ilk 



remiD)V^^ 



VOL, 



III, 



FLDIT, MICMM, APRIL 10, 1890. 



1,4. 



The Outfit and Management Needed in the 

 Production of Comb Honey, 



E. L. TAYLOB. 



^ERE I to begin anew the busi- 

 ness of bee-keeping, I should 

 have no hesitation in my choice 

 of a hive. It would be the new 

 Heddon. A few of the -reasons for this 

 choice are, the ease with which the con- 

 dition of the colony may be determined by 

 simply raising one end of the upper section 

 of the hive ijroper, which lays open to view 

 the very heart of the brood nest : the readi- 

 ness with which the spread of brood may be 

 increased, or the bees sent into the supers, 

 by changing at the proper time the lower 

 section to the top of the other ; the conven- 

 ience of the hive for contraction ; and the 

 fixedness of the frames, rendering the hive 

 very handy for moving, while, at the same 

 time, the frames are as readily movable as 

 those of any hive. 



I give each swarm but a single section of 

 the hive for a Ijrood nest, putting on at once 

 a queen excluding honey board and one or 

 more supers above, the supers being gener- 

 ally taken from the hive whence the swarm 

 is.sued : but, unlike the editor of the Review, 

 I fill the brood frames with full sheets of 

 foundation. Granting that there is a slight 

 advantage in the use of starters only, so far 

 as the amount of surplus is concerned, there 

 is no denying that the combs thus secured 

 are less perfect. This, I think, counterbal- 

 ances the advantages. There will generally 

 be too much drone comlt, the frames will 

 not be filled so full, nor the combs built so 

 straight. Imijerfect combs are, to me, a 

 great inconvenience and expense, and to 

 make such perfect requires considerable 

 fussy manipulation. As combs are to be 

 used an indefinite period, I prefer that meth- 

 od that pi'oduces them as perfect as possi- 

 ble, as being, in the end, the most economi- 

 cal. For the same reason, I wire all frames, 

 putting a brace between the upjjer and low- 

 er bars, that they may always be of the 

 proper depth throughout. 



As for bees, I have not had a large experi- 

 ence with any except the Italians and the 

 cross between them and the blacks. I like 

 lively bees, I don't wish to be obliged to 

 wake them up in the morning nor to pick 



them one by one from a comb when I wish 

 to clear it of them. To one who is working 

 for honey, what is the final advantage in 

 bees that cling quietly to the combs y That 

 trait is no doubt very pleasant when one is 

 handling the combs, as in searching for the 

 queen, but I don't handle combs very much 

 now in finding queens — there is a much ea- 

 sier and quicker method. In most of our 

 manipulations, we wish the bees to let go, 

 and that as quickly as possible. I may have 

 been unfortunate in the quality of my 

 Italians, but when it comes to effective bus- 

 iness I have never been able to reconcile my- 

 self to them. I sometimes think they get 

 praise that belongs to the so-called hybrids. 

 I doubt if their color is any safe criterion of 

 their purity. Many of the first Italian 

 queens I reared, when they could not have 

 been purely mated, as there were no Italian 

 drones in the neighborhood, prodiaced bees 

 as yellow and uniform in color as any Ital- 

 ians I ever saw. In point of qualities that 

 tell in actual business I count the cross above 

 referred to as superior to the Italians in ev- 

 ery essential particular. 



When possessed of the hive and the bees 

 of our choice, the next question is, how can 

 they be the most readily put in the best con- 

 dition to gather the next crop. The sooner 

 this question is asked and the answer attend- 

 ed to, the better. The previous August is 

 the right time. I don't expect much from a 

 colony that has an indifi'erent queen. See to 

 this and then give them every opportunity 

 to become strong and in the best condition 

 for wintering. A little more than a plenty 

 of stores is one of the prime conditions. Let 

 them pass the winter in the manner that has 

 proven the most successful. With me the 

 cellar is decidedly the best place. I aim to 

 put them out on their stands a little before 

 soft maple blossoms, before they become 

 disorganized by warm weather, and I see that 

 they are taken out when the weather is not 

 so bright and warm as to induce too excited 

 and heedless flight. Much trouble from at- 

 tempts at robbing is avoided by observing 

 these suggestions ; and I think the bees 

 withstand the effects of frosty weather 

 much better if they can be led to retain 

 their composure. Now, if the colony be 

 healthy, and fairly strong, and the hive im- 

 pervious to wind and water, with a small 

 entrance and an abundance of stores, little 

 more is necessary to be done until the 

 strength of the colony and the state of the 



