760 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



pect much honey generally from the orange, 

 as the bees have not bred up much as yet, 

 and so are not strong enough to get any con- 

 siderable stores from this orange-bloom. 

 There are, however, two points of gain in 

 this orange honey. It is a very fine grade, 

 none better, and it comes in a time when it 

 will do much good in stimulating the bees to 

 work. For the past few days the whole air 

 has been perfumed by the orange- bloom, and 

 we may easily imagine what a gain the bee- 

 keeper would receive were the bees strong 

 in numbers, and had we many warm days in 

 which they could gather. We have had many 

 cold days, though for a whole week the bees 

 were out in full force every day. 



WEALTH OF BLOOJI. 



We have had the finest winter rains in 

 Southern California that 1 have ever known. 

 We now have had 25.25 inches, and we may 

 well believe that we shall yet have some 

 more. As a result, the flowers are splendid. 

 One can not describe the beauty that hangs 

 over field and roadside at this time. The 

 phacelia, so much prized in Germany, and 

 which is native here, is out in all its glory, 

 and the bees are just swarming on it. So of 

 many other wild flowei's. The sages are 

 growing rapidly, and promise great things. 



THE DOOLITTLE SYSTEM OF HONEY PRO- 

 DUCTION. 



So many good and profitable articles have 

 appeared in Gleanings the past year that it 

 hardly seems fair to commend freely one and 

 not even mention others of equal merit; yet 

 there has been one series of articles that have 

 especially interested me that calls for our at- 

 tention at this time. I suppose one reason 

 why they have been of so much interest to 

 me is that I have probably given the subject 

 of swarm control more thought and study 

 than any other one thing connected with bee- 

 keeping I refer to the articles by G. M. 

 Doolittie, entitled, "A Year's Woi'k in an 

 Out-apiary." 



I was much pleased recently to learn that 

 these articles are soon to be placed in book 

 form for the convenience of bee-keepers. It 

 is not that I believe that every one will suc- 

 ceed as well as Mr. Doolittie has done, but I 

 believe the principles he lays down are sound 

 and solid, and well worthy the careful study 

 of every person interested in keeping bees 

 for profit or pleasure. 



Mr. Doolittie seems to work with one end 

 in view from early spring till the maples 



crimson; viz., to secure the largest possible 

 crop of honey, and then leave his hives in 

 the best condition for the' next year's woik. 

 And may it not be well for us who are inter- 

 ested in the same object to review at this -rea- 

 son some of the rules or maxims that he lays 

 down for securing a large crop of honey? 



In the first place, he recognizes the fact 

 that, to secure a large yield of honey, each 

 hive must have a great army of workers of 

 proper age for outdoor labor just when l he 

 llowers yielding the most honey come into 

 bloom. To secure this great army of work- 

 ers after a colony has been well wintered and 

 nicely tucked up in spring, there is, perhap><. 

 no better way, where there is a short fiow of 

 honey from natural sources, as is almost al- 

 ways the case in our noi'thern climate, than 

 to feed daily, as Mr. Alexander and some 

 others do; but as Doolittie is writing of an 

 out-apiary where daily feeding is impractical 

 he does the next best thing —keeps each hive 

 stocked with an abundance of honey in the 

 comb. After one has noticed how much 

 more rapidly a colony with ample stores 

 will build up in spring than one equally good 

 at the start, but with insufiicient stores, he is 

 prepared to appreciate this method. 



Later, another problem presents itself. 

 How shall the rapidly increasing number of 

 bees be kept contented, and not swarm, un- 

 til it has reached its highest point of eflieien- 

 cy, so to speak, and the "honey harvest" is 

 at hand? He solves this as easily and skill- 

 fully as other problems. At just the right 

 time he doubles the hive capacity, and, in- 

 stead of ten combs, the hive now has twenty 

 with an abundance of room for storing any 

 surplus from fruit-bloom, or if, as is often the 

 case, there is little or none, there is in these 

 extra combs enough old honey to keep up 

 brood-rearing at a rapid pace during the time 

 from apple-bloom till clover opens — the most 

 critical time in the whole season. We all 

 know that a very large hive is practically a 

 non-swarmer early in the season: although 

 it may not be of much value later. 



Again, as the season advances the swarm- 

 ing instinct is almost sure to assert itself, and 

 the colony seems to lose its ambition for some 

 days previous to the day of swarming, and 

 honey-gathering moves slowly. Mr. Doolit- 

 tie forestalls this condition by quietly remov- 

 ing most of the bi'ood and half the combs, 

 giving abundance of room in empty sections 

 with some baits, so that the colony is not on- 

 ly not discouraged, but is stimulated to the 

 utmost to make good the loss of their brood 

 and honey by this unexpected robbery. And 

 it would seem as though the bees in this way 

 are satisfied to work on to the close of the 

 season without even making an attempt t<i 

 swarm. Had this little coiq) cVetat of the 

 master been delayed until the swarming fever 

 was high, less satisfactory results would have 

 been secured as more time would have 

 been required before the colony would be 

 satisfied and contented. Had not brocd- 

 rearing been rapidly pushed forward during 

 the early spring, the colony would have been 

 too weak in numbers to secure the best re- 



