488 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



average of about 20 per cent. I find that 

 the September swarms are the first colonies 

 to be supered when the main honey- flow is 

 on. I ply all weak colonies now with comb 

 foundation, or empty combs if any are on 

 hand. After the real rainy seasons in Oc- 

 tober are over, should I still find myself with 

 anv- weak colonies (,not having- time to build 



BKAXCH OF LOGWOOD-TRFE, SHOWING 

 BLOSSOMS. 



up) I beg-in to unite. This puts every thing 

 in shape for the grand burst of logword 

 bloom in November. And what grander 

 sight than miles upon miles of gold? It is 

 logwood, logwood everywhere! 



Now, the real flow along the plains and 

 low-lying country does not begin until the 

 middle of December, lasting sometimes until 

 the end of January. If we have a few 

 showers in February or early in March, 

 every thing is gold again, followed closelv". 

 often simultaneously, by a heavy mango 

 bloom lasting about five weeks. April may, 

 generally speaking, be considered our ac- 

 tual swarming season. In this month the 

 giant May-pole or corotce. pimento, and cof- 

 fee are in bloom: and what with the nectar 

 from the ever-present Spanish needle, if the 

 bees are idle, if queens are not prolific, and 

 if your colonies are not literally bubbling 

 over with bees, it is no fault of nature. I 

 am speaking strictly for my locality, as I 

 know the conditions are somewhat difl"erent 

 in other places. In some of the low-lying 

 districts, where logwood is the only honey- 

 plant, stimulating has to be practiced to a 

 much greater extent than in the mountains, 

 where the variety is greater. 



I use nothing but the standard ten-frame 

 hives, all Ircally made. I make the bodies 

 and bottoms of empty kerosene-oil boxes, the 

 covers of empty packing-cases. This style 



of hive is extensively used by bee-keepers in 

 Jamaica. Five empty beer-bottles sunk in- 

 to the ground, neck downward, and made 

 level, make an excellent stand, and can 

 bear five supers of honey, about 300 lbs. 

 weight. I keep 12 three frame nuclei to ev- 

 ery 50 colonies, in which I rear queens to 

 meet the demands of my apiarv'. I use no 

 scientific methods in this department. A 

 square inch of comb with some three-day- 

 old larva?, grafted or slipped between the 

 combs, does the job. I have breeding queens 

 from The A. I. Root Co. and G. M. Doolittle. 

 The Root Co. 's queens, from their leather- 

 colored strain of Italians, are all round 

 fine, the bees from which know how to roll 

 in the honey: and in times of great scarcity' 

 all colonies with their progeny keep healthv- 

 and strong. I strengthen my weak colonies 

 by swapping their positions with strong 

 ones. Nuclei are also formed in this way, 

 giving each one in advance a frame of lar- 

 vae. This plan helps to discourage swarm- 

 ing in strong colonies. The system of 

 •'swapping"" hives is an admirable one in 

 the case of laying workers. After removal 

 you have onlv" to give the colony with the 

 laying worker a frame of larva?, and the 

 new force of bees scon starts queen-cells. 



I have alreadv- told you how I take swarms 

 — see Gleanings. Jan. 15. 1902. When not 

 desiring increase, two or three swarms are 

 huddled into the same hive. I never could 

 see the advantage of clipping my queens, 

 and so leave it severelv* alone. When I rise 

 to the rank of being owner of 5C>0 colonies, 

 and have an assistant (must be a specialist 

 at lifting heavy weights) I shall consider 

 the matter. 



I have a rather novel plan in dealing with 

 robbing. The entire colony being robbed 

 is banked with hay which is freely sprin- 

 kled with a brush dipped in whitewash con- 

 taining about a tablespoonful of turpentine. 

 Every robber is branded "white." and I 

 can then detect the colony from which the 

 robbers are issuing, when the entrance is 

 forthwith closed. No matter how thickly 

 the hay is placed around a colony, the bees 

 get ample ventilation, and at night the cov- 

 ering may be removed. The whitewashing 

 is. of course, superior to dusting with flour; 

 and since it saturates the hay. the bees get 

 disgusted as soon as their bodies get foul 

 and sticky, the smell of the turj>entine add- 

 ine to their disgust. 



There being no local market for it, very 

 little comb honev- is produced in Jamaica — 

 all run for extracted. A good many bee- 

 keepers preserve one season"s empty combs 

 for supering colonies the next honey-flow. 

 Now, I husband Them for my swarms, and 

 since the swarming season follows so close- 

 ly on the honey season, the combs have no 

 time to generate math- worms, which abound 

 here. Hone^- I am speaking of logwood) 

 stored in new ombs is bound to be white; 

 hence I am careful not to give dark combs 

 in supers when the bloom is on. Too much 

 care can not be exercised in this respect, as 

 honev is so easilv discolored or darkened. 



