1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



575 



cleansing flights. But, though they have 

 had the opportunity of flying abroad very 

 frequently, they have not, as a consequence 

 of their enforced confinement, been inact- 

 ive; for if we could see the inside of the 

 hive we should find that the real work of 

 the spring, which is breeding, has been go- 

 ing on uninterruptedly. 



That will be the condition of things in 

 every hive that is in proper condition as re- 

 gards the queen, the quantity of bees to 

 support her, and the food supply. Provided 

 all these requirements are granted, the bees 

 will in nowise have suffered through what 

 may appear, to those unversed in bee- lore, 

 enforced idleness. 



We shall see, on the first hot day, bees 

 tumbling out of the hives by thousands, and 

 giving evidence of the imminence of swarm- 

 ing time. 



Now, the question with most bee-keepers 

 is, how to check the desire bees have to 

 spht up by swarming, because, usually, by 

 lessening the numbers in the parent hive, 

 neither stock nor swarm does much honey- 

 storing. The bees do, of course, gather 

 honey; but in one case they have to reaueen 

 the hive, or, rather, await the requeening, 

 and mating of the queen, before any more 

 eggs will be deposited in the cells. 



From the time the last egg is laid by the 

 queen that accompanies the swarm to the 

 time a bee emerges from a cell in which her 

 successor has deposited an egg, will be a pe- 

 riod of about five weeks. If we keep the 

 queen and bees in one hive, the new bees 

 hatching daily more than balance those worn 

 out. and therefore we have a huge colony 

 whose united energies are, to a great ex- 

 tent, directed to the storing of surplus 

 honey. 



If swarms leave hives in which supers are 

 progressing it is most annoying, particular- 

 ly if honey and not increase of stocks is de- 

 sired. In all such cases the proper course 

 would be to place the swarm in a fresh hive, 

 upon a small number of frames of founda 

 tion; give a queen- excluder to confine the 

 queen to the frames, and then remove the 

 supers from the stock, placed in some other 

 part of the garden, and give them to the 

 swarm. By doing this, and setting the 

 swarm on the site occupied by the stock, 

 not only the bees composing the swarm but 

 the flying bees of the stock will unite and 

 make a good working force, because, in the 

 first place, they are mainly honey-gather- 

 ers, and, secondly, they have no brood to 

 c ire for at starting. 



The swarm might be thrown down on the 

 ground, and the queen sought for and re- 

 moved. Being thus rendered queenless they 

 would return to their hive, and for some 

 days swarming would be delayed. As the 

 stock would be queenless the introduction of 

 a young queen and a rearrangement of the 

 brood and surplus chambers might put an 

 end to swarming for the season. 



If a swarm is to be treated in an orthodox 

 manner it should be hived on the evening of 

 the day it issues, and given, at starting, 



five, six, or more frames according to the 

 size of the swarm. 



The question, then, for the bee-keeper 

 will be as to whether he should, for the 

 present, induce the swarm to produce honey 

 in supers or build it up at once into a good- 

 sized stock for a late flow of honey or the 

 next season's work. If it leaves the hives 

 fairly early in the season it might store 

 some surplus, and there would then be time 

 to convert it into a stock of good propor- 

 tions by the end of the season. 



Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. 



CULTIVATE THE HOME MARKET. 



The Best Packages for Extracted Eoney at Re- 

 tail; the Importance of Catering to the Whims 

 of the Consumer Rather than the Conven- 

 ience of the Producer; a Valuable Article 

 from One who has had a Large Experi- 

 ence in Retailing Honey in Glass. 



BY OREL L. HERSHISER. 



Unequal distribution is the chief cause of 

 the depression and inactivity of the honey 

 market. Apiarists generally have been en- 

 gaged chiefly in producing large crops of 

 honey and in studying methods whereby bees 

 may be handled in greater numbers. But if 

 apiculture is to remain a profitable pursuit 

 for the bee-keeper actively engaged in the 

 production of honey, much more attention 

 must be given to the distribution and sale of 

 the product. It is true that bee-keepers 

 producing honey by the carload in remote 

 and sparsely settled parts ofthe country can 

 dispose of but a very small fraction of their 

 product locally; but it is quite otherwise with 

 the great majority of apiarists residing in 

 the more densely settled parts. This latter 

 class of bee keepers have it within their 

 power to improve market conditions greatly 

 by having their honey exposed for sale in 

 the most attractive, convenient, and salable 

 forms in every store within their reach 

 where table eatables are sold. The result 

 would be that less honey in bulk would find 

 its way into the jobbers' hands; there would 

 be less to offer to wholesale consumers: the 

 prices of bulk honey would be stimulated by 

 a more active demand, resulting in a sub 

 stantial advance in price; and the apiarists, 

 thus disposing of their product in the mar- 

 kets in their own locality, and those who are 

 remotely located, would be alike greatly 

 benefited. 



Careful study, and the exercise of sound 

 judgment as to the most profitable contain- 

 ers to use in marketing honey, will be prof- 

 itable to many bee keepers. There is a cer- 

 tain special demand for glass bottles and 

 jars made and sold especially for honey-con- 

 tainers. They are required where some- 

 thing unusually attractive is needed for fair 

 and exposition exhibits, and to supply the 

 most exclusive trade in a few large cities, 

 where the matter of five or ten cents addi- 

 tional for a fancy container, which will be 

 thrown away when emptied, is of no conse- 



