152 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Augus * 



AUGUST IN THE APIARY. 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



AUGUST TO MOST of us seeming- 

 ly tlie vex-y height of the bee sea- 

 son is ,yet a critical time in bee 

 management. The prosperity of the 

 colonies tempts to division and in- 

 crease. Winter seems far a^vay. so far 

 that it >seems absurd to think of it 

 much less take any steps toward pre- 

 paring for it. But the veteran well 

 knows that not only does the success- 

 ful wintering of his bees depend upon 

 his management now but that his next 

 season's honey crop will be materially 

 diminished by lack of proper care at 

 thio5 time. 



Now is the time to requeen all col- 

 onies having queens two years old. 

 and by two years old bee-keepers mean 

 those which are completing their sec- 

 ond honey' season. Hence queens 

 reared in late July and August should 

 be good for the next two summers, 

 while queens reared last spring before 

 the honey harvest should be replaced 

 a year from now. Some bee-keeperti 

 requeen every fall, others permit the 

 bees to look out for this matter them- 

 selves, but the most profitable way 

 seems to be the biennial method. 



At this time, when in most places 

 little or no honey is being gathered, 

 it is well and easy to weed out poor 

 combs replacing them with good ones 

 or sheets of foundation. The keeper 

 of but a few colonies may get much 

 pleasure in cutting out patches of drone 

 comb, crooked places, etc., and fitting 

 in their place pieces of straight work- 

 er comb. It is even possible to patch 

 out combs with pieces of foundation. 

 To the keeper of many colonies, the 

 sorting over of combs is often neglect- 

 ed though there is little question that 

 the work is profitable. The busy bee- 

 keeper, however, has no time for cut- 

 ting and patching, all poor combs go- 

 ing into the wax extractor. 



If the apiarist has a choice colony 

 from which he wishes to rear drones, 

 now is the time to put in some drono 

 comb. The best place to put a sheet 

 of drone comb is the second from the 

 side of the hive. For very early drones 

 the best results will be secured where 

 the lower third of three or four of the 

 central combs are of drone cells. It 

 is well when going through the col- 

 onies now to fill out each hive with 

 its full complement of combs and get 



the brood chamber in such shape tha 

 it will not have to be materially diii|oii: 

 turbed again. If some colonies hay 

 an excess of sealed combs of hone 

 the surplus may be given to less pro! 

 pcrous stocks. The principle is t 

 .so arrange the combs that the bee 

 may be left from now on as undisturl 

 ed as possible, to the end that the 

 may patch and repair and glue to the 

 hearts' content and arrange the 

 stores as their instincts guide ther 

 When man meddles with their wv 

 ter larder he is very apt to so disa 

 range it as to cause more or less di 

 astrous loss even to the extent t 

 death of the colony. 



In localities favored, with a hon< 

 flow from fall flowers a surplus 

 some times secured, but often it 

 more profitable to let the bees croV 

 the brood nest all they can. If ti 

 colonies contain vigorous queens the 

 is no danger of there being too mui | 

 stored. Fall nectar is as good as ai lye 

 other for wintering provided there a It a 

 bees enough to properly ripen it. 

 the cool fall nights it requires a goo 

 ly population to ripen the nectar a 

 in all too many colonies at that s( 

 son the population is small. Vigoro 

 queens will prevent this. It is th 

 tiiat a contracted entrance and outsi, 

 protection are valuable aids. 



Providence, R. I., June 11, 3905. 



DISPOSING OF THE HONEY CR< 



SOU: 



«S 11 



BY F. GREINER. 



THE PROBLEM of how to prodv- 

 honey is, I believe, practical 

 solved. Every bee-keeper who i 

 been with us for the past ten yearalntii 

 acquainted Avith about all the kia^ 

 f^liort cuts and general niethoiis pr 

 ticed by successful honey p)-oducers 



The older bee-keepers, I beliei Iwd 

 could go on to the end of their cai^pi 

 and produce lioney with rea.sonai 

 success, if they did not hear or re 

 an it her word abouc bee-keeping & 

 honey production. But how Ave « 

 get the most money out of our holiMliir 

 is as yet an unsolved problem. T8 

 a beginner, for example, what is 

 to do Avith his honey? He is quite l 

 to sell it to his groceryman at anytlu|i5,ii^" 

 he can get, and take it in trade at th 

 I had some experience_again this p 

 season which shows that this is • 

 Avay some bee-keepers dispose of th 

 honev. I found the finest honey 



I 



1 1)01 



)lr, 

 Loii 



feliii- 

 itcir 



