148 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Mar. 9, 1899. 



could cover, making sure that they had plenty of honey and 

 a good queen, adding empty combs or honey when needed. 

 Mr. Reynolds would feed to stimulate brood-rearing as early 

 as safe. He would feed honey if he had it ; if not. he would 

 feed sugar syrup. If the spring was late and cold he would 

 feed artificial pollen and give water. 



Some questioned if bees ever needed pollen before nat- 

 ural pollen could be gathered, saying that they believed 

 late fall honey contained pollen sufficient for the needs 

 of the bees in the early spring. The fact that bees will take 

 artificial pollen readily, even greedily, early in the spring, 

 was cited as evidence that bees are often then in need of 

 pollen. Mr. Bair and one or two others had seen their bees 

 gather pollen, or dust resembling it, early in the spring 

 from sawdust-piles. 



The question was askt if it paid to feed to stimulate 

 brood-rearing, where there was an abundance of honey in 

 the hive. The majority thought not. 



The next question before the convention was that of 

 large or small hives. It was settled as usual, viz.: Some 

 preferred 8, some 9, and some 10 frames. As the old woman 

 said when she kist the cow, " Everybody to their fancy." 



Mr. Reynolds' paper, on " The Summer Management of 

 Bees," completed the afternoon session, as follows : 



Summer Management of Bees. 



Summer management of bees ? Why, this is easy 

 enough. If you will give them a wide berth and keep at a 

 safe distance, they will manage themselves. If I am not 

 mistaken, the bee-keeper who sent me the notice, askt me 

 to write on the summer management of bees for dollars and 

 cents. This is what most of us keep — or try to keep — bees 

 for, not merely for our health and the pleasure of coming 

 in contact with the pointed way in which they do business. 



We will suppose the bee-keeper has the apiary in No. 1 

 shape, all colonies ready to be workt as he thinks best — for 

 queen-rearing, section honey, extracting, or the increase of 

 colonies for sale or to keep for his owii use. He may fancy 

 rearing queens and bees for sale if the location and sur- 

 roundings are good. I say this is his line, others would 

 like the producing of comb and extracted honey ; this should 

 be their way, but keep this one idea in view. 



Produce a No. 1 article if possible, and always sell it for 

 just what it is. We cannot establish a reputation, or a 

 market for the product of our apiary, unless we show our 

 customers that we are to be depended upon, that they will 

 g-et just what we represent to them. I have found when 

 you gain their confidence it is easy to keep if not betrayed. 



Summer management of bees for profit I think must be 

 determined by the bee-keeper himself, for what suits one 

 locality will not answer in another. The same will hold 

 good regarding the season and the bee-keeper himself. 

 Some say that they get just as many pounds of honey as 

 their neighbor, and don't fuss half as much as he does. But 

 a glance at the apiary and honey when ready for market 

 tells for itself who gets the best price from their sales. Let 

 every bee-keeper, after studying the location, the demands 

 of the market, his fancy for the different branches of bee- 

 keeping, choose one or all, and do the best he can. As for 

 • the best way to manage bees for profit in siimmer, I don't 

 know. 



But I will give my way when trying for comb honey. 

 Our section of the country is not to be depended upon every 

 year for a g'ood flow, either from clover or buckwheat. I 

 try to have the bees of the right age to g-ather surplus, if 

 any, and to get them I must figure back from the time I ex- 

 pect the honey-fiow. I mu.st comit 37 days from egg to the 

 field-worker, and as I cannot get the egg's all laid in one 

 'day, I commence feeding- to stimulate the bees to feed the 

 queen so she will begin laying six or seven weeks before 

 the honey-flow is expected, if I am to get my bees in shape 

 for the first honey-flow of the season by the queen of each 

 colony laying the eg-gs. 



Sometimes I feed sugar syrup, if I have no unsealed 

 sections left over or brood-combs filled. If the bees have 

 plenty of honey in the brood-combs I will change them, 

 putting combs of honey with the cappings shaved off if 

 necessarj' between combs of brood. I like this way best, 

 for I have had the least trouble about robbing. 



Keep on feeding and changing combs until the honey 

 harvest is at hand. If the bees show signs of swarming, I 

 change a frame of brood with some weak colony for a frame 

 of comb, or put in a frame of foundation. 



After the sections are on, if colony we will say No. 1 

 swarms, put the swarm in a new hive filled with frames of 

 comb or foundation, placing the new swarm on the stand of 

 the parent colony, setting that in some new place. The 



next morning take the sections off the old hive and place 

 them on the new swarm. This secures most of the field- 

 bees with the old queen, allowing the bees in the old hive to 

 rear a queen for themselves, and to replace any old queen I 

 may have that does not lay eggs enough to build up her 

 colony good and strong. 



If I don't want increase of colonies, I put the swarm 

 that comes from hive No. 2 into hive No. 1, that swarmed 

 first, returning- the queen of No. 2 where she came from, 

 and so on through the season, and I have only increast one 

 colony of bees. I use mostly what is called T tin supers, 

 or supers holding 24 sections 4'4'x4'4xl 15/16 or l^s, with 

 no separators; the 8-frame hive, the frame about 17 inches 

 long, and lO'i deep. I use foundation in the sections from 

 ii inches wide to whole sheets, always putting the sections 

 containing the narrowest starters in the middle of the super. 

 If the honey-flow seems to be good when the sections are 

 about ready to seal, I raise up the super and put another 

 under it, and continue this as long as the honey-flow lasts. 



In the forepart of the season, when it is cool at night, I 

 pack around the supers in the hives with old rags, or quilts 

 made on purpose, paper or burlap sacks, anything to keep 

 them warm, and I have found it pays well for the trouble. 



Let us see if we cannot improve in the management of 

 our bees this year, so when the toils of the season of 1899 

 have been reviewed, and we meet again in 1900 to compare 

 notes, it will not be sorrow and disappointment we report 

 regarding the bees, but words of good cheer and encourage- 

 ment to all. Let us do our best and leave the rest. 



R. D. Reynolds. 



EVENING SESSION. 

 This session opened with the discussion of 

 SUMMER MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 



Mr. Sutton managed about the same as Mr. Reynolds, 

 When swarming occurred he managed on the Heddon plan, 

 and depended on the swarm for the surplus. Mr. Peck 

 managed the same for extracted honey as for comb, up to 

 putting on the supers. He used queen-excluders to keep 

 the queen and the pollen below. He would use excluders if 

 he had to pay a dollar apiece for them. By keeping the 

 queen and brood below, he got more honey in the supers, 

 and had more in the brood-chamber in the fall. He workt 

 for both comb and extracted honey, principally extracted. 

 He could produce nearly as much comb as extracted honey, 

 but his market called mostly for extracted. He thought it 

 advisable to run for both comb and extracted honey. Mr. 

 Spitler said if he kept but two colonies he would have an 

 extractor. 



FEEDING BEES — OUT-APIARIES OR BEES ON SHARES. 



Tapping the question-box brought forth the query, 

 '• What is the best method of feeding bees ?" The majority 

 used a Mason jar with a cloth tied over it, inverted over the 

 frames. Mr. Sutton took the porcelain lining out of the 

 lid, and puncht a row of holes around the outer edge of the 

 lid from the inside. This workt nicely, and was much 

 handier than tying a cloth over the jar. Mr. Bair fed his 

 bees by brushing the honey or syrup into the empty combs 

 with a painter's brush, and hanging the combs in the hive. 



The next question was, " Is it preferable to run an out- 

 apiary, or put the bees out on shares ?" It was decided that 

 where the owner had time to work an out-apiary it was best 

 to do so ; but where he had more bees than time it might be 

 best to put them out on shares. It was considered a fair 

 arrangement for putting bees out on shares, for the owner 

 to let them out for half the hone)' and half the swarms, 

 each party paying half the expenses for supplies, the owner 

 to get all his old colonies back at the end of a .stipulated 

 time. If any of the old colonies died during this time, it 

 was the owner's loss, but he should get the hives and combs. 



Mr. Sutton next gave a talk on increasing our honey 

 resources. In brief his ideas were, to plant and encourage 

 the planting of small fruits, white, sweet and Alsike 

 clovers ; and where shade-trees were needed, to plant linden. 



The next question was, " In producing comb honey is it 

 best to use separators or not ?" The majority thought that 

 it was best. Messrs. Sutton and Reynolds used no separa- 

 tors. 



The next query was as to whether any one present had 

 tried the fence separators. No one present except Mr. 

 Tubbs had used them, and he found no advantage in their 

 use. 



Next in order was a paper by Mr. B. W. Peck, of Trum- 

 bull Co., Ohio, on 



