354 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



"I see. That is a scheme, ''surely. But 

 how about the other plan?") :; : ^ - 



"That is simply the boring of a hole in 

 the front of the old hive, so that the drones 

 can go out from the same; but as the work- 

 ers will soon learn the way in and out here, 

 and establish a colony there, to a certain ex- 

 tent, and as the hole mars the hive, I con- 

 sider the first way the best.". t*- -^ 



' ' One question more, and I must be going. 

 Do you not think that more honey could be 

 obtained by having a nucleus for each colony 

 that swarms, and putting with the nucleus 

 the brood from the colony that swarms, thus 

 having no after- swarms and no more ma- 

 nipulations? " 



"If your honey yield is from buckwheat, 

 probably yes. If from clover and basswood, 

 I doubt it, and especially not where you run 

 bees down as I have told you about. Be- 

 sides, the nucleus plan would double our col- 

 onies each year — a thing the most of us are 

 not desirous of having. ' ' 



SPRING MANAGEMENT. 



Some Valuable Hints Concerning Stimulation 



to Induce Early Breeding; How to Save 



the Weak Colonies; an Excellent Plan 



for Uniting in the Spring. 



BY E. W. ALEXANDER. 



This is one of the most important seasons 

 of the year to the honey-producer, for if he 

 neglects his bees at this time it is almost 

 impossible for him to obtain any surplus 

 from his early harvest. We should care for 

 our bees so as to gain two or three weeks' 

 time instead of losing any precious days. 

 First, I wish to call your attention to the 

 importance of keeping your bees as warm 

 as possible all through the spring. If 

 you can try to have them set where they 

 will have a natural windbreak of some kind. 

 This is very essential to protect them from 

 the cold northwest winds; and at all times 

 of the year avoid shade. There may be 

 some places where shade is necessary in the 

 apiary, but I have never seen a colony do as 

 well in the shade of a tree as those out in 

 the sun. During early spring I advise by all 

 means contracting the entrance until it is 

 quite small. We allow an entrance only § X 

 1 inch, and sometimes still less; then when 

 a warm day comes we enlarge it according 

 to the needs of the colony; then toward night 

 close it again if it is likely to turn cold. 

 Also cover your hives with tarred building- 

 paper. This is an excellent thing to retain 



the heat from the sun during the day, and 

 in this way you can, with the natural heat 

 of the colony, keep the whole hive so it will 

 remain nice and comfortable all night. 



Then if you will do as I advise in the above, 

 so far as keeping them warm is concerned 

 they will gain fully three weeks' time over 

 the way they are generally cared for. 



Now we will take up the next most impor- 

 tant part of spring management, that of 

 stimulative feeding. This, with its twin 

 brother, keeping them warm, is the magic 

 word that unlocks the door to a successful 

 summer. I care not how much old capped 

 honey a colony may have, there is nothing 

 that can be done to your bees during early 

 spring that will pay like keeping them warm, 

 night and day, and feeding a little warm 

 syrup daily, made very thin from honey or 

 granulated sugar, or both. If fed in the 

 feeders I invented a few years ago a very 

 little will answer the desired purpose. Two 

 cents' worth per day, or about 50 cents' 

 worth if judiciously used, will be enough to 

 carry the colony through the whole spring, 

 and will, many times, be the means of giv- 

 ing you a large increase of colonies long be- 

 fore your harvest for surplus honey com- 

 mences. 



HOW TO GET BROOD FROM TWO QUEENS IN 

 ONE HIVE. 



Next the rearing of early queens is very 

 important; also early drones. This is some- 

 thing we must not neglect. This part of 

 our business has been made very easy and 

 plain by such men as Pratt, and I will pass 

 it for the present. But here is one thing I 

 must describe to you all, and that is the 

 proper and best way to care for our little 

 weak colonies after taking them from 

 their winter quarters. It is this: As soon 

 as they have some uncapped brood in their 

 hives, take them to a good strong colony; 

 remove its cover and put a queen-excluder 

 in its place, then set the weak one on top of 

 the excluder and close up all entrances to the 

 weak colony, except what they have through 

 the excluder, down into the strong colony be- 

 low. Leave them in this way together four or 

 five weeks; then separate them and you will 

 have two good colonies and will have saved 

 yourself all worry about these weak colonies 

 being robbed, chilled, or starved. When we 

 are feeding the other colonies we usually give 

 these a few spoonfuls of the warm syrup in 

 a comb next their brood. This encourages 

 them; and if there is not more than a cup- 

 ful of bees they don't get much from the 

 feeder under the strong colony. I have ex- 

 plained at bee conventions this way of saving 

 these little colonies, and have received very 

 complimentary letters afterward from prom- 

 inent bee-keepers, saying that this idea was 

 worth more than $100 to them. 



This is something we have been practicing 

 for more than twenty years. Some seasons 

 we have a large number of weak colonies on 

 top of strong ones during early spring, and 

 we don't lose five per cent of them. I am 

 sure it goes a long way toward preventing 

 spring dwindling. I will quote what my 



