SKi-i k;>^ihkk, lOi::; 



A N 1 \ t; s IN r. M !■; c i: l 'I' li i: i-: 



s|);ico fur the libiiiry Mini li:i\t' ('(mi|ilftc iii.in 

 .-(fjeinent of its affairs. 



One great advantage of Hi is kiii<l of me 

 morial over a nioiiumcnt of stone or sonie- 

 tliing of that cliaraetcr is its flexibility. 

 Contribntioiis of ])ooks and money can be 

 sent at any time. The library will no doubt 

 be small at first; but, as time goes on, in 

 addition to the books purchased from the 

 income on the funds invested, contributions 

 will be added indefinitely. Again, since the 

 money that has been collected is to be in- 

 vested in safe securities, and only the in- 

 come used, this memorial should endure as 

 long as libraries exist in the world. 



The committee, in completing this phase 

 of its work, deserves the gratitude of the 

 beekeepers of the world. Gleanings is hojv 

 ing tli;it this committee will not consider its 

 work as complete when the agreement with 

 the University is written and the funds 

 turned over. Its members can still do much 

 to encourage donations of money, books, pa- 

 pers and service from those who can con- 

 tribute in any way to build up a great 

 library of beekeeping for the whole world 

 at the Universitv of Wisconsin. 



THE heavy consumption of stores for 

 brood-rearing during the latter part of the 



honey fl o w, 



Useless Consumers 



in Extracted-Honey 



Production. 



w h e n produc- 

 i n g extracted 

 honey, is some- 

 times quite a 

 problem. Colonies run for comb honey usu- 

 ally begin to crowd the queen with honey 

 during the latter part of the honey flow, 

 thus restricting brood-rearing; but, for ex- 

 tracted honey, most of the honey is carried 

 into the supers, leaving plenty of room for 

 the queen in the brood-chamber. 



If the early honey flow is followed by a 

 liiter one, as in some parts of the buck- 

 wheat region, this extra brood-rearing 

 works out to the profit of the beekeeper, for 

 the resulting bees become producers during 

 the later honey flow. In localities which do 

 not have a fall honey flow and especially 

 where the main honey flow is followed by a 

 complete dearth of nectar, as is too often 

 the case in portions of the clover region, 

 the rearing of so much brood late in the 

 honey flow results in a loss, for the work- 

 ers reared during the latter part of June 

 and July are too late to take part in gath- 

 ering the honey crop and too early for win- 

 ter bees. Not only has it cost four pounds 

 or more of honey for each frame of brood 

 reared, but these bees must live even 

 though they do not work, and of course 

 consume considerable lioiiey during their 

 lifetime. 



A striking example of what happens when 

 brood-rearing is carried on at full speed to 

 the end of the honey flow came to the Edi- 

 tor's attention this season. Colonies run 

 for extracted honey forged ahead of those 

 run for comb honey in the same location, so 



Ihal duiiiig the honey lluw it seemed they 

 would store at least twice as much honey 

 as the colonies storing comb honey. The 

 lioney to be extriu-ted was left on tlie hives 

 until late in July, .about three weeks after 

 the honey flow had closed. Puring this time 

 the bees had consumed so much of the lion- 

 ey that tlie yield of extracted honey per 

 colony was about the same as the yield of 

 comb honey from the other colonies. 



But what is worse, the colonies operated 

 for extracted honey had practically no hon- 

 ey in the brood-chambers at the close of the 

 season, while the comb-honey colonies had 

 their brood-chambers heavy with honey. 

 When this honey in the Ijrood-chambers is 

 counted, the comb-honey colonies actually 

 })roduced more tlian those for extracted 

 iioney becauee they had consumed less. This 

 of course is an extreme case, but in some 

 localities something like this occurs often 

 enougli to become a serious problem. For- 

 tunately, the second crop of red clover yield- 

 ed a little this season, and the colonies used 

 to produce extracted honey may gain enough 

 to go again ahead of the comb-hone}' colo- 

 nies because of their greater strength. 



It is not often that colonies ever become 

 too strong, but in many cases it would be 

 better if brood-rearing were restricted at 

 least during the latter half of the main hon- 

 ey flow, provided there is no later honey 

 flow. Colonies that are extra strong in 

 July and August usually go down to normal 

 winter strength, and, if these extra bees 

 were not useful in gathering nectar, they 

 were reared at a loss. 



Whether it will pay beekeepers to restrict 

 brood-rearing when the resulting bees can 

 not become jiroducers is questionable be- 

 cause of the uncertainties of the seasons. 

 If brood-rearing were restricted this sea- 

 son, an unexpected later honey flow might 

 make the beekeeper wish he had left the 

 colonies alone. 



Where one can be certain that further ex- 

 tensive brood-rearing is undesirable, the api- 

 ary can be requeened by killing the old 

 queen and giving a ripe queen-cell, thus 

 bringing about a break in brood-rearing 

 during the latter part of the honey flow. In 

 many localities the saving of stores 

 brought about by this break in brood-rear- 

 ing should more than pay for the labor of 

 requeening, giving the advantage of young 

 queens for the next year without cost. 



When the queens are permitted to have 

 free range in the hive previous to the honey 

 flow and perhaps during the first week of 

 the honey flow and then put below the ex- 

 cluder, there is sometimes a great restric- 

 tion in brood-rearing because of the pollen 

 in the combs in the lower story. The bees 

 are slow about removing pollen to make 

 room for brood-rearing, so that such colo- 

 nies sometimes rear even less brood at this 

 time than do comb-honey colonies. This may 

 be advantageous in some localities, but of 

 course would be a great disadvantage wher- 

 ever tliere is a fall honev flow. 



