28 ALEXANDER'S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 



taken from the cellar. After I questioned him some he told me that he 

 had about 150 heavy combs that he had saved from last season to give 

 to his bees In the spring to stimulate early breeding as some recom- 

 mended. These he distributed among his hives, so as he thought he 

 would surely have strong colonies ready for the first flow of nectar. 

 But here he was disappointed. His bees would not work in the supers, 

 neither for comb nor extracted honey. He went so far as to unite sev- 

 eral colonies, putting the bees of from two to five colonies all In one 

 hive in order to get up a working force. I asked if those hives were 

 not crowded with honey which caused them to be weak in worker bees. 

 He said he had not thought of that, but they certainly were very heavy. 

 I asked him about how much brood they had. "Oh! not much," he said. 

 Some had five and six combs partly filled, and some had only four comba 

 containing any; but every thing was full of honey, and he could not 

 understand why the bees did not uncap that honey and carry it above. 

 Now, my friends, is it any wonder that he did not secure a good 

 surplus, and that he thought it the poorest season he had ever known? 

 I can not understand why a man of experience should have allowed his 

 bees to get In such a condition. If, about the first of May, he had 

 extracted those heavy combs he foolishly put into his hives, and also 

 extracted the capped honey that was already in the hives, he would 

 have had much honey to his credit, and his hives full of maturing brood 

 which would have given him a surplus of early honey. I honestly think 

 a moderate use of the extractor through the latter part of May and fore 

 part of June, especially when running an apiary for comb honey, would 

 be the means of many bee-keepers securing twice as much surplus as 

 they usually do. Here at the North, May is the month of all the year 

 when our bees require the closest attention. It is then that we should 

 care for them so that every Inch of comb in the hive is utilized for 

 brood-rearing that can possibly be used for that purpose. Bring your 

 extractor into use, cleaning your hives of nearly all capped honey, and 

 see to it that every queen in the apiary is doing her very best to crowd 

 the combs with brood; then you will soon have those strong colonies 

 that will give you a fine surplus, and at the end of the season you will 

 hardly believe it when told that the summer has been a poor one for 

 the production of honey. Spring feeding has never received the atten- 

 tion that such an important subject should. We have been taught that 

 honey is the proper food for winter use, and that, if a colony were short 

 of it in the spring, just give them a heavy comb, and that was all that 

 was necessary to do through the whole spring season. But experience 

 has taught many of us that honey is not the best winter food, and that 

 to give our bees heavy combs of old capped honey in the spring is one of 

 the poorest ways imaginable to stimulate early breeding. 



In conclusion, I repeat that a moderate use of the honey-extractor 

 during early summer is very beneficial in preparing bees for the sum- 

 mer harvest. 



November, 1907. 



