ALEXANDER'S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 5 



this line. For some time I have been thinking this matter over, and I 

 have come to the conclusion that I never gave my bees what might be 

 called the best of care, neither have I ever seen a man who did. Now, 

 why is this? Simply because we have got the idea Into our heads that 

 we must have a great number of colonies in order to make a little money. 

 Now, this is a big mistake, and the sooner we realize it the better. 



Let us apply the same management to bee-keeping that we see put 

 into practice by all the successful business men of the country. They 

 make the most out of every thing connected with their business that 

 they possibly can. Is it so with us? I don't think it is. There are but 

 very few who give their bees extra care, consequently their surplus is 

 small per colony, and they may become discouraged. Now let us look 

 this matter over and see if we can not do much better in the future 

 with fewer colonies than many of us are now doing with several hun- 

 dred; and, by way of explaining this matter, I will suppose that on 

 April 15, you have 100 fairly good colonies that were just taken from 

 their winter quarters, and that each colony contains a good well-developed 

 Italian queen not over ten months old that has been reared from some 

 good honey-gathering strain of bees. I shall take it for granted that 

 your hives are filled with nice worker combs. 



We will commence the season's work by putting a feeder under 

 every hive and giving each colony about 1% cents' worth of extracted 

 honey, or sugar syrup, which must be made very thin, of about the con- 

 sistency of nectar, and feed them about this amount every day that the 

 weather is such they can not gather anything from flowers until about 

 the last of May. This will require on an average, one season with 

 another, about 50 cents' worth of honey or sugar per colony; and, if 

 properly done, you will have. May 25, every hive crowded with brood 

 and maturing bees at the rate of 2,000 or more a day. 



About two weeks previous to this we should start the rearing of 

 four or five hundred queen-cells, which are now. May 26, about ready to 

 hatch. Now we will divide our 100 colonies, making two of each, and 

 fix them so that the queenless part will mature two or more of these 

 ripe queen-cells or virgins into nice laying queens; then about the last 

 of June we will separate these colonies that have two or more laying 

 queens, making 100 more increase, or 300 colonies all together. 



The old colony, or the part that has had the old laying queen from 

 the first, we have kept busy drawing out frames of foundation into nice 

 extracting-combs, and we have also kept them from any desire to swarm 

 by taking their combs of capped brood away as fast as they had some 

 to spare, and giving this brood to this newly made increase. 



In this way of managing your bees you have no swarming to bother 

 with, and at the same time you have increased your 100 colonies to 300, 

 and all are In good condition for any harvest that commences after 

 July 4. 



Now, what I consider a fairly good location (and no man ever 

 ought to bother trying to produce honey in a poor location) will furnish 



