1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



217 



from an experienced apiculturist; and while 

 I most firmly agree with him that practical 

 experience is worth more than theoretical 

 knowledge, my own experience with books 

 and journals leads me to disagree with him 

 most decidedly when he advises beginners to 

 let bee books alone. 



Regarding the reason this man gave for 

 the inadvisability of studying bee books, I 

 will say it was of benefit to me, as it set me 

 to thinking over the questions, why do farm- 

 ers working according to book-instruction 

 frequently fail? And why do bee-keepers 

 often fail to be successful in carrying new 

 methods advanced in bee-journals? Is it 

 not because they are personally not adapted 

 to the pursuit in the first place, and would 

 better do something else, and, secondly, go 

 about their work thoughtlessly and careless- 

 ly, leaving the trouble of thinking to other 

 people. As in bee-keeping, so also in farm- 

 ing, locality and weather conditions are two 

 important factors that need careful consid- 

 eration. 



Again, methods employed in the South 

 will not apply in the North invariably, and 

 vice versa. The soil in one locality will need 

 a slightly different treatment from that in 

 another locality, to yield the best results. 



These and many other conditions, the farm- 

 er who follows written information must 

 bear in mind. The same holds good with 

 the bee-keeper. A Texas apiary must be 

 managed differently from a Michigan one. 

 In one locality the flow comes early, in 

 another it comes late. etc. ; consequently it 

 requires careful thinking, comparing, and 

 observing, besides reading good and instruc- 

 tive literature. 



New Memphis, 111., Dec. 29. 



SOME COMMENTS AS TO HOW FAR MR. 

 ALEXANDER'S METHODS ARE APPLI- 

 CABLE TO OTHER LOCALITIES. 



A Few Timely Suggestions to Beginners. 



BY J. L. BYER. 



Much as I have been impressed with the 

 magnitude and success that Mr. Alexander 

 has attained in the matter of keeping a 

 large number of colonies in one place, I can 

 not help thinking that a whole lot of his 

 teachings through the columns of Glean- 

 ings are not adaptable to localities of the 

 majority of bee- keepers. For instance, in 

 how many localities would it be advisable to 

 attempt to treble the number of colonies 

 previous to the honey-flow? Certainly not 

 m any place where clover is the main source 

 of surplus. Perhaps Mr. Alexander classes 

 all such locations as not being ' ' fairly good, ' ' 

 yet it is not uncommon for us to average 

 100 lbs. or more to the colony. But you 

 may rest assured that nothing like that 

 could be obtained if we broke up all colonies 

 previous to the flow. On the contrary, ev- 

 ery effort is made to keep all colonies intact, 

 as in more than one instance this 100 lbs. 



surplus was all gathered during the month 

 of June. In Nov. 1st Gleanings, 1904, Mr. 

 A. tells us that he seldom gets any honey 

 previous to August; and that in nineteen 

 years, in only four years have they received 

 any surplus previous to that date. Easy to 

 see that what would be practical in a local- 

 ity like that, as regarding the matter of 

 increase, would be ruinous to the crop of 

 honey if attempted by a bee-keeper in the 

 clover belt. I believe that the majority of 

 bee-keepers so situated will agree with me 

 that the slogan should rather be, ' ' Keep all 

 colonies together without division as long aa- 

 possible " 



Another item I should like to mention is 

 to the writer, at least, a * ' stunner. " I re- 

 fer to Jan. 1st Gleanings, where Mr. Al- 

 exander speaks of the matter of winter 

 stores for the bees. He says, ' ' In order to 

 avoid light colonies in the fall, let your bees 

 fill up their hives with the first honey of the 

 season, and see that they have plenty of it 

 capped over before you put on your extract- 

 ing-supers." 



Why, Mr. Editor, don't you think that, 

 granting such practice proves all right with 

 Mr. A., yet it would spell "d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r " 

 for most bee-keepers in most localities? 

 Are we to drop all efforts at having the 

 brood-nests filled with brood, and substitute 

 honey in lieu thereof? But how does Mr. 

 Alexander accomplish this? With us, while 

 waiting for the brood- chamber to get 

 plugged with honey, the bees would swarm 

 or loaf; and if, perchance, some did not 

 swarm, I wouldn't give much for a queen 

 that would tolerate a lot of honey in a Lang- 

 stroth hive with extracting- supers on during 

 a good flow from clover. 



Another strange thing is that, in a buck- 

 wheat locality, such precautions should be 

 necessary. At one of my yards we occa- 

 sionally have a little buckwheat surplus. 

 When this happens the Carniolans and blacks 

 are generally, and the Italians always, 

 heavy enough for winter at the close of the 

 flow. With all due respect for Mr. Alexan- 

 der's opinions, I think it would be a great 

 big mistake for bee-keepers in clover loca- 

 tions to follow his advice in this matter. 



In an article written by Mr. A. some time 

 ago he cautioned bee-keepers not to let the 

 bees get ahead of them in the extracting 

 season. In his own practice he extracted 

 the honey when the bees were just ready 

 to seal over the combs, claiming that, if 

 left to be sealed over, much less honey 

 would be gathered. Again, granting that 

 Mr. Alexander can work this plan all 

 right, do you think the advice sound in view 

 of the needed campaign toward getting bee- 

 keepers to produce a better quality of ex- 

 tracted honey? But by using two or more 

 supers, I very much doubt if Mr. A.'s con- 

 tention will prove true relative to securing 

 much more honey by extracting before the 

 combs are sealed. But, to return to the 

 question : 



In a footnote to Mr. Alexander's article 

 in Jan. 1st Gleanings, in speaking of his 



