848 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



the apiary may be made ready for the honey- 

 How. It has been the result of getting all 

 the queens to laying to their fullest capacity, 

 and providing a suitable nursery for the 

 eggs and brood. 



There is a specially good opportunity to 

 get remai'kable results from this system of 

 manipulation this season; fur, while brood- 

 rearing has been retarded on account of cold 

 weather, the same weather conditions have 

 operated to keep back tho white-clover 

 growth, and also all other early-blooming 

 honey-producing plants, the sc-son in this 

 locality being from two to three weeks late. 

 Of course, as the season advances it will 

 gradually readjust itself as tc what might be 

 termed the normal season, until iu the fall 

 the backward spring will no longer be no- 

 ticeable on vegetation. But on the approach 

 of warm settled weather bees will as rapidly 

 catch up with the season if we provide the 

 means of developing the eggs into bees as 

 fast as our queens can lay them; which we all 

 know is at a tremendous rate when the first 

 settled warm weather comes, with apple- 

 blossoms and other early Mowers to supply 

 the nectar which gives the proper stimulating 

 effect to the bees; and if no nectar is coming 

 in between fruit bloom and white clover, as 

 is the case in most localities, feeding may be 

 resorted to. * 



While the weather in 'this part of the world 

 has been cool and the season backward, there 

 has been no severe freezing weather this 

 spring; and the clovers that survived the open 

 winter look healthy and strong, and the even 

 moisture with no drouths or excessive rains 

 has saved every thing that had any roothold. 

 We may, therefore, look for a vigorous growth 

 of clove-r when warm weather dnally sets in. 

 Let us, then, be hopeful and build up the 

 weak colonies, and be in readiness with the 

 "dish right side up " to catch the crop when 

 it comes, for we are more likely than not to 

 realize handsomely for all trouble and extra 

 manipulation of the right kind in a season 

 like this. Rememl)er that a colony of bees is 

 valuable to the apiarist who keeps bees for 

 the honey they produce, only to the extent 

 of the profits obtained theiefrom. One hun- 

 dred poor weak colonies may produce no 

 profits whatever, and may be run at an actual 

 loss for the season. But if fifty of them 

 should be used to build up the other fifty in- 

 to profit-producing colonies, a full crop, and 

 possibly something in excess, might be ob- 

 tained therefrom, and the entire hundred 

 brought into condition for successful winter- 

 ing. The net result would then be half a 

 crop for the entire apiary instead of an ab- 

 sence of profits. 

 Buffalo, N. Y. 



UNCLE SAM MEANS BUSINESS. 



A DEALER in Detroit, who probably thought 

 the pure-food laws did not amount to very 

 much, was fined quite recently $5000 for 

 falsely labeling oleomargerine in a manner 

 contrai'y to the law of the United States. 



COMB AND EXTRACTED HONEY FROM 

 THE SAME SUPER. 



The Control of Swarming in Colonies Run 



for Comb Honey; What to Do Just 



Before the Honey-flow. 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND. 



Continued from last issue. 

 At the commencement of the honey-flow, 

 and on the day the first new honey is noticed 

 in the hives, the extra combs we have given 

 are removed and the light colonies united, 

 after which a super is given, with the two 

 drawn combs and sections with full sheets of 

 foundation. About the only shifting of brood 

 we ever attempt is done just previous to giv- 

 ing the supers. If we find a colony with 

 much sealed honey along the top-bar of the 

 brood-combs, we change places with the sec- 

 tions of the hive; that is, we place the one 

 with honey in at the bottom, and the one 

 with nothing but brood is lifted on top. In 

 this way we get that desirable condition .of 

 having all brood and no honey between the 

 brood-nest and sections. 



All our sections were filled full of extra 

 thin foundation, and arranged as I have ex- 

 plained above, with a drawn comb at each 

 outside. There is no need of a shallow su- 

 per of combs to induce the bees to enter the 

 supers; some of the most obstinate swarms 

 were given these supers, and they never fail- 

 ed to enter if they were in condition to work 

 in an extracting-super. 



With the Barber plan, a full set of shallow 

 combs is given to start the bees to working 

 above; then, when they get nicely started, 

 this set of combs is removed and the super 

 of sections given. This works well with a 

 small per cent of the colonies, but in most 

 cases the bees hesitate about going into the 

 sections at the time the combs are removed. 

 I am satisfied that right here is where the 

 majority of the comb-honey colonies contract 

 the swarming fever. With my management 

 on the other hand the bees work nicely until 

 the combs are removed; then they are quite 

 liable to sulk for a few days, and this is some- 

 thing we can not afford to have going on at 

 this stage of the honey season, when the bees 

 of every colony should be doing their best. 



Now with a solid comb clear from top to 

 bottom, on both sides of the supers, no mat- 

 ter how high they are tiered, there is no 

 break in the cluster, so to speak, when a su- 

 per is lifted up, and an empty one given un- 

 der. This continuous comb calls the bees 

 into the last super immediately; it will not 

 be fifteen minutes, after this second super is 

 given, until there wijl be honey stored in it, 

 and there is no Ict-up. The work goes right 

 on, on down both sides of the super at once. 

 In a day or two, with a favorable honey-flow 

 they will be occupying the whole of the last 

 super. 



This is the way to produce premium hon- 

 ey; it starts the bees working every section 

 in the super at the same time, with a vigor 

 no other system ever anywhere approached. 

 In my apiary last yea^ pflly 30 colonies 



