The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-08-30
MANAGEMENT OF REEFS.

Emerson T. Abbot, St Joseph, Mo-,
writes thus to the Journal of Agricul-
ture: The time is now at hand when
the bee-keper must begin to get his
profits out of his bees. if at all during
this year. While much depends on the
management previous to this time
yet the next few weeks manipulation
may make all the difference between
success and failure. The careful and
well-informed bee keeper has been look
ing out for his bees all the spring,
and has done all he could to build up
his colonies and make them strong;
but having done this, if he negIects
them during the next few weeks, he
will fail to secure a honey crop.
All strong colonies should be given
plenty of room at once in which to
store surplus honey. If modern hives
are used, the sections with staters
in them should be given as soon as
possible, if this has not yet been DONE
The size of the starter to use depends
largely on the purpose for which bees
are kept. If for the production of hon.
ey for the market, then it will pay tC
use sheets of the thinnest foundation
that can be had, and cut them to fiji
the section. That is, just large enough
to fill the section and not quite tONcl
at the sides and bottom. If one Is Sis'
sirous of securing honey for family
COHSuH1UClOIl.
use of small starters, for there IS no
question in my mind but what the he@ {
will produce a more delicate CONF
when they secrete the wax as they
make it. OF cours, one sacrifices guam
tity to quality in this case, but where
one uses honey as a luxury only, tney
can well afford to do this. For my
own use, every day in the year, 4
much prefer extracted honey.
4 4L,ar Aanannpn
the proper management for the next
few weeks. The plan have found to
be the most successful is to give the
bees plenty of room early, and then, as
soon as they have one lot OF sections
about half full, fill another surplus ar
rangement and put this under the one
which is partly filled. After this, If
do not find 1t of advantage to put on
a third super, let the bees have their
own way. want to say, however, that
it is very important that bees have
plenty of room at the right time; for
if they do, they will fill two or three
supers about as quickly as they will
one.
Almost every day someone asks me- is
I would advise him to let his bees
swarm, and my answer invariably IS
Yes" I know there are great many
who have the notion that what is
known as modern Bookkeeping" neve1
permits bees to swarm, but this de-
ponds largely on who is managing tina
modern bee-keeping." Swarming II
natures method of increase for bees
and they always work much better
after they have had an opportunity to
multiply according to their own no.
tons. If one wants honey instead OF
bees, he should regulate, not try ia
suppress, what is known as ths
'swarming fever" This can be done.
first, by giving the bees plenty of room
as fast as they are ready to occupy it,
and secondly, by removing all old
colonies from which swarm issues &c
a new locality, and then hive the
swarm on the old stand. IF one uses
foundation in the brood chamber, it
will pay to do this, or have empty
combs on which the swarm may De
hived, all Of the surplus arrangement
which are partly filed may be put or
the swarm at once. But if the swarm.
is hived on empty frames, it is best to
wait about a week until some combs
are built below, for otherwise the
queen might go up and begin laying in
the sections.