Geo. S. Demuth

“ It involves not only labor but sacrifice, the painstaking application of every hit of scientific knowledge and every tested practice that is available. It means the utmost economy, even to the point where the pinch comes. It means the kind of concentration and self-sacrifice which is involved in the field of battle itself, where the object always looms greater than the individual. And yet the Government will help and help in every way that it is possible.
It was farmers from whom came the first shots at Lexington, that set aflame the Revolution that made America free. ”

“ In a time like this no man has a moral right, whatever his fortune may be, to employ another man to render any service, of mere comfort or convenience. When the finest young men of the United States are in France digging ditches, sawing lumber, laying rails, and playing with death, and when the finest young women of the United States are scrubbing floors in hospitals, it is a sin that almost approaches the unpardonable offense against civilization for any man or women in the United States to engage in a wasteful or unnecessary service. ”

“ It is safe, however, to say that a cellar in which this happens is not satisfactory as a place to keep bees during the winter, and steps should be taken to insulate it more completely before bees are put into it again. If the bees are wintering on stores that are not of the best quality the tendency to accumulate feces will be far greater, even with the right temperatures inside the hives, and if there is dysentery it may be relieved somewhat by ventilation, although this is simply reducing a symptom and is not removing the cause of the trouble. ”

“ A beehive must serve the dual purpose of being a home for a colony of bees and at the same time a tool for the beekeeper. Its main requirements are along the line of its adaptation to the various manipulations of the apiary in so far as these do not materially interfere with the protection and comfort it affords the colony of bees. Since rapid manipulation is greatly facilitated by simple and uniform apparatus, one of the fundamental requirements of the equipment in hives is that they be of the same style and size, with all parts exactly alike and interchangeable throughout the apiary. ”

“ The forces that fight for freedom, the freedom of men all over the world as well as our own, depend upon us in an extraordinary and unexpected degree for sustenance, for the supply of the materials by which men are to live and to fight, and it will be our glory when the war is over that we have supplied those materials and supplied them abundantly, and it will be all the more glory because in supplying them we have made our supreme effort and sacrifice. ”

“ If bees are given the right amount of room, stores, and protection early in the fall, nothing that the beekeeper can do will benefit them until it is necessary to handle them because of preparations for swarming or because of the incoming nectar. Of course if bees are well packed they get so strong in the spring that if crowded they begin preparations for swarming earlier than do colonies which have been neglected during the winter. By following the methods here described the season for swarm control is advanced, so that usually it is entirely passed before the honey-flow begins. ”

“ The first super should contain some empty comb when given to the colony, and each succeeding super should be given in advance of the time when the bees would be in any way crowded without it. At no time should all the sections be removed and new supers containing only foundation be given, but the surplus apartment should contain sections in all the various stages of development. In this way there is no break in the work in the supers, and the critical periods, so far as the super room bears upon the problems of swarming and energetic work, are largely eliminated. ”

“ To prevent drifting, it is best to set the bees out when it is too cold for them to fly, so that as the weather warms, permitting flight, this will take place more naturally. It is also well to reduce the entrances so that as the bees leave the hive their tendency to orient themselves will be greater. It is claimed by some beekeepers that if the cellar is well aired the night before the bees are to be removed, they will be in better condition and will drift less, but it is not clear what difference this can make unless the clusters are made tighter because of lower temperatures. ”

“ The most common fault in winter packing is to leave the entrances of the hives wide open. This, of course, nullifies the benefit of the packing to a large degree, and one need not be surprised that these men do not find virtue in packing heavily. Another common fault in packing is to omit the packing from the bottom. Snow acts as an excellent insulation, but one can not be sure that there will be snow at just the right times, and it is therefore necessary, to insure good wintering, that good packing be placed on the bottoms. ”

“ It should be noted that the shorter the duration of the honey flow, the greater becomes the necessity of having the colonies in proper condition at its beginning and keeping them so until its close. However lavish nature may be with the secretion of nectar and fine weather, it is of little avail if the beekeeper fails to secure a large force of workers to gather and store his crop or, even having provided workers, if he fails to keep his forces together and contented, bending all their energy in the one direction of gathering and storing honey. ”

“ In case the beekeeper desires to build an apiary house over the bee, cellar, as is done frequently, he must provide a floor for this house at least at ground level, and he can not successfully use the ceiling of the cellar as the floor of the upper house. There is no objection to building a house above the cellar if adequate protection is given the cellar, but it must not be assumed that the house offers any material insulation to the cellar, for in most cases these houses are not heated in the winter. ”

“ Stimulative feeding, if properly done, will undoubtedly result in the rearing of more bees for the harvest. When the beekeeper is operating several apiaries and must travel some distance to reach them the labor involved is considerable, and the question to be decided is whether this labor would yield greater returns if expended in stimulative feeding or in operating a larger number of colonies. If the brood chamber is large and well provisioned or if the flowers furnish some nectar in early spring the colonies may have sufficient stores for this period of heavy brood rearing. ”

“ In the production of honey, it is of the first importance that the colonies of bees be kept strong, especially that they be strong before the beginning of the main honey-flows of the early summer. To bring about this essential condition, the most important step is the proper wintering of the bees, and this bulletin has been prepared that beekeepers throughout the country may be able to get their bees through the winter without the great loss of colonies and reduction in strength of those which still live which have been so common in the past. ”

“ The beekeeper may feel safe in giving the bees all the protection possible at the time that they are taken from the cellar, knowing that it is impossible at this time or any other to insulate the hive too well.
In deciding whether the hives should be packed in the spring the beekeeper should be governed largely by the condition of the bees. If they have wintered well they will be able to stand greater extremes of temperature in the spring without loss, but if they have been wintered in a cold cellar they will be greatly injured by cold weather after they have been set out. ”

“ The wide variation in the building up of colonies previous to the honey flow in different localities and seasons, the race of bees, and the skill of the beekeeper are all factors entering into this problem, which make it improbable that beekeepers will ever fully agree on this point. The races that build up more rapidly in the spring are, of course, other things being equal, able to use to advantage a larger brood chamber than the races that are more conservative in brood rearing. ”

“ The Department of Agriculture and other agencies are actively assisting the farmers to locate, safeguard, and secure at cost an adequate supply of sound seed.
The farmers of this country are as efficient as any other farmers in the world. They do not produce more per acre than the farmers in Europe. It is not necessary that they should do so. It would perhaps be bad economy for them to attempt it. But they do produce by two to three or four times more per man, per unit of labor and capital, than the farmers of any European country. ”

“ It is of the greatest importance that every colony have a good queen in order that brood-rearing may continue in the fall and may then again proceed rapidly in the spring. Usually it is best to requeen at least every two years, but if good wintering is practiced the colonies will come out of winter quarters so strong and will build up so rapidly in the spring that the queens will soon wear out, making it safer to requeen every year. ”

“ The fact that bees usually, by the construction of queen cells, indicate about a week in advance their intention to swarm, enables the beekeeper to control swarming by examining each colony once a week during the swarming period and forestalling the colonies that are making preparations to swarm. It is also possible to manipulate all the colonies before any swarming occurs so that most of them go through the honey flow without swarming, thus eliminating the weekly examinations. ”

“ It is impossible to insulate bees too heavily during the winter. It is obvious, however, that the beekeeper will not want to put on more packing than is practically necessary. For a climate such as that of Washington, D. C., it is found desirable to provide 4 inches of packing underneath the hives, 6 inches on all sides, and 8 or more inches on top. In warmer climates less will be needed, but the beekeeper must not think that simply because he lives south of Washington he can be safe with less packing or none at all. ”

“ Some races breed up more rapidly in the spring than others. The Italians are somewhat conservative in this respect, but have so many excellent traits that they are generally used in this country. In localities having intermittent honey flows Italian bees may not give the best results because of their tendency to restrict brood rearing during the honey flow by crowding the queen and to curtail the production of brood during a scarcity of nectar. Drone comb within the brood nest in early spring is a decided barrier to rapid brood rearing. ”

“ A common cause of loss is through attempting to winter colonies that are too small. It is somewhat difficult to set a standard for colony strength at this season, but in general it may be stated that it is unwise to attempt to winter colonies that are not strong enough to have brood sufficient to fill three to four Langstroth frames two months before the packing is applied. If the colonies in the apiary are not of the proper strength it is wise to unite until the proper strength is reached. Any uniting should be done at least two weeks before packing. ”

“ If feeding is not practiced during this critical period, the beekeeper should see that each colony is at all times supplied with a reserve of stores, for surprisingly large quantities are consumed when brood rearing is going on rapidly. If any colonies should run short, brood rearing will be carried on sparingly and the colony so severely crippled that it may not recover its strength until after the honey flow is over. ”

“ Moisture is being generated constantly as the bees consume the honey stores, but if the bees are adequately packed the amount of moisture will be reduced to the minimum. The chief dancer, of course, is from moisture which condenses, and in an adequately packed hive there is no condensation. The temperature never goes low enough for water vapor to condense. Therefore it is obvious that upward ventilation for the escape of moisture is never needed in hives that are packed as they should be. ”

“ Of course the brood chamber that is barely large enough for one colony will be too large for another in the same apiary or the character of the season may be such that all brood chambers may be too large for best results one season and too small the next, so an average must be sought. While by manipulation good results may be secured by the use of any of the sizes in common use, any great departure in either direction from the size best suited to conditions of a given locality necessitates an excessive increase in labor to give best results. ”

“ It is often stated that bees die of starvation in the hives when there is abundant honey not many inches away from the cluster. This, of course, never happens in colonies that are well packed. In colonies that are adequately protected there is no better plan than simply to leave the regular wooden cover in place and sealed down by the bees. Quilts directly over the frames are a nuisance at any time, and during the winter they are of no value for upward ventilation in well packed colonies and should be used only as a poor makeshift for good packing. ”