I4fi 



CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Marctt, 19-zi 



aiiiaz(Ml to iiud that they could get two 10- 

 fiaiiie hive-bodies full and from 12 to 17 

 frames with brood. Two beekeejiers in late 

 May, 1920, actually had two 10-frame hive- 

 bodies with more bees than could get into 

 the hive. No wonder some of our experienced 

 beekeepers want large hives. 



We do not put two hive-bodies on when 

 the bees are first set out, but wait until six 

 or eight frames contain brood when the sec- 

 ond hive-body is placed ou top. As soon as 

 the queen lacks room below, she goes up, if 

 the upper hive-body is packed and ■warm. In 

 spite of evidence to the contrary, she will 

 go down again when everything is filled 

 above. 



Our recommendations for the spring of 

 1921 are: First, arrange to set the bees in a, 

 location where they will positively be pro 

 tected from the direct influence of the wind 

 by i^roviding some kind of windbreak. Sec- 

 ond, if the largest possible colonies are de- 

 sired at the beginning of the honey flow. 



pack ex'ery colony with some outside cover- 

 ing or packing as soon as the bees are put 

 on their summer stands. Third, see that 

 every colony has more stores than you 

 think it can use during April and May. If 

 you do not have combs of honey feed sugar 

 syrup and give 40-50 pounds because, as a 

 rule, 10-20 pounds is about half enough. The 

 strongest colonies will need from 75 to 100 

 pounds of stoi'es to build up to the greatest 

 possible strength, and, if they canot get it 

 in the field, the beekeej^er must supply it. 

 Fourth, let the bees have room for breeding. 

 The beekeeper who has swar;ns in May 

 should not be proud of the fact, for it is a 

 sure sign of bad beekeeping. The fundamen- 

 tals of spring care to get large colonies at 

 the time of the honey flow are bees to begin 

 with, protection during April and May, su- 

 perabundance of stores, and not less than 

 two hive-bodies for spring-rearing. 

 Madison, Wis. 



BEEKEEPING IN FOREIGN LANDS 



CONDI- 

 TIONS for 

 beekeeping 

 vary as much 

 with locality in 

 the tropics as 

 they do in the 

 temperate zones, 

 and more so. Ex- 

 cept for a few 



general rules and principles the beekeeper 

 has to find out for himself what is best for 

 his locality. Here on the west coast of Costa 

 Rica we have an interrupted honey flow that 

 lasts six to seven months, and we requeen 

 all our colonies that have old queens or 

 queens that have been laying over two 

 months, with young queens that are just be- 

 ginning to lay. Even then many queens fail 

 with us before the honey flow terminates. 

 This causes a great loss, as the strength of 

 such colonies in the height of the honey flow 

 dwindles quickly. 



The bees instead of superseding the fail- 

 ing queen often just fill the brood-nest full 

 of honey, the queen failing so quickly that 

 the bees evidently do not become aware of 

 her condition until no worker eggs are avail- 

 able from which to rear a queen. These colo- 

 nies, with a brood-nest full of honey and 

 few bees to defend it, are an attraction for 

 robbers at the end of the honey flow, and a 

 source of annoyance. 



The average life of a queen here during 

 the honey flow is about six months or per- 

 haps a little less. Queens reared in the cooler 

 higher altitudes live very little longer when 

 brought here to the coast, while if left in the 

 higher altitude where the honey flows are 

 short they live up to three years and over. 



Til ere are no other bees of the European 

 variety within many miles of my apiaries. 



Interesting Facts About Apiculture 

 in Happy Little Costa Rica 



By W. B. Schrels 



The first year 

 after I came 

 here I had my 

 apiary on a pen- 

 insula almost 

 surrounded b y 

 the sea, and that 

 year I lost about 

 60 per cent of 

 my young queens 

 in mating. Evidently they fell into the salt 

 water, and about 40 per cent of those that 

 did return proved either drone-layers or 

 partly drone-laj^ers. The second year T 

 moved my bees on to the main land, and had 

 very little loss in mating. The percentage of 

 drone-layers also decreased some. This (the 

 third) year the percentage of drone-layers 

 has decreased still more. 



Long Swarming Season. 

 Swarm control is also a vexatious problem 

 with us. This year our bees swarmed for 

 seven months, not more than one or two 

 swarms a day, and very few colonies cast a 

 second or after-swarm. Requeening with 

 young queens reduces swarming some, and 

 so does extracting. But you can not extract 

 always in time; sometimes the supers are 

 full of honey and you have to wait a week 

 or two for it to ripen and the bees to cap it. 

 To put on another empty super or to scat- 

 ter the brood seems to hasten their swarm- 

 ing impulse. The size of a hive seems to 

 make absolutely no difference in the amount 

 of swarming here. We use the standard 10- 

 frame L. size two and three-story hive. Usu- 

 ally when a colony swarms we cut out all 

 the queen-cells and stubs and return the 

 swarm to the old hive, and in nine cases out 

 of ten they stay put. 



The Honey Plants. 

 To name the best honey plants of this 



