202 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



delion flow, yet, properly speakingf, our 

 surplus season opens with the advent of 

 white clover. As soon as it commences 

 to yield, 1 go through all of my colonies 

 and extract practically all of the early 

 spring honey they may have in store, 

 whether it may be in the upper or the 

 lower stories. As the time for the spring 

 yield of amber honey is now over, my 

 next extracting is almost strictly pure 

 clover honey, which I extract as soon as 

 the bees have it about two-thirds capped 

 over; taking all in the upper stories and 

 also the heavier frames from the lower or 

 brood story; thus leaving very little and 

 frequently no honey in the colony from 

 top to bottom. I have found by repeated 

 experiments that the closer 1 extract the 

 honey, in the midst of a good honey flow, 

 the fuller will be the hive at the next ex- 

 tracting. This seems strange to many, 

 and some of my farmer bee-keepers, 

 whom 1 assist once in a while, can hardly 

 get used to it; especially when they call 

 upon me to extract their honey and find, 

 though they have given their bees room, 

 and had just as strong colonies originally 

 as mine, that they get less honey per col- 

 ony than I got at my last extracting, al- 

 though my extracting may be the third 

 one and theirs the first. One reason for 

 the difference is that when a hive is ex- 

 tracted clean, or nearly so, in this way, 

 the bees being deprived of all of their 

 stores go to work with all the vim (or 

 even more) of a new swarm; and in the 

 basswood season, and also sometimes in 

 the buckwheat season, 1 have seen a hive 

 so extracted in the morning full of thin 

 newly gathered honey by night. In this 

 way 1 go over my bees as often as they 

 become ready, usually about every eight 

 or nine days, but the time varies from the 

 seventh to the twelfth day, the latter 

 time representing a very poor year and 

 seven days a very good year. By ex- 

 tracting a brood nest that is over crowded 

 with honey, we make room for the queen, 

 and, as the bees fill the upper stories first, 

 she rapidly fills the lower story, so that 

 after one or two extractings we do not 



have to bother with the lower story, as 

 .'>he will have it all occupied; and (I use 

 no excluders) she goes up into the upper 

 stories less than she otherwise would. I 

 like to keep the queen busy, as the more 

 continuous the breeding throughout the 

 entire season, other conditions being equal, 

 the richer 1 am in the fall. 



EXTRACTING FROM THE BROOD NEST. 



Some bee-keepers object to taking 

 honey from the brood nest, or from frames 

 occupied with brood, under the supposi- 

 tion that the honey is inferior. In answer 

 1 would say that one of the dealers in se- 

 lect honey, catering to the fancy bottling 

 trade for the large eastern cities, bought 

 from me about 4,000 lbs. one year, and 

 10.000 the next year, of just such honey, 

 and he classed it as superior to anything 

 he had ever secured; and since that (three 

 years ago) he offered me 9 cts. per pound 

 for my entire crop of clover honey, to be 

 delivered in barrels, if 1 so desired, but 1 

 did not deal, as my own trade needed it; 

 and today my own customers all prefer 

 honey raised as above, and it is all used 

 for my best trade. 



CONDITIONS TO BE OBSERVED IN EXTRACTING 

 FROM THE BROOD NEST. 



In handling the crop as above described, 

 two things have to be given the closest 

 attention; first, while the condition of the 

 hon«y in the various hives does not vary 

 a great deal, yet it will some, and it is 

 necessary to become somewhat of an ex- 

 pert in judging its condition in order that 

 any combs not sufficiently ripened may 

 be left behind; and, second, we must 

 "learn to discern at sight whether the 

 brood chamber or any other part of the 

 hive containing brood should be extracted 

 or not. Some bee-keepers object to ex- 

 tracting any frames with brood in because 

 they say it disturbs the brood too much. 

 Brood is destroyed in extracting from 

 two causes: The first is turning too fast, 

 and the second is turning too long. When 

 I start a new hand running my extractor 

 I first and quite readily get him accus- 

 tomed to the proper speed, and then 



