20 BEEKEEPING IN THE SOUTH 



prevention, if he tries to operate his bees without sufficient supers 

 and hive bodies. Penurious beekeepers who try to run the 

 season through with only two supers, juggHng these between 

 the hives and the honey house for filling and emptying, are in 

 the class with the beekeeper who puts on one super and" who 

 takes it off only in the "full moon in June." Sufficient equipment 

 is absolutely essential. Better run fewer colonies with ample 

 equipment, than so many with a shortage of things essential to 

 good beekeeping practice. 



Conserving the Bees. 



The beekeeper's "New Year" begins with the cessation of the 

 honey flow for the season. His efforts from then on gauge far 

 more than is frequently credited, the success he may have another 

 season. Toward the end of the honey flow is the best time to 

 requeen colonies, when the period of broodlessness coincident 

 with requeening does not interfere with the strength of the 

 colony immediately before a honey flow. This is also a time to 

 discourage too much brood rearing, when there is nothing ahead 

 to demand more bees. The introduction of young queens insures 

 brood later, in the fall, when young bees are so essential to pro- 

 duce a strong colony to live through the period of rest, whether 

 winter temperatures are low or not. This is also the pieriod for 

 removing supers and preparing the bee yard for another season, 

 as well as preparing the honey crop for the market. Cooperative 

 marketing associations will soon enable the beekeeper to sell 

 his crop at a fair price without the losses incident to poor sales- 

 manship so frequent in the beekeeping past. 



Wintering the Bees. ' 



Whether the beekeeper be in a land where snows fall and 

 temperatures drop low in winter, or in a land of sunshine, winter 

 is the time for the conservation of the bees. At this time good 

 beekeeping makes definite plans for the next spring. Ample 

 stores for winter and the succeeding spring, until natural honey 

 is available, are essential. Space for the bees to heat and care 



