Januarv, 1922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



13 



dition to gather a large amount of surplus 

 honey as they were earlier. Here again the 

 beekeeper is confronted with the serious 

 problem of keeping up sufficient brood-rear- 

 ing to hold his colonies strong until the be- 

 ginning of the main honey flow, the prob- 

 lem being similar to that of the buckwheat 

 region. 



In some localities in the South the bees 

 regularly build up to great strength early 

 in the spring where there is no honey flow 

 yielding surplus honey until six weeks or 

 two months after the bees are ready for it. 

 If left alone during this interval, these 

 colonies, which were strong too early for the 

 honey flow, may become almost worthless 

 by the time the main honey flow finally ar- 

 rives. 



In other localities in the South there may 

 be several honey flows of major importance 

 during the season, with a period of dearth of 

 nectar between. If the first of such a series 

 of honey flows occurs just after the heavy 

 brood-rearing period of spring, the bees, if 

 well managed, should be strong enough t<f 

 gather a crop of surplus honey during this 

 honey flow; but they often fail to maintain 

 their strength to a sufficient degree for the 

 next honey flow, especially if Italians, and 

 the first honey flow tapers off at its close. 

 Why Beekeepers Disagree as to Best 

 Management. 



Thus while the beekeeper, in a locality 

 where the main honey flow comes early, em- 

 phasizes the importance of good wintering 

 and conditions favorable for rapid building 

 up to great strength in the spring, beekeep- 

 ers in the alfalfa region and in the buck- 

 wheat region are not so much concerned 

 about better wintering or better care in the 

 spring, for they have a longer time for the 

 colonies to build up before the main honey 

 flow. Therefore the beekeepers in these 

 two types of regions agree to disagree as to 

 the value of winter protection and spring 

 protection for their colonies. 



The alert beekeeper in the buckwheat re- 

 gion or the alfalfa region may discover that 

 by better wintering and better spring man- 

 agement he is able, to divide his colonies be- 

 fore they have had a chance to reach the 

 peak of brood-rearing in the spring, thus 

 making two colonies which build up in time 

 for his main honey flow, each of the two 

 colonies, at the beginning of the main honey 

 flow, being as strong as, if not stronger 

 than the single original colony would have 

 been if left undivided. When such a bee- 

 keeper writes up his discovery for a bee 

 journal or describes his management at a 

 beekeepers' convention a loud protest is due 

 from the beekeeper from the clover region 

 or the citrus-fruit region, who finds it hard 

 enough to get his colonics up to full strength 

 in time for his main honey flow. He may 

 advise uniting colonies previous to the main 

 honey flow, and be usually insists that mak- 



ing increase previous to the honey flow is 

 fundamentally wrong and should not be <lonc 

 if surplus honey is wa)itcd. 



The beekeeper in the South who finds 

 his colonies booming strong two months be- 

 fore the main honey flow, may discover that 

 he can sell package bees from his colonies 

 early in the spring and by doing so actually 

 bring his colonies to the honey flow two 

 months later, in better condition than if the 

 package bees had not been taken away, for 

 they then come up to the honey flow still on 

 the upgrade instead of on the decline. When 

 he announces his discovery, experienced bee- 

 keepers in localities of the clover and citrus- 

 fruit type are ready to register a protest 

 against such a procedure, and beginners in 

 the latter type of location may take the ad- 

 vice home and ruin some of their colonies 

 by trying it in a location where it can not 

 be done and secure surplus honey at the 

 same time. 



The beekeeper in a locality having a ser- 

 ies of honey flows of major importance, with 

 intervals of dearth between, may discover 

 that Caucasian bees rear brood thru the pe- 

 riod of dearth better than Italians. If so, 

 he may be expected to recommend this race 

 as being far superior to Italians, while bee- 

 keepers in other regions prefer Italians. 



Influence of LocaUty Upon Swarming. 



Some years ago a beekeeper in Texas 

 startled northern beekeepers by announcing 

 that in his locality swarming may always 

 be expected to cease suddenly and complete- 

 ly when the main honey flow begins. Imme- 

 diately beekeepers in other regions protest- 

 ed, insisting that such a procedure on the 

 part of the bees is quite unnatural, and 

 pointing out that in their localities the 

 swarming season may be expected to begin 

 when the main honey flow begins. Thus bee- 

 keepers in the northern portion of the clover 

 region know positively that it is bee na- 

 ture to prepare to swarm during the honey 

 flow from clover, while in some southern lo- 

 cations the beekeepers are just as certain 

 that it is natural for the bees to give uj) 

 swarming when the main honey flow begins 

 in earnest. They can only agree to disagree, 

 each perhaps doubting the correctness of 

 the other's observations, or blaming the dif- 

 ference upon "locality" by which the very 

 nature of the honeybee is apparently 

 changed. 



But by looking deeper the explanation is 

 not to be found in a change in the instincts of 

 the bees as to swarming, but in the greater 

 length of time between the extensive brood- 

 rearing of spring and the beginning of the 

 honey flow in some southern localities than 

 in the northern localities. The greater pro- 

 portion of field bees in the southern locality 

 results in the brood-chamber being nearly 

 depleted of its workers during the heat of 

 the day when the honey flow begins, be- 

 cause they go to the fields: while in the far 



