GLEANINGS IX BEE C U L T U 11 E 



July, 1921. 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



'loubtful if they would bid for more honey 

 .it prices they are quoting regularly. How- 

 ever, wliile we expect honey will be cheaper, 

 yet we are not worrying on that score, for 

 unless alsike soon acts differently, there will 

 be little white lioney from that source in 

 our locality. A letter just to hand from 

 our Binbrook apiaries in Wentworth Coun- 

 ty, south oi Hamilton, states that alsike is 

 in full bloom there and the flow very light. 

 There, too, they have had lots of rain; but, 

 as here at home, something that we do not 

 understand, is lacking for nectar secretion. 

 Tliese lines are being written after a day 

 of varied experiences, in which hard work, 

 mixed with pleasure, made up the quota of 

 the day's program. At 7 a. m. I drove M'ith 

 the car some nine miles to an apiary of 170 

 colonies, to see how they were off for stores, 

 for among this lot are 100 of the colonies 

 that we have had to feed for the past three 

 weeks. Work was anything but pleasant as 

 no honey was coming in, and, after examin- 

 ing about one-third of them in a hurry, 1 

 decided that unless honey comes in inside 

 of two days, more feeding will have to be 

 done, even if alsik? is in bloom around the 

 yard. When I Thrived home for dinner, dis- 

 gusted with jQiiditions in so far as th^ oecs 

 were coroerncd, I made up my lUind to 



change the program fur the afternoon; so 

 I dug some bait and again drove nine miles 

 — this time not to a beeyard, but to a wind- 

 ing brook among the cedars. The mosqui- 

 toes were very much in evidence, but along 

 with all other troubles they were soon for- 

 gotten because the speckled beauties were 

 biting fairly well. I arrived home at 7:30 

 ]). m. dead-tired — no question about that — 

 l)ut nevertheless in a different frame of 

 mind than when I left home at noon today. 

 This little tale is not told with any thought 

 of its being at all helpful to readers of 

 (ileanings, but simply once more to call at- 

 lention to one of the nice things about being 

 a beekeeper, or, for that matter, a follower 

 of any rural pursuit. If you are working 

 for some one else, no matter if you do get 

 the ' ' blues, ' ' you stay right at the old job 

 till better or worse. On the other hand, if 

 working at beekeeping or other kindred pur- 

 suits, one can go when he feels like it, even 

 if work does suff'er, for it is his own business, 

 and the boss is not apt to scold when he is 

 the one concerned. So excuse me, while I get 

 a. light to clean up those trout for break- 

 fast, and then go to bed to sleep the sleej? 

 of the tired. J. L. Byer. 



Markham, Ont. 



m HEADS "OF GM lWlli^Ol^CT rblFFERENT FIEL DS 



Making Increase In Gleanings last August, 

 at Close of page 485, several methods 



Honey Flew. of making increase after 



the close of the lioney 

 (low were given. Among others was R. F. 

 Holtermann's plan of building up nuclei into 

 lull colonies at the close of the honey How 

 liy placing several supers i»f honej^ bees and 

 ail, above each nucleus but separated from it 

 hy a bee-escape board. I tried the plan, but 

 tiie bees wouldn't stay with the nucleus; or, 

 at least only a very few of them did. 



I tlien tried to build up the nuclei by an- 

 otlicr method. Just as I was taking the 

 supers of honey from a strong colony, I re- 

 moved the bee-escape board and put two 

 r|ueen-exeluders over the strong colony, and 

 then set a nucleus on top of the colony and 

 separated from it by the queen-excluders. 

 The bees couldn't go thru the two queen- 

 excluders nearly as quickly as thru one ex- 

 cluder, and there was absolutely no fight- 

 ing. When the nucleus was placed over the 

 strong colony, the nucleus hive was filled up 

 with drawn comb, as the nucleus occupied 

 only one or two frames. 



After two or three days the old colony 

 was placed on a new stand, and the nucleus 

 remained on the stand of the old hive. The 

 young and emerging bees remain with the 



old colony, and also some of the old bees. 

 The nucleus also received its share of young 

 bees, as many of them would doubtless pass 

 up thru the queen-excluders before the old 

 liive was removed, and, of course, most of 

 the old bees would come back to the 

 old stand. The next day after they were 

 separated it was not an uncommon sight to 

 see the bees of both hives bringing in pol- 

 len, tho I didn't expect to see pollen coming 

 into the old colony so soon after it was 

 moved. The colonies were then fed some 

 thin sugar syrup to keep the queens laying. 



By this method a beginner can raise his 

 own queens and introduce them to a small 

 nucleus. Then as soon as the honey flow is 

 over the nuclei can be built up into strong 

 colonies. E. A. Hogarth. 



Tara, Ontario. 



a . — l o /^ C B =tf3 



Taking from Cellar. We have been in the 

 bee business about 20 

 > ears. Our main honey flow comes from 

 alsike clover. This yard is well protected 

 on all four sides — on three sides by ever- 

 greens. We wrap our colonies as soon as 

 taken from the cellar and keep them wrap- 

 jied until the second super is full of brood. 

 Port Hope, Mich. Edward Stewart. 



