BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
A. I believe some say their bees are found entirely quiet, but I think mine never are. A humming, more or less pronounced, may always be heard. They seem to go somewhat in waves, occasionally stirring up so as to make quite a little noise, but almost entirely quiet during the rest of the time. These periods of occasional waking up differ in different hives, so that when one stands to listen at the door of the bee-room there is a constant, gentle murmur, which I confess I rather enjoy hearing.
Q. There is a continual hump in the hives, sometimes sufficient to be heard across the cellar. Is this too much noise to call it good behavior and, if so, what is the cause and remedy? Temperature of cellar is 35 degrees.
A. Less noise would probably be better; but as cold as 35 degrees they will make a good deal of noise to keep themselves warm. Can't you warm up the cellar in some way? Hot stones or jugs of hot water tightly corked might do. Even if occasionally to 45 degrees or more, it would help.
Q. What difficulties may be expected from keeping bees in a damp cellar? How can these difficulties be overcome while the bees are in such a cellar?
A. Diarrhea is likely to result if the temperature is not sufficiently high. Bees have been reported as wintering in the best condition in a very wet cellar when the cellar was kept warm enough and supplied well with fresh air. Obviously the thing to do is to raise the temperature sufficiently, and to see that there is a sufficient change of air.
Q. What do you think of shutting bees in the cellar with wire-screen? I use a frame with wire-screen on both sides. I close up the entrance with two small nails and a strip of wood. I use another strip to hold all together, instead of staples.
A. I never tried it, but those who have tried it generally condem the practice. I remember especially E. D. Godfrey, of Iowa, who, years ago, suffered loss by it. When the bees find themselves imprisoned, they make such a to-do as to stir up the whole colony. I have used wire-cloth at entrances in winter, but it was, of course, three meshes to the inch.
Q. Do bees in the cellar change the location of their cluster during the winter?
A. Bees do both ways, both in the cellar and out. Sometimes honey is carried from an outer comb, without changing the place of the cluster. Usually the cluster moves gradually backward or upward, as the bees eat their way into the full combs.
Q. When bees are fed in the cellar at a temperature of about 40 or 45 degrees, will the queen go to laying and hatching brood?
A. Hardly, unless the feeding be kept up regularly for some time.
Q. There is a whitish liquid running out of some of the hives in my cellar, and others have a dry substance like fine sawdust in front of the entrance. The hives from which the liquid comes seem to be wet inside and nasty. What is the cause of this? They have plenty of stores.
A. The sawdust-looking material is the gnawings from the cappings and other debris, and indicates nothing wrong. The liquid is the moisture from the vapors condensing in the hive. Your cellar is too cold, and hive-entrances hardly large enough.
Q. In American Bee Journal, R. H. Smith says the best temperature for wintering bees is 45 to 48 degrees above zero. If I remember rightly, all our best authorities agree on 42 to 45 degrees for most successful wintering in cellars. I have one Standard barometer and three Fahrenheit thermometers. One of the latter is filled with quicksilver or mercury, and the others with colored fluids. I have all these in my cellar, and the variation from the one that shows the highest to the one that shows the lowest, is 10 degrees. Upon which can I depend for the desired 42 to 45 degrees which is necessary for successful wintering of bees, as claimed by our best authorities?
A. So you're up against that mixed matter of temperature in cellar. Latest investigations seem to show that the right temperature is about fifty or fifty-five degrees. But, as you have found out, thermometers vary. You will also probably find that cellars vary, perhaps on account of the difference in dryness, perhaps for some other reason, so that if the same thermometer is used in two cellars, it may need to be higher in one than the other. I don'tknow which of your thermometers is best, and it doesn't make very much difference, although on general principles it's better to have it correct. But here is what you're to do: Take whichever thermometer you think best, and keep close watch until you find at what degree your bees are quietest, then keep your cellar as tear that temperature as you can, whether it be 42, 45, 55, or something else. The idea is to find at what temperature your bees are most quiet by your thermometer, in your cellar, no matter what authorities may say.
Q. When in the spring is the right time to take bees out of the cellar? I can't find it in any of the beebooks. (Missouri.)
A. It isn't an easy thing to say when is the right time to take bees out of the cellar, and I'd give a pretty penny to anyone who could tell me with certainty the best time to take mine out this spring. There has been as much as a month difference between the earliest and the latest of my taking out, there being that difference in seasons. There must be more or less guessing about it so long as one never knows in advance just what the weather is going to be. So long as they are in good condition in the cellar, and there is nothing for them to do outdoors, there's no hurry about taking them out. If you will watch the blooming of red maples, willows, or other trees upon which they work in your neighborhood, you will generally find it best to take them out at the time of such bloom, but not even then if the weather appears unfavorable. So far south as you are--in Missouri, 39 degrees--are you sure it is advisable to cellar bees at all?
Q. We have had trouble about our bees rushing out when taken from the caves and cellars, all getting mixed, apparently, and when returning fill some of the hives full of bees and leave others badly weakened, so as to make it detrimental to the depopulated hives. Would a wet rag stuffed in the entrance be good, leaving only room for a few bees to pass in and out at once, or would simply closing the entrance almost entirely answer?
A. I confess to you that there are things connected with your question that I don't understand. Every year, for many years, I have taken out my bees with a rush, taking them out so that all could have a flight that first day. Others say that when they do that, the bees swarm out and make lots of trouble, but I have never had any serious trouble. Some say to take out a few osch day. That would hardly work here, for when it comes time to take bees out of the cellar there may not be two days in suc
(c) Would it be safe to wrap the hives with extra heavy. tarred felt, with no other protection? (Wisconsin.)
A. (a) Yes. (b) The equivalent of two or three square inches will probably do well where you are, the latter for a very strong colony.
(c) Probably, but something depends upon the exposure of the situation. If exposed to the full force of the winds, it will be hard tc wrap the hive warm enough, but in a situation well sheltered from the winds there will be little trouble.
Q. Do those who winter bees on the summer stands need to scrape out the dead bees?
A. It is better, of course, to have the dead bees cleaned out. With the usual shallow entrance, and shallow space under bottom-bars, it may be absolutely necessary; for the entrance, otherwise, may become entirely clogged with dead bees. With a deeper space under the bottom-bars, and entrance at the upper part of the space, cleaning out the dead bees is not so important.
**Wintering on Super-Combs.-Q.** (a) 1 ran short of bechives and have about five swarms which I hived in shallow supers used for extracted honey. They have ten shallow frames. I wish to know what you would do with them, unite them with other swarms, or let them winter in these supers, and in the spring put them in the regular hive?
(b) How would you go about it to put them in the regular 10-frame hive?
A. (a) Unless they are weak and you want to unite them with other weaklings, better let them winter as they are.
(b) In the spring set the shallow story over the regular hive, which should have frames filled with foundation. When brood appears in the lower story, put a queen-excluder between the two stories, making sure that the queen is in the lower story. Eight or ten days later kill any queen-cells that may be in the upper story.
**Wintering in Two-Story Hives.-Q.** A Tennessee bekeeper writes that he wintered most of his 180 colonies in two-story hives and he never had such strong colonies; some had 15 brood-frames. Why wouldn't that be the best way to do every winter?
A. With very strong colonies the plan is excellent.
**Wiring Frames.-Q.** Is it necessary to wire shallow extracting-frames when medium brood foundation is used?
A. Hardly, especially if care be taken at the first extracting,
Q. How many days from the time the worker hatches until it goes to gather honey?
A. It is generally understood that a worker goes afield when 16 days old. But the wise little creatures know how to adapt themselves to circumstances without following any rigid rule. One time I had a valuable queen to introduce. Over a strong colony I put an empty hive, with wire-cloth between the two stories. In the empty hive I put frames of sealed brood with young bees just ready to emerge, but not a bee. I put in the queen and closed up tight, so no bee could get in or out. Five days later I gave a very small entrance, and the bees flew. A little later some of the bees returned with loads of pollen. Those babies, only 5 days old, were doing work that under ordinary circumstances they would not have done until three times as old. So in the economy of the hive while bees generally go afield when 16 days old, the likelihood is that they accommodate themselves to circumstances. If conditions are such that there is an unusual need to' nurses, some of the bees may not go afield until considerably more than 16 days old, and vice versa.
**Yellow Jackets.--Q.** I notice yellow jackets entering some of any hives. Do you think they are doing mischief? The bees do not seem to notice them.
A. They're probably after honey, and are not likely to get off scot-free.
**Yields of Honey.--Q.** Is 100 pounds per colony an average, or toward the maximum yield?
_A. Hardly one or the other. One-third of that amount is nearer the average yield of comb honey, and half of that for extracted, while a maximum annual average might go to 150 or more. I must not be forgotten that the yield sometimes is less than nothing; that is, no surplus is taken and the bees have to be fed to keep them alive.
# bee culture
To those who are cutting their bread and butter by raising honey to spread upon the bread and butter of others. this book is dedicated by The Author.
This book is intended for the professional bee-keeper; hence it is taken for granted that the reader is fairly well acquainted with bees and their management.
No space is devoted to the natural history, anatomy and physiology of the bee, because my experience has been along commercial, instead of scientific, lines.
The history of this book, how and why it came to be written and published, would read something as follows: Twenty or more years ago, while making my living in the apiary, I learned that, with my management, it was more profitable to use starters, only, in the brood-nest when hiring swarms. My experiments and methods were described in print; others tried my plans; discussions followed; and, finally, it became apparent that the system was really more complex than it appeared on the surface; also, that short articles scattered through different bee journals did not present the subject in the best possible manner, and, as a result, I published a little book in which I described, in detail, my method of comb honey production.
One of the criticisms brought against the little book was its small size; and I was repeatedly urged to write a larger book, giving my experience and views more in detail, and upon other points. Flattering as all of this may have been, I doubt if I should have yielded to these entreatics had it not been that by the time the last copy of the little book was sold, I had been editor of the Bee-Keeppers' Review for nearly four years, and had the benefit of reading, and studying over, special discussions, by the most practical men, of the most important questions connected with our pursuit. As it was, I went to work and classified, arranged and condensed, and gave what I considered the cream of the special topic discussions 92709that had appeared in the Review. So many new subjects were taken up that the old title, "The Production of Comb Honey," was no longer appropriate, and, as I was giving what seemed to me the best and most advanced methods, I called the new book Advanced Bee Cultures. Two years ago, the first edition having been exhausted, I re-wrote and revised everything necessary to bring it up to date, and got out a second edition which has since been sold. The present edition has been largely re-written; many orderings, much new matter, and a more substantial binding, being added; thus bringing the book more nearly up to the ideal that I have for several years had in mind.
Advanced Bee Culture is really the summing up of the best that has appeared in the Bee-Keepers' Review during the 18 years of its existence; that is, from a most careful examination of the views of the most progressive men, and a thorough consideration of the same in the light of my experience as a bee-keeper, I have described in plain and simple language what I believe to be the most advanced methods of managing bees, _for profit_, from the beginning of the season throughout the entire year.
W. Z. HUTCHINSON, Flint, Mich.
_U.S. Government_
* [1] N reply to the query, "What will best mix with bee-keeping?" I have always replied: "Some more bees." When the conditions are favorable, I am decidedly in favor of bee-keeping as a specialty--of dropping all other hampering pursuits, and turning the whole capital, time and energies into bee-keeping. If bee-keeping cannot be made profitable as a specialty, then it is unprofitable as a subsidiary pursuit. If bee-keeping must be propped up with some other pursuit, then we better throw away bee-keeping, and _keep the prop_.
* [2] General farming is very poorly adapted for combining with bee-keeping, yet the attempt is probably made oftener than with any other pursuit. There are critical times in bee-keeping that will brook no delay, when three or four days or a week's neglect may mean the loss of a crop; and these times come right in the height of the season, when the farmer is the busiest. Leaving the team and reaper standing idle in the back field while the farmer goes to the house to hive bees, is neither pleasant nor profitable. Drawing in a field of hay, while the bees lie idle because the honey has not been extracted to give them store-room, is another illustration of the conditions with which the farmer-bee-keeper has to contend. The serious part of it is that the honey thus lost may be worth nearly or quite as much as the hay that is saved. Some special lines of rural pursuits, like winter-dairying or the raising of grapes, or winter-apples, unite with bee-keeping to much better advantage than general farming; but when bee-keeping is capable of absorbing all of the capital, time and energy that a man can put into it, why divide these resources with some other pursuit? It has been said that bee-keeping is a precarious pursuit, that it cannot be depended upon, alone, to furnish a livelihood; and, for this reason, it should be joined with some business of a more stable character. It is true that there are many localities where there is often a season in which little or no honey is secured, and, in the Northern States, winter-losses aresometimes very heavy, hence it would be risky to depend entirely for a living upon keeping bees, in a _limited_ way, in such localities; but, if the average profit from bee-keeping, one year with another, is not the equal of other rural pursuits, why keep bees? The truth of the matter is that it is greater; and if bee-keepers would only drop everything else, and adopt methods that would enable them to branch out and keep hundreds of colonies where they now have dozens, they would secure enough honey in the good years to more than carry them over the poor years, and thus not only make a living, but lay up money.
When a man decides to cut loose from everything else, and go into bee-keeping extensively, making it bis only and his life-business, the question of all questions is that of locality. There are few localities in which a small apiary might not yield some surplus, but when a man is to make of bee-keeping his sole business, the securing of the best possible location is time and money well spent. What a good, solid foundation is to a "sky-scraper," a good location is to the building up of a successful, extensive bee business. Having settled in a locality, the bee-keeper can not study it too thoroughly. Especially must he understand its honey resources; the time when each flow begins, its probable duration, its quantity and character. He must know whether to expect a spring-flow, like that from dandelion, hard maple, or fruit-bloom, that will build up the colonies for the main harvest that is to come later. If there is likely to be a season of scarcity between the early flow and the main harvest, it must be known, and preparations made to keep up brood rearing by means of feeding or the uncapping of honey. The management will depend largely upon the source of the main honey-flow, whether it be raspberry, clover, basswood, buckwheat, alfalfa, sage, or full flowers. Whatever the source, the bee-keeper must know when to expect it, and plan to have his colonies in exactly the right condition to gather it when it comes. This is one of the fundamental principles of successful bee-keeping.
Having secured the most desirable location, the next step is to procure the best kind of bees that can be obtained. There are several different varieties of bees, each with its peculiarities, but, aside from this, every bee-keeper who has had experience with several strains of the same variety, knows that some strains are far superior to others--that there is scrub-stock among bees, just as there are scrub-horses, cattle, sheep and poultry. With scrub-stock, the cost of hives, combs and other appliances remains the same; it is no less work to care for such stock; and it requires the same amount of honey to raise and feed it as it does the best stock in the world.
## Chapter 1 Advanced Bee Culture.
proportion to its cost, no investment brings the bee-keeper greater profit than the securing of superior stock.
Having secured a good location, and good stock, the bee-keeper should adopt such hives, implements and methods as will enable him to branch out, establish out-apariaries, and keep a large number of colonies. At the present time the greatest failing of professional bee-keepers is the keeping of too few bees--of clinging to some other hampering pursuit. Many keep enough bees to furnish them a fair living in a good season, but when winter losses, and poor honey seasons follow one another in quick succession, there is suffering; or, at least, great inconvenience. If a man is going to follow bee-keeping as a profession, his only hope is in a good location, good stock, and the keeping of bees in such numbers that when a good year comes he can pile up the honey ton upon ton--enough to keep him several years. The larger a business the more cheaply can it be conducted in proportion to the results; not only this, but the very fact that bees are scattered about in out-apariaries several miles apart, adds to the certainty of the crop; as one locality often yields a fair crop while another a few miles away yields nothing.
It has been urged against bee-keeping as a sole pursuit that, while it keeps a man very busy during the summer it leaves him idle in the winter. Bee-keeping, rightly managed, will keep a man busy every day in the year. Too many bee-keepers fail to realize that the selling of a crop is fully as important as its production. The business part of bee-keeping has been sadly neglected. No set rule can be given as to how a man shall dispose of his crop, but it does seem like very poor business management to send away a crop of honey to some commission merchant, and then sit around all winter when good wages might be made selling honey direct to consumers, or to retail dealers. The selling of the crop, and the preparations for the coming season, may well occupy a man during the winter.
It should be understood, however, that bee-keeping is not an occupation in which one can easily become _recallly_. In this respect, it is much like other rural pursuits. Rightly managed, in a locality adapted to the business, it can be depended upon to furnish a comfortable living, and perhaps enable a man to lay up a few thousands of dollars, but such fortunes as are sometimes amassed in merchan-dising or manufacturing can never be hoped for by the bee-keeper. Fortunately, however, the perfection of a man's happiness bears but little relation to the size of his fortune; and many a man with the hum of the bees over his head, finds happiness deeper and sweeter than ever comes to the merchant prince with his cares and his thousands.
## Appendix Avisited, books or papers borrowed or bought, improved hives and methods adopted, and, as the bees increased, so did the enthusiasm and interest, until, finally, the bees received more time and attention than did the regular business; thus did bee-keeping eventually become a specialty or the sole business.
When a man has decided to embark in bee-keeping as a business, he should in some manner learn the business thoroughly before investing extensively. No hard and fast rules can be laid down; so much depending upon circumstances. A young man with no established business, would do well to pass one or two seasons in the employ of some experienced bee-keeper, as has been already suggested, while an older man already in business, with a family to support, may find it advisable to gradually work into bee-keeping, reading and studying as his bees increase. Whatever the method employed, let the work be thorough; and, especially, let there be plenty of _actual experience_ before venturing extensively.