

 tention. To avoid extra trips we must be 

 sure to take all supplies that may be needed 

 6n the regular trip. While at the yard I jot 

 down on a piece of memorandum paper 

 items of importance to remember when pre- 

 paring for the next trip, such as the nature 

 of work just completed, special notes on 

 condition of bees and supers, and supplies 

 needed next day which are being left stored 

 or must be brought. I find this absolutely 

 necessary and yet sometimes have to drive 

 myself to do it, as it is usually a scramble 

 to get thru in good time, and it is all so 

 plain then that there seems no danger of 

 forgetting. But tomorrow it will be a dif- 

 ferent yard, and the next day another, 

 until the memory of details becomes scram- 

 bled. 



There is a particular pocket ^ivhere these 



memoranda go, and this pocket is emptied 

 into a certain wire basket on the desk, and 

 this basket is overhauled frequently in the 

 evenings or early mornings to write up the 

 records and notes for future trips. Eeeords 

 go on the yard cards concerned, as indi- 

 cated above. Notes of supplies left or to be 

 taken are used for making out the. load list 

 for that yard on the next trip. The load list 

 for each trip is another item which seems 

 like a small matter, yet I have found it vory 

 helpful in relieving me of responsibility. 

 The following would be a typical list 

 handed to the man who is to go with me to 

 the K yard. "List for K, Mon., June 28/20. 

 Ton truck, water radiator, oil motor, pump 

 tires, 65-lb, 50 supers, combs, 25 queen-ex- 

 cluders, 10 cloths, smokers, veils, lunches, 

 saw, hammer, nails, hive-tools, drinking 

 water." He carries this list around with 

 him while he is making up the load and 

 checks it over the last thing. If he did not 

 have the list we might arrive minus some 

 essential, such as smokers. I have never 

 known the lunches to be forgotten. For per- 

 sonal use I also make a list of work to be 

 done which I niight forget. These lists are 

 fastened with a wire clip to the yard card, 

 which is filed ahead under the date assigned 

 for the next trip. This is simply the ' ' tickler 

 system," so common in business ofiices. 



If we ever get where we have more store 

 combs than we are likely to need, it will 

 enable us to manage more yards with the 

 same number of trips. So long as we are 

 increasing, this is not likely to be, espe- 

 cially since we are not at home for making 

 up supplies in winter, but must work that 

 in with the work of the active season. If 

 each colony before the befinning of the 

 honey flow could be given all the combs it 

 would likely fill, the next visit could be 

 longer delayed. The next best is to give 

 each two or three super'^, then add founda- 

 tion as further room is needed, keeping 

 some combs in reserve at home for a big 

 run in anv yards that are so fortunate as to 

 get it. The yard card records are partic\i- 

 larly valuable here, and the truck with ca- 

 pacity for a hundred supers enables rein 

 forcements of storage si)ace to be brought 

 quickly to the front where there is the 

 greatest need. 



Outline of Season's Work. 

 We open up and do shop work in April. As 

 weather permits, queens are clipped and 

 first supers added in the winter cases. Un- 

 packing is finished in May before a second 

 super would be needed. Queen-rearinp- is 

 started as early as possible so that fai'i-ig 

 and swarming queens may be replaced as 

 soon as discovered. By the latter I mean 

 those whose bees persist in building cells. We 

 extract in late July and early August and 

 return most of the supers to the hives. Sep- 

 tember is for final taking off and packing, 

 October for feeding, and November for fin- 

 ishing up. 



We find more advantages in the central- 



