THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



75 



which the hivers were arranged and man- 

 aged was given in my leader of last month, I 

 will not repeat it here, but I will copy two 

 or three paragraphs from the essay, show- 

 ing the extent and success of his experience. 



"The following summer, we rigged up 

 some 10 or 15 hives, on the principle before 

 stated; and although I was sanguine of suc- 

 cess in the very beginning, the result great- 

 ly exceeded my expectations. If I remem- 

 ber correctly, there was not a single failure. 

 The colonies were not only automatically 

 hived in every case, but they went to work 

 in their new quarters, building comb, stor- 

 ing honey just as they would have done had 

 they begn hived in the old-fashioned way in 

 a new location. 



By way of experiment, some of the colo- 

 nies were left from three weeks to a month, 

 to see what the final result would be. Young 

 bees hatched in the parent colony, and 

 finally began to add their numbers to the 

 swarm. The latter, in the mean time went 

 to storing honey to the extent of 50 or 60 

 pounds in two or three instances; and one in 

 particular had stored it to the phenomenal 

 amount, for these poor seasons, of 150 

 pounds. 



I am not prepared to say that the Pratt 

 automatic hivers will prove to be as success- 

 ful in the hands of others, because bees do 

 not always follow an invariable rule, espec- 

 ially when their owners try to make them 

 do just as they plan they ought to do, or as 

 they do for others under like circumstances; 

 so it will probably take another year or so 

 before we can speak definitely with regard 

 to its success in the hands of bee-keepers in 

 general." 



Conditions Under Which Bees Gather the 

 Most Honey. 

 What bee - keeper has not noticed that 

 when everything seemed to be apparently 

 equal, some colonies stored a much larger 

 surplus than others? It often happens that 

 a colony weak in numbers stores more sur- 

 plus than the most populous colony in the 

 yard. Even in some poor seasons some col- 

 onies store a fair surplus. Last year, one of 

 my colonies stored more than 75 pounds of 

 of comb honey, while the average was less 

 than 40 pounds. Some colonies did not go 

 much over 20 pounds each. Who hasn't notic- 

 ed these things and wondered why? If we 

 could discover the why and wherefore, and 

 apply the remedy so that all colonies would 

 come up to the high water mark what a 

 stride it would be. Mr. C. J. H. Graven- 

 horst of Germany is trying to solve the prop- 

 lem. The Rev. C. Spaeth, of Berne, Mich., 

 sends me a translation of an article upon 

 this subject that has appeared in the bee 



journal published by Mr. Gravenhorst, and 

 from it I make the following extract. 



"There are not many attentive bee-keep- 

 ers of long experience who have not noticed 

 that in so-called poor seasons one or more 

 of their colonies not only stored enough hon- 

 ey for its own use but perhaps even a sur- 

 plus; while the majority of colonies may not 

 have secured even sufficient for their winter 

 stores. Likewise, in a good season it must 

 have been noticed that some colonies give an 

 astonishing surplus in comparison with 

 others. 



These results are the more striking if all 

 the colonies had access to the same pasture, 

 and if the work was carried on under seem- 

 ingly exactly the same domestic conditions 

 as regards combs, hives, strength of colon- 

 ies, etc. 



Even in the beginning of my business as a 

 practical bee-keeper, it often happened in a 

 poor season that three or four of my colo- 

 nies in the round straw hives with no frames 

 had more than enough for winter, while the 

 majority, often stronger in bees, had not 

 sufficient for winter. Then in a good honey 

 fiow I often observed that some of the small 

 colonies went far ahead of the stronger ones. 

 I have had four-frame nuclei give me from 

 ten to twenty pounds of extracted honey in 

 a season, while others of the same strength, 

 and stronger ones, gave me scarcely as 

 much. Still more remarkable seemed the 

 fact that small queen-rearing colonies that 

 had in the aggregate not more comb than 

 one full sized frame, little by little at a 

 time, would finally yield five or six pounds, 

 or more, of honey, while others in appa- 

 rently the same condition gathered only their 

 daily supply. In the face of all this, the 

 assertion is frequently heard that only 

 strong colonies yield a surplus! 



When such results come about with the 

 colonies, comb, hives and pasturage appa- 

 rently the same, there must be other factors 

 not so easily discovered. By repeated ex- 

 amination and observation I have learned 

 that there exists a certain condition under 

 which a colony will gather the most honey 

 whether it be strong or weak. If this con- 

 dition has not yet been reached, or if it has 

 been passed, the storing of surplus will be 

 neglected or at least carried on only moder- 

 ately. 



That being the case, the question naturally 

 arises, what is this condition? By an exact 

 examination there will be found five central 

 points. Three of these are well-known to 

 first class bee-keepers, and they are men- 

 tioned only that I may be able to give a com- 

 plete statement, and in my second part be 

 able to refer to them if desirable. 



1 — The ideal colony must have a faultless 

 queen; hardy, sound of body and, above all 

 things, fertile, and her progeny distinguished 

 by diligence. 



2— Nevertheless, such a queen alone does 

 not make an ideal colony. ' At the right 

 time, that is, when honey is coming in free- 

 ly there must be plenty of empty comb that 

 no time nor honey be lost in building comb. 



3 — Our ideal colony must swarm at the 

 right time or not at all. It swarms at the 



