iJ(i8 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUT. T V H E 



May, 1921 



DUEING my 

 lifetime a 

 revolution 

 has taken place 

 in b e e k e eping 

 practice. I was 

 taught to give 

 bees the attend 

 tion they called 

 for from time 

 to time, watching for swarms in summer, 

 for cellar temperatures in winter, and for 

 robbing in spring. "We enlarged and contract- 

 ed entrances, hived swarms that came off, 

 extracted a few combs at a time as they 

 became ready, and were lackeys in constant 

 waiting on the number of hives that one 

 location could support. We could not start 

 an out-apiary, because it took all our time 

 to manage the one we had at home. The 

 one yard yielded a fair profit, but there was 

 no future" except to be a pottering "bee- 

 man" with a meager income. That was 

 and is the kind of beekeeping which gives 

 rise to the very prevalent idea that none 

 but old people and incompetents should 

 keep bees. 



Eight up to the turn of the century it 

 was the all but universal custom to keep 

 bees as indicated. The American bee jour- 

 nals were filled with methods of manage- 

 ment. The bewildered reader was surfeited 

 with instructions and advice. He was told 

 how to prevent swarming after the swarm 

 had issued, how to build up colonies — after 

 poor wintering had weakened them, and so 

 on. Something had to happen. The indus- 

 try could not proc'eed, until someone untied 

 the beekeeper from the thralldom of wait- 

 ing on his one yard of bees. The crying 

 need was for a system by which he could 

 give one yard forehanded managemejit in 

 one day suflScicnt to last it for a week or 

 more while he attended to other yards in 

 the same manner. Here and there advanced 

 thinkers were working on the problem in 

 the eighties. They were making real prog- 

 ress in the nineties, and during the present 

 century the development has been rapid. 



It began with the prevention of swarm- 

 ing and has branched out into all phases of 

 beekeeping. I have cast about in my mind 

 to find a suitable name for this new idea 

 in beekeeping practice. Until someone sug- 

 gests a better, I shall call it "forehanded 

 beekeeping. ' ' Doubtless the distinction be- 

 tween it and the earlier methods is clear. 

 It is to be the master of the situation, so 

 far as the situation may be mastered. It is 

 to prepare in advance for the more desir- 

 able conditions, so far as they may be con- 

 trolled, leaving nothing to chance or what 

 nature may provide. It is to foresee and 

 forestall every avoidable loss. Forehanded 

 beekeeping is founded on the best available 

 knowledge of bee behavior and of every 

 natural factor entering into the problem. 



In what we have chosen to call "fore- 

 handed beekeeping, ' ' methods of winter- 

 ing and of spring management have shown 



FOREHANDED BEEKEEPING 



A '1^'W Era in Beekeeping. Elim- 

 ination of Fussy Spring Manage- 

 ment. Foiestalling Avoidable Loss 



By Morley Pettit 



great progress. 

 We used to re- 

 duce brood- 

 chambers to pro- 

 tect small clus- 

 ters; now we 

 endeavor to 

 provide large 

 clus'ters to fill 

 the b r d 

 chambers- We used to see how little we 

 could feed in the fall and not starve the 

 colony, weighing each hive and doling to 

 each its pittance; now we feed practically 

 all the colony will take and relieve ourselves 

 of anxiety, knowing that "millions of 

 stores at our house" will rejiay us in com- 

 pound interest next spring. Above all we 

 make sure of the quality of winter stores 

 by feeding sugar syrup to every liive re- 

 gardless of its weight. 

 Foundation for This Season's Crop Built 

 Last Summer and Fall. 

 Just before the close of the honey flow 

 we see that every colony has a good queen. 

 When the light honey comes off about the 

 first of August, each hive is left the equiva- 

 lent of at least a half super of honey. This 

 must be in a super, and not in the brood- 

 chamber. The latter must be practically 

 free of honey, and with no more pollen 

 than the colony needs. Every brood-cham- 

 ber is examined at that time to make sure 

 it is in the favorable condition for brood- 

 rearing just described. In our localities we 

 are blessed with a superabundance of pollen 

 and sometimes have to remove pollen- 

 clogged combs. We recognize that each 

 colony insists on having one pollen comb. We 

 respect their wishes in this — we might as 

 well — but we see that the other combs are 

 fairly clear for brood. 



Now with a brood-chamber clear for rear- 

 ing the young bees which are to constitute 

 the winter colony, and a queen able and 

 willing to produce the eggs from which the 

 young bees for the winter colony will grow, 

 there must be a plentiful supply of food 

 for these growing young bees in the supers, 

 as previously stated. This point is so im- 

 portant that it will bear repetition. In fact, 

 I can vouch for its importance because it 

 has cost us more than the publisher would 

 ever dream of paying me for this article to 

 learn it. Besides providing for a dry fall, 

 one must provide for a fall flow of honey 

 by giving extra super space for storage. In 

 other words, when hives are to be left to 

 themselves while the apiarist is employed 

 elsewhere, the necessary condition for suc- 

 cess, which in this case is a full colony of 

 young bees for winter, must be insured 

 against all contingencies. It will be seen 

 that we make no provision for the colony 

 to supply itself with winter stores. On the 

 contrary we do all we can to prevent it. We 

 do not want the stuff they get in the fall, 

 buckwheat honey included, in the brood- 

 chamliers for our winter of long confine- 

 ment. 



