THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



07 



sed. Judging- by their contributions dur- 

 ing the last two or three years, 1 look for 

 some very interesting descriptions. 



4th. A long honey flow, or, rather, honey 

 season, made up of a succession of small 

 flows from different sources, with more or 

 less interruption between them. The 

 flows very irregular; sometimes longer, 

 sometimes shorter, sometimes heavier, 

 sometimes lighter. No certainty as to 

 which flows will yield and which will not 

 in a certain year; the main cause being a 

 sufficient amount of rain at the time to 

 produce nectar. The only certainty known 

 in advance is when a late freeze destroys 

 the blossoms or the buds that would pro- 

 duce them when the proper time comes. 



This describes my locality, and if it 

 were so only in East Tennessee, it would 

 not be worth while to write about it. But 

 it is a condition met throughout the whole 

 Southern States, and one that has not 

 been yet fully studied out. It is true that 

 the length of the honey season is not 

 everywhere the same. Four months here, 

 up to six or seven or perhaps more in 

 Southern Texas. Nor are the sources of 

 surplus or flora the same. But the 

 nature of the honey season is the same: 

 that is, a succession of flows of different 

 lengths and strengths, with more or less 

 interruptions, varying exceedingly from 

 one year to another, and always very ir- 

 regular. Very seldom as heavy as the 

 basswood and white clover are in the 

 North, except occasionally a flow of honey 

 dew. 



Under such circumstances, there is only 

 one policy to follow, and that is to have 

 the colonies as strong as possible through- 

 out the whole season; so as to make the 

 best of every flow that may happen. And 

 to keep a colony as strong as possible 

 during several months, it is necessary to 

 keep up brood rearing during that time, 

 and keep together bees, brood, and combs. 



MANAGEMENT FOR EXTRACTED HONEY. 



This is easy enough. Have a brood nest 

 large enough to accommodate the queen, 

 provide enough empty ccmbs fcr the 



supers so that the bees can put in any 

 amount of nectar that they may bring in, 

 and not more than four or five out of a 

 hundred colonies will swarm; and those 

 that do swarm are among those which 

 are superseding their queens, at least 

 this is what Dadants say, and have per- 

 sistently said, for a number of years. 

 While I have not produced enough ex- 

 tracted honey to fully verify their asser- 

 tions, I have not the least doubt about their 

 being correct. Since what swarming oc- 

 curs is due to superseding, I presume that 

 if the apiarist were to requeen his colon- 

 ies regularly, practically none would oc- 

 cur. 



MANAGEMENT FOR COMB HONEY. 



I am writing this for comb honey man- 

 agement, and for such honey flows as des- 

 cribed above for my locality. As already 

 said, the point is to keep the colonies as 

 strong as possible during the whole sea- 

 son, which means to keep bees, brood and 

 combs together, and have as little inter- 

 ruption as possible in the brood rearing. 

 These conditions necessarily exclude all 

 systems of prevention of swarming that 

 require a considerable withdrawal of 

 brood from the colonies. 



Now let us see how the modern systems 

 of shook-swarmingand other similar treat- 

 ments would answer; and to be more ex- 

 plicit and more easily understood, let us 

 take the usual course of events in my own 

 locality. 



The swarming takes place during the 

 whitewood flow. This flow lasts seldom 

 more than three weeks; sometimes only 

 two. When the swarming occurs there 

 may not be more than a week left. Sup- 

 pose we adopt the shook-swarming plan, 

 and, to put it upon the most advantageous 

 basis, set the old hive aside, close to the 

 old stand, so as to throw all the young 

 bees in the swarm as fast as they come, 

 so as to make the swarm as strong as 

 possible. Now, three kinds of conditions 

 may confront us. 



1st Suppose the whitewood flow is 

 heavy and immediately followed by a 



