320 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



honey. On the whole, however, it is rather 

 more probable that the Becretion would go 

 on rapidly while they were actively engaged 

 in honey work, and that they would use the 

 secretion, and not withhold or wHste it. 



This question, whelher we niny or may 

 not try feeding to produce comb honey, i** a 

 large one, too large for the comy>aS'< of one 

 article; but it seems to me that the time has 

 about come to agitate it a little. After agi- 

 tation will come experimentation. Perhaps 

 we shall go all to pieces at that point. We 

 remember the gentleman who on due agita- 

 tion established his right to shear his Berk- 

 shires. Proceeding to exi)erimentHtion he 

 found the exercise of his rights laborious and 

 decidedly unpleasant; and the wool crop 

 didn't pay. Possibly our fed honey may not 

 pay after all— except in stings, vexation, 

 hard work, and chaff from our fellow me'.i. 

 There is one corner of our topic this month 

 that your leader overlooked. Comb honey 

 in a poor season is closely bound up in the 

 swarming question. The present season was 

 a poor one at my apiary. Most colonies that 

 swarmed filled no sections at all. New 

 swarms the same, except a little from early 

 and great swarms, such as where more than 

 one hive contributes the bees. Yet really 

 first rate colonies which refrained from 

 swarming gave me an average of about 

 twenty pounds each. If I could have kept 

 all my colonies from swarming the result 

 would have been almost a cheerful one. If 

 all of them had swarmed my crop would 

 have been just about a flat failure, so far as 

 comb honey was concerned. (My total crop 

 was 808 pounds, nearly half extracted, from 

 sixty-seven spring colonies.) Now we've 

 got to do some more digging and scratching 

 and gnawing around this stubborn problem 

 of non-swarming. And we must keep on 

 digging and scratching and gnawing— and 

 barking — until the game develops himself. 

 My present impression is that a bran new 

 frame and hive has got to be invented to 

 control swarming. (Just hear once !) It is 

 not probable that the swarming impulse is 

 absolutely and entirely beyond control. 

 When we understand the whole thing thor- 

 oughly and know Just what to do, and just 

 when, we shall, without much doubt, be able 

 to reduce swarming to a very low minimum, 

 and direct ihe energies heretofore wasted to 

 storing honey in the sections. But the happy 

 day is a long time coming, that's a fact. 

 RiOHAKDS, Ohio, Nov. 18th, ] 891 . 



"Go West, Young Man, Go West!" and 

 "Seek Pastures New." 



RAMBLER. 



¥ 



;HE very title 

 of your leader, 

 and the the fact 

 thai such a subject 

 i^hould be discus- 

 sed, is evidence 

 that there is a rest- 

 lessness in the 

 ranks of the bee 

 keeping fraternity, 

 and though this 

 unrest is more pro- 

 n o u n c e d in the 

 East, it more or less pervades the whole 

 country. One great cause for this unrest is 

 from the fact that bee culture as a special 

 pursuit calls for special and unremitting 

 labor for only a small portion of the year. 

 The balance of the time is spent in drifting 

 from one pursuit to another, and no business 

 in particular, and as a result a better and a 

 longer season is sought after. 



This article is written under the balmy 

 skies of California, and I find that same un- 

 rest here. Every season is not a good one 

 here, and though the yields are most bounti- 

 ful when they do come, still, the actual 

 labor with the bees, even with the largest 

 yields, is less than in other portions of our 

 country. About four months cover the busy 

 season, after which no wintering troubles 

 vex the apiarist, and the bees are left upon 

 a lone mountain ranch for months with no 

 supervision, and the only eyes that look 

 upon the city of hives is that of the coyote or 

 some other wild animal. Meantime, for the 

 seven or eight months, ttie bee keeper is a 

 carpenter, a fruit packer, or clerking here 

 and there for some tradesman. An unceas- 

 ing flow of honey or some favorable land 

 where the apiary work will cover a greater 

 portion of the year, would put to rest much 

 of this discontent, especially in the far West. 

 There is, however, good reason for unrest 

 in our Eastern States in recent years because 

 the area of honey pasturage is suffering from 

 gradual contraction. Hillsides that were 

 formerly covered with basswood and other 

 honey producing flora are now cultivated 

 fields. A cleaner system of farming is 

 cleaning out the hedgerows and fitting waste 

 places for the growing of grain or for pas- 

 ture land, 



