ee- 



\eepeps' jHev'ieCu. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tl^e Iqterests of Hoqey Producers. 



$L00 A YEAR. 



W. Z.HUTCHINSOJ*. Editof & PPOp. 



VOL, VI. FLINT, MICHIGAN, JUNE 10. 1893. NO. 6. 



rrxi>/L^i-tir tofics. 



No. 5. 



B. L. TAYLOB. 



"A little house (brood nest) well filled." 



¥E have now 

 almost ar- 

 rived at the very 

 summit of the 

 year. The fields 

 are already white- 

 ning to the har- 

 vest, the point for 

 which our labors 

 for many months 

 past have been 

 preparing. Happy 

 is he who has not 

 to say : The laborers are few ! But on ac- 

 count of the untoward character of the sea- 

 son, many will not have this blessedness, for 

 most colonies have not arrived at the swarm- 

 ing stage and strength. However, by prompt 

 energy, there may still be time to retrieve 

 the situation. To accomplish this there are 

 two principal points to which I now direct 

 especial attention : First, to increase the 

 amount of the brood to the utmost, up to 

 the point of time beyond which eggs laid by 

 the queen will be of little benefit except so 

 far as they may be necessary to keep up the 

 life of the colony, and, secondly, at that time 

 to have the brood confined in as small a 

 space as possible. In this locality the best 

 seasons of honey gathering last till about 

 the first of August. An easy calculation 



makes it safe to say that any extension of the 

 brood nest after the 2.5th of June would prove 

 unprofitable ; before that, extension may 

 yield a profit. Before that time I secure all 

 the brood possible. To begin with, the 

 usual warm weather of June is favorable ; 

 then I make certain that stores are plentiful 

 and that room is given when necessary. I 

 strengthen a weak colony with brood some- 

 times when safe and there is no danger of 

 spreading disease. At this time of the year, 

 if there should be a dearth or a period of 

 bad weather, a little judicious feeding helps 

 mightily. Often both the spreading of brood 

 and feeding may be well done by inserting 

 in the brood nest an uncapped comb of hon- 

 ey. But judgement must be exercised both 

 in what is done and when it is done as well 

 as in the amount of time expended. One 

 must weigh his time against the possible ad- 

 vantage of gain in surplus. There is a limit 

 to the amount of labor that can be profitably 

 employed in this manner. There must be a 

 margin greater or narrower according to the 

 value one puts on his time. 



Then, secondly, it is hardly less important 

 for the best results in the production of comb 

 honey that the brood be as compact as pos- 

 sible. What is done should be done with a 

 view to getting combs with brood full of 

 brood. Breaking the cappings of the honey 

 in such frames will conduce to this. This is 

 important, because, by confining the bees to 

 such combs as will be almost entirely occu 

 pied by brood by the 25th of June, the sur- 

 plus honey they gather must go into the sec- 



