1088 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



A FEW DON TS. 



Don't attempt to feed back with a caged 

 qvieen. Don't wait until September, but be- 

 gin just as soon as the honey harvest is over, 

 and before the bees have quit comb-building. 

 Don't neglect the smallest detail of your busi- 

 ness, for feeding back is made up of small 

 details and our success will depend upon 

 just how well we attend to them. Don't feed 

 during the honey-liow, for it keeps the bees 

 from going to the fields, where they might 

 get as much as they would from the feed- 

 ers; and it doesn't cost any thing; and, 

 above all, don't expect to get something 

 from nothing; therefore don't be afraid to 

 feed, for judicious feeding is the key to suc- 

 cessful comb-honey production in my loca- 

 tion and it may be in yours. 



Having all the elements necessary to per- 

 fect success in feeding back we will push our 

 operations as fast as possible while the weath- 

 er is favorable and our bees are still secret- 

 ing wax nicely. So just before dark, and 

 after the bees have quit flying, we will till 

 our 50 feeders, putting in each feeder from 

 four to six quarts of honey made thin by 

 adding water. We have found that it is bet- 

 ter to feed two days and skip two. This 

 gives the bees a chance to move the honey 

 from the brood-combs up into the sections to 

 make room for the queen to lay eggs. In 

 heavy feeding, every available Icell in the 

 brood-chamber will be tilled with honey un- 

 til the feeder is empty, when the honey will 

 be moved into the sections as fast as the 

 combs are drawn out. If any of the sections 

 are partially capped, the caps should be 

 shaved off or else the sections will be rough 

 and uneven when finished. As it is not de- 

 sirable to have more than two supers of sec- 

 tions on our feeding colonies at one lime we 

 will remove the two top supers, using the 

 bee-escape board. Our object in placing all 

 the supers on the feeding colonies at first 

 was to get into our feeding colonies the bees 

 that were building combs. This is important. 

 When the sections in the super next to the 

 brood-chamber are nearly capped it is raised 

 up, and the top one is placed next to the 

 brood-chamber. As soon as the top one is 

 finished and capped solid to the wood it is 

 removed, and another super of partly tilled 

 sections is placed next to the brood-chamber 

 until all our partly tilled sections are finish- 

 ed and ready for market, where it will go 

 just as fast as we can grade and pack it, for 

 our honey is usually sold before it is finished, 

 and ovir customers are pushing us to send 

 forward their shipments, so we will begin at 

 once to grade and pack our honey for ship- 

 ment. However, before we remove the last 

 super of sections we will, with our hive-lift- 

 er, swing up the hives of our feeding colo- 

 nies and remove the feeders, placing on each 

 bottom-board, in place of the feeders, a brood- 

 sei^tion taken from the piles that we tiered 

 up seven or eight high for this purpose. This 

 gives these fifty feeding colonies their full 

 quota of brood-combs. 



To he continued. 



THE HONEY-FLOAV. 



The Value of Knowing tlie Local Conditions ; 

 Putting on and Taking Off Supers; Full 

 Sheets of Extra Thin Foundation Recom- 

 mended for Sections; Some Seasonable 

 Suggestions to Beginners. 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND. 



There are some bee-keepers who do not 

 seem to know that there is a period during 

 which the great share of the sui'plus honey 

 is gathered. In the northern States there 

 may be two such periods; but most of the lo- 

 cations in those States have only one main 

 flow, and this from white clover, although in 

 some places this is followed by a basswood 

 flow. The period of white honey varies 

 from a very short flow in a poor year to one 

 extending over as much as six weeks in an 

 extra good year. 



The time of the commencement and ending 

 of the season is also a little uncertain. In 

 some seasons clover begins to bloom the first 

 of June, and produces honey a week or ten 

 days later; then in other seasons it does not 

 produce honey before the 20th of June. We 

 figure that a late season means a short one, 

 and our guess has usually been about right, 

 along these lines. 



The basswood is even more uncertain as 

 to the time of bloom and duration of the 

 honey-flow. It blossoms with us as early as 

 the 1st of July in some years, and as late as 

 the 10th in others; but an average date is 

 from the 4th to the 7th. About this time 

 clover is through yielding; and so, usually, 

 the basswood laps on and makes a continu- 

 ous flow of white honey until the season 

 closes, which is rarely later than July 15. 

 Where there is no basswood the flow from 

 clover usually ends about July 8, and the 

 novice can figure on his crop of white comb 

 honey being ready to remove from the hives 

 about the middle of July. 



These calculations are based on the suppo- 

 sition that there is to be an ordinary flow of 

 honey. Of course, there are seasons of fail- 

 ure and seasons like the last, where only half 

 a crop was harvested; and, once in a while, 

 an extra good season when the flow may be 

 somewhat longer than usual. 



It is of vital importance to know the loca- 

 tion well, so as to be able to tell very nearly 

 when to expect the main surplus flow to Ije- 

 gin and to close, for in no other way can 

 comb honey be produced intelligently. If 

 the beginner does not know his location it 

 would be well to visit and "pump" some 

 old ' ' vet ' ' in the business. 



PUTTING ON THE SUPERS. 



A very good rule is to put on the sections 

 when the first bees are seen on clover; then 

 when they have worked three, or, perhaps, 

 four weeks they can not be expected to work 

 much more. In a basswood location, if the 

 trees should appear full of blossoms, and the 

 weather is suitable for the bees to gather hon- 

 ey, the honey-flow may be lengthened out a 

 few days. With favorable conditions bass- 



