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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



comb room, and food to produce a bee. be 

 she feebly constituted or robust. If the life- 

 time of a bee is, in the active season, six or 

 eight weeks, and we can have a bee which 

 will live under the same conditions two 

 weeks longer than another, which, from my 

 observations I believe we can, then we have 

 in this point alone a great difference in the 

 amount of honey two colonies can gather 

 under the same conditions. 



Some colonies, without robbing, will con- 

 tinue to gather surplus when others are get- 

 ting no more than is sufficient for their own 

 requirements. I have noticed this particu- 

 larly at the latter end of a How. Colonies 

 that appeared to do alike during a good flow 

 would vary greatly in a poor flow. Proba- 

 ble reasons may be given; but how few rec- 

 ognize even the fact! Then it is markedly 

 the case that one colony will be bringing in 

 light honey when the other is bringing in 

 dark. In a general way I have noticed this 

 difference between blacks and Italians. 

 Seme bees stop breeding almost the moment 

 the honey-flow ceases. Such bees in many 

 districts are difficult to build up in the early 

 part of the season. Others go to the extreme 

 of breeding too long after the flow ceases. 

 The one trait is about as objectionable as the • 

 other. Some bees are easily instated, and a 

 continual annoyance when handled. Some 

 are made so by improper handling. There 

 was a time when I thought such a bee might 

 have other favorable traits which could not 

 be secured separate from natural irritability; 

 but after more than 25 years' experience I 

 know that such is not the case. 



It is well known that some bees are more 

 inclined to swarm than o*hers. We can con- 

 trol this to a greater extent than formerly; 

 but it is a dangerous trait for the average 

 bee-keeper to deal with, and this trait must, 

 with all our modern improvements, be a 

 leading consideration in selection. I have 

 colonies of bees which are of about the same 

 spring strength, side by side in the same api- 

 ary. Some breed up faster, of course con- 

 sume more honey in breeding, yet they ac- 

 tually have more surplus honey right along, 

 and therefore do much better work. But 

 too large a percentage, if in the least neg- 

 lected, for room or ventilation, swarm or get 

 the swarming impulse. Bees should be 

 weighed full and empty, and their loads com- 

 pai'ed. Efforts should be made to compare 

 the time they take to load. The degree and 

 duration of cold to which they can be sub- 

 jected, and yet survive, should be tested. 

 The way in which they guard and defend 

 their hive is important. 



In some strains orvax'ieties of bees we find 

 frequently the work of the moth larva, while 

 others rarely have such. 



The degree to which bees ripen honey un- 

 der apparently similar conditions appears to 

 vary. J. H. Shaver, Cainsville, Ont., first 

 drew my attention to this. The variation in 

 capping is well known, and important, as is 

 also, to a less degree, the amount of propo- 

 lis they gather. Take it all in all ( and I have 

 enumerated only a few points), there is a 



large and useful field right here which, in 

 my estimation, experiment stations can best 

 invade and cultivate. Let us, upon these 

 and other points along the same line, set 

 ourselves to thinking seriously, and good to 

 the industry is bound to result. 

 Brantford, Ont. 



THE SWARMING QUESTION. 



Dr. Miller's Advice to a Correspondent 

 who AVishes to Start an Out-apiary. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



A Mississippi correspondent wants to move 

 his 75 or 100 colonies seven miles out in the 

 country, to better pasturage, and says: 



"I want to run altogether for comb honey, 

 and all I want help for is to hive the swarms 

 and look after bees occasionally at all sea- 

 sons — I mean just to see that they are there 

 all right, and set up an alighting-board, etc., 

 that might get out of place. Tell me how to 

 do. Is it best to try to place the bees at some 

 farmer's house and get him to hive the 

 swarms and look after bees, I keeping hives 

 always ready, or get some one to stay with 

 bees at whatever price I can during honey- 

 flow? What remuneration and customary 

 pay in each case? and which is the better 

 way? " 



I take it that you mean to visit the bees 

 often enough, and attend to their manage- 

 ment except hiving swarms and a little gen- 

 eral seeing that things are kept in place. In 

 the first place, let me advise you to do some 

 thinking over the question whether it will 

 not be best for you to take matters into your 

 own hands and have no natural swarming. 

 I know it looks like a bigger job than you 

 want to undertake; you've always let the 

 bees swarm naturally, know just how to run 

 things in that way, and hesitate lest you might 

 not make a success in any other way. Yet 

 after you've tried it you may not find it so 

 difficult as you suppose. At least, try part 

 of the colonies by shaking swarms a little in 

 advance of their own swarming, and you 

 will find that the forces can be kept together 

 better than by allowing the bees to have their 

 own way, and you'll be likely to get more 

 honey. Look carefully over the series of ar- 

 ticles in Gleanings last summer and fall, by 

 Mr. Doolittle, and see whether he has not been 

 planning for just such men as you. Anoth- 

 er item in the case naturally appeals to you. 

 You say you have a strong love for the busi- 

 ness, and your love for it will be no little en- 

 hanced if you feel that you are running the 

 bees, and not the bees running you, as they 

 do to an extent in natural swarming. 



But while giving you time to thinK it over 

 I'll answer as well as I can the questions you 

 have asked. No mattei*what your plan, bet- 

 ter locate the bees with some farmer who 

 will have a friendly interest, you increasing 

 that interest by liberal presents of honey or 

 otherwise. If size of hives, character of bees, 

 and condition of- pasturage, are such that 

 very little swarming is to be anticipated, then 



