AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 



shown on the cover page of the 

 American Bee Journal of July last, 

 tree logs, square boxes, etc. The first 

 ten hives were brought to me on the 

 backs of donkeys, with an experi- 

 ence similar to that related by my 

 friend Brenner, in San Domingo, 

 page 194 of June, 1918, but with 

 poorer luck, for he had them all de- 

 livered in good condition, while I 

 lost four of mine through the break- 

 ing of the combs and daubing of the 

 bees with honey. The other 10 colo- 

 nies were delivered in good condition, 

 having been brought on the backs of 

 human porters, at great cost. 



I transferred all those colonies 

 after the method described in Da- 

 dant's "Bee Primer," into movable- 

 frame hives, with very good success 

 and the honey which I saved in the 

 transfer was sufficient to make up 

 for the four colonies lost in transit, 

 I then increased my colonies by 

 artificial divisions, and succeeded 

 quite well, so that in March, 1918, I 

 had SO colonies and had more than 

 doubled my capital, besides averaging 

 about 20 pounds of honey per colony 

 and at total of 30 pounds of beeswax. 

 1 do not know of any business in 

 which the profits can be so large in 

 so short a space of time. 



I do not wish to go beyond SO colo- 

 nies, first because I am a "side liner" 

 and have other occupations. Besides, 

 I am as yet uninformed as to the real 

 resources of the country, in honey. 

 I will learn more during the present 

 season, which began in September 

 and will end in March. 



In the picture shown (cover page), 

 the covers have been removed from 

 the front rows, so as to show the 

 style of hives which I use. 



The parts which support the hives 

 are intended to keep them out of the 

 moisture, for in the rainy season it 

 rains every day, and the soil is con- 

 stantly damp. 



My apiary is in the suburbs of the 

 city of Uruapan, in a garden planted 

 with divers fruit trees, as are all the 

 gardens in the vicinity. We have 

 several important sources of honey, 

 chayote and chayotello, which yield 

 white honey; later the orange trees 

 and other citrus fruits, but it is diffi- 

 cult to have honey specially from one 

 kind, as all bloom about the same 

 time. 



The roofs of my hives are made 

 with thin shingles, "tejamanil," 

 much as are used all through Mexico, 

 on cottages. The temperature of the 

 hives is much lower under them than 

 it would be in the open sunshine, in 

 this hot country. 

 Uruapan, Mexico. 



Getting Colonies Ready for Honey 

 Flow 



By Joseph S. Scott 



I THINK that I have read some- 

 where tha' the bees should be at 

 a certain point of development in 

 the spring, after the winter's decline 

 and that they should reach this point 

 just as the honey flow comes. Is 

 this so? Will a week later or a week 

 sooner do? I think that all will con- 



The club leader insists on full sheets of foun- 

 dation, wired combs and up-to-date equip- 

 ment. These boys will make expert beemen. 



cede that if the bees in a hive reach 

 their highest development or the 

 point in question a week later than 

 the beginning of the honey flow they 

 will certainly not gather the crop 

 that could have been gathered had 

 they been at this poin t a week 

 sooner. Now let us suppose that 

 they reach this point a week before 

 the flow comes, what will the result 

 be? Can they be held at this point? 

 "Will a hive of bees that reaches this 

 point stay there for a week and then 

 gather a full crop of honey, even 

 though they show no inclination to 

 swarm? 



I don't think so. I think that we 

 have got to get the bees in a certain 

 condition to gather honey and that 

 if the flow is a few days later or 

 sooner than this point of develop- 

 ment we will lose a large part of 

 the crop. 



What this point is that I am talk- 

 ing about I can hardly say ; but it is 

 at a stage where there are more bees 

 fit for the field than at any other 

 time. The point is reached by cer- 

 tain things; first, the daily laying of 

 the queen, the proportion of eggs to 

 larva;', to nurse bees, to field bees, 

 and there i only one time for it af- 

 ter the bees start their activities in 

 the spring. A few days later may 

 show more field bees, but more of 

 them may be required as nurse bees, 

 or, in other words, where there are 

 more field bees there is a shortage 

 of nurse bees, and so no more, nor 

 probably as many, field bees would 

 or could go to the field. 



"There is a tide in the affairs of 



men which, taken at the flood, leads 

 on to fortune." Is it not true of bees? 



I know that this spring I stuck 

 pretty close to 200 hives of bees and 

 all had plenty of stores; in fact, 1 

 took a lot away from them after 

 spring had opened, and they were 

 getting a little scattering nectar. On 

 the 31st of March I wrote to a friend 

 of mine and told him this: "If the 

 tupelo comes tomorrow week ( \pril 

 8), 1 think that my bees will be in a 

 position to get every drop there is." 

 Instead of the 8th, tupelo began on 

 the 4th. I put a hive on the scales 

 and on the 5th they gained 5 pounds; 

 on the 6th 7 pounds; on the morning 

 of the 7th it was raining hard and 

 rained all day and turned cold that 

 night and there was heavy frost, 

 with high, cold winds for three or 

 four days, and the bees did not get 

 out until about the 14th. A few 

 hives swarmed the following week, 

 but here is my crop record: Out of 

 three yards, with 70 hives in each, 

 one yard had three hives with a su- 

 per full each, one yard had four 

 hives with one to two supers full 

 each, and one yard had six hives with 

 a super or two each, and the rest of 

 the hives in these yards only gave 

 me an average of five pounds to the 

 hive. 



Xow, there you are ! Thirteen hives 

 gave me an average of at least 40 

 pounds to the hive and the rest gave 

 me an average of about five pounds. 



Thirteen hives against one hundred 

 and ninety. I know that these were 

 not in any better shape than the rest. 

 I am not certain, but suppose that 

 they were not in as good shape when 

 the flow started, but developed to 

 this point during the cold spell, and 

 so were in shape to get this honey 

 when it warmed up, while the other 

 hives, that were in better shape, had 

 passed this point of development and 

 so went to pieces, or did not get 

 honey that was there for them to 

 get. 



If I am not correct in my deduc- 

 tions, will some one please explain 

 this to me : 



Why is it that of two hundred 

 hives of bees in fine shape, only thir- 

 teen gather any surplus to mention, 

 after a week of unfavorable weather? 



Could the queens, during the three 

 or four days of the beginning of the 

 flow, have taken a spurt of laying 

 that would give a very much larger 

 number of larva? to feed, that this in- 

 creased number caused too many old 

 bees to act as nurse bees? Or could 

 the bees, after being confined to the 

 hive for a week, sulk and refuse to 

 take much part in gathering a crop? 



I do know this much, I lost my 

 spring crop with plenty of bees to 

 gather it. and would like to know the 

 reason why. 



I also would like to know what I 

 could have done to prevent this or a 

 recurrence of it. It is very probable 

 that such a case will come up again, 

 as the weather is always very uncer- 

 tain in tarly spring when tupelo is 

 .In.' in bloom, and if I can "hold the 

 bei "I want to know how. 



While the cold spell caused a few 

 to swarm, out of the 200 only about 



