THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



377 



It sometimes seems as though / had 

 been a boy nearly all of my life, that it is 

 only of late that 1 had become a man, 

 awakened, and gained broader views, and 

 fully grasped the opportunities and possi- 

 bilities of life. I know that I am accom- 

 plishing much more than I ever have in 

 the past, and it comes largely from the 

 state of mind that has been encouraged 

 and fostered. 



Now then, 1 wish to instil into the minds 



of my readers these happy, hopeful, en- 

 thusiastic, progressive germs of thought: 

 1 wish them to rise up and do greater 

 things, and it is to this end that 1 occas- 

 ionally write, or cull, an item intended to 

 arouse, or inspire, or cheer; but, if there 

 is any subscriber who doesn't care for 

 this kind of reading, I would esteem it a 

 favor if he would write and tell me: as, 

 to help and please my readers is my only 

 aim. 



SUBTLE DiFFERLNCE.5 IN COLONIES 



Some Conditions Under Which 

 Store the Most Honey. 



Bees 



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 surplus than the most populous col- 

 ony in the yard. Even in soma poor sea- 

 sons, some colonies store a fair surplus. 

 I remember that, one year, one of my col- 

 onies stored 75 pounds of surplus comb 

 honey, while the average was less than 

 40 pounds. Some colonies did not go 

 much over 20 pounds, each. Who hasn't 

 noticed these things, and wondered why ? 

 If we could discover the why and the 

 wherefore, and apply the remedy, so that 

 all colonies would come up to the high 

 water mark, what a stride it would be. 



Nearly a score of years ago, Mr. C. J. 

 H. Gravenhorst. of Germany, worked out 

 this problem to his satisfaction, and pub- 

 lished the results in his paper, and the 

 Rev. C. Spaeth, of Brene, Michigan, trans- 

 lated the article and sent me a copy of 

 the translation, and I published it in the 

 Review at that time; but the Review now 

 has thousands of readers that it did not 

 then have, besides, the points brought out 

 are sufficiently valuable to bear repetition. 



especially as correspondents are now 

 bringing forward some of the same points. 

 The extract from Mr. Gravenhorst's ar- 

 ticle reads as follows: — 



There are not many attentive bee- 

 keepers of long experience who have not 

 noticed that in so-called poor seasons one 

 or more of their colonies not only stored 

 enough honey for its own use but perhaps 

 even a surplus; while the majority of col- 

 onies 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 seemingly exactly the same domes- 

 tic conditions as regards combs, hives, 

 strength of colonies, etc. 



Even in the beginning of my business 

 as a practical bee-keeper, it often hap- 

 pened in a poor season that three or four 

 of my colonies 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 flow 1 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 

 miuch. 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 iu 



