1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1425 



have had only indifferent sm^cess with the 

 plan have been those who have failed to 

 bring their colonies up, with numbers to 

 overHowing, at the time of the honey har- 

 vest. Failing here is to fail with any plan, 

 and especially with this one. The viultitude 

 of bees coming with ' millions of honey at 

 our house,' at just the right time, and the 

 honey at our house, and that coming from 

 the fields when the shook swarming is done, 

 is the secret of the rush of honey into the 

 sections during the rest of the season follow- 

 ing. With a much poorer season than last 

 year, and, added to that, sickness just when 

 I should have been with the bees, my aver- 

 age yield of section honey from each colony 

 worked by the plan this year has been 105*1 

 pounds. Do not forget that a colony of 

 60,000 bees, with no desire to swarm, will 

 store for you a whole lot of sui'plus honey, 

 while a colony of only 20,000 to 30,000. and 

 those with a desire to split up through 

 swarming, will yield their owner little or 

 nothing; and the ten-frame hive looks more 

 nearly toward the 60,000 than does the eight- 

 frame." 



"I think I see the point. But how will 

 the plan work for extracted honey?" 



" The plan is all right for extracted honey 

 up to the time for the shook swarming. 

 There is no need of that where working for 

 extracted honey." 



'.'How is that? Please explain." 

 "There should be little if any trouble 

 from swarming when working for extracted 

 honey. 



' ' But bees do swarm where so worked. ' ' 

 "Whei'e they do, it is generally through 

 failure to work them as they should be." 

 "How should they be worked?" 

 "Just as I have told, up to the time of 

 shook swarming. Then, instead of shaking 

 them, raise half of the brood to the upper 

 hive, putting frames of empty combs in the 

 place of those raised, and over all put the 

 third hive filled with empty combs: and, 

 later on, if more room is needed, put on the 

 fourth hive containing frames of empty 

 comb, putting this on top of all. My expe- 

 rience tells me that not one colony in twen- 

 ty-five will offer to swarm if treated in this 

 way. ' ' 



" When would you do your extracting?" 

 "At the end of the season, where the sea- 

 son gave only one grade of honey. If more 

 than one grade, then I would extract at the 

 end of the white grade and at the end of the 

 dark grade. Mixed honeys do not sell very 

 well." 



"Just one more question." 

 "All right. Go ahead." 

 "Is the plan as likely to prevent swarm- 

 ing in a good flow as it is in a good season, 

 as you report the past two have been with 

 you?" 



"Yes, and more likely." 

 "How is that?" 



"Nearly all bee-keepers have had the ex- 

 perience of a season of prolific swarming be- 

 ing stopped almost immediately by the com- 

 mencement of a very heavy flow of nectar. 



With a honey-flow which is good enough to 

 give a yield only a little greater than what 

 is consumed by'brood-i-earing day by day, 

 bees take on the swarming fever as never 

 else, as soon as the hive is full of brood; but 

 with an immense flow of nectar the whole 

 trend of bee life is turned toward securing 

 stores to such an extent that they seemingly 

 think of little else, and especially where 

 they have enough empty comb to store such 

 a yield. They have this space in the upper 

 stoi-y, with the plan I have given: and at the 

 time this is filled, or previous to this, they 

 are shaken from their brood, so they find 

 themselves on their frames of honey, or in 

 their own home without brood to speak of, 

 with plenty of storage room in the sections, 

 and thus all desire for swarming is given 

 up, if such desire has reached them, which, 

 usually, it has not." 



HOW TO GET BETTER PRICES FOR 

 EXTRACTED HONEY. 



A Methoil for Producers of Every Class. 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND. 



The editorial, page 1233, 1905, whei-e I am 

 compared with Dan White as to my success 

 as a salesman in retailing 20,000 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey at 7^ cts. per pound, prompts 

 me to say a few words. In the first place, 

 7| cts. is altogether too low a price to retail 

 honey at, even if one could buy at the ex- 

 tremely low price of 6 to 6^ cts.' for the best 

 white, as some have sold for this year. In 

 this case one would have to get at least 10 

 cts. at retail, and perhaps 12 in some cases. 

 No, we did not jDeddle any honey around 

 home. Although some went to consumers, 

 I presume 95 per cent went direct to bottlers 

 and honey-peddlers. My 1905 crop went 

 as far east as Maine, west to Kansas, and 

 south to the Virginias. There is no doubt 

 in my mind that Dan White has worked 

 out the best system of retailing honey at 

 home where one has the ability, and a terri- 

 tory that is suitable to work up' such a trade: 

 but with me, for several reasons, the terri- 

 tory is not suitable. My time isAvorth more 

 otherwise, and I have neither desire nor 

 ability to retail honey; in fact, fully 75 per 

 cent of the honej'-producers have no ability 

 as peddlers. It is for this last large class 1 

 am going to give a few figures, then de- 

 scribe the best plan in existence (my esti- 

 mation), where one desires to dispose of his 

 crop in a wholesale way. Now for some 



