Quote.
On bee farms where the production of honey with a minimum of labour is the object, it seems to have become generally accepted that there is only one practicable method of management. This is the system of periodical examination every nine, or possibly ten days. Amateur beekeepers frequently write to the bee-press pointing out how foolish the bee farmers are to go to all this labour when there are
so many much more simple and easy methods that might be employed. It does not, seemingly, occur to them that the reason we do it is that we know of no better way. We don't open our hives in regular rotation eight or nine times every summer for the fun of it. On a bee farm you must have a method which provides for the management of distant apiaries that can only be visited at stated times: every kind of scheme must allow for considerable intervals between visits, and the biology of the honeybee practically forces us to make the intervals nine days in length.
I have found that when I have mentioned the usual methods employed on bee farms, quite a lot of beekeepers seem to misunderstand what is implied. The late Dr. Anderson was a case in point, and he used to become quite facetious when dealing with those of us who spend a good deal of our time over what is known as swarm control. Anderson, of course, had no experience of large-scale beekeeping, any more than have the great majority of those who read the bee-press, and he seemed to be unable to understand the reason for our routine work; seemed, in fact, to think that every colony dealt
with was a swarming colony, and to consider those who practised it, little better than fools. Like so many others who are greatly interested in beekeeping, Anderson never got beyond the stage of the enthusiastic amateur. Some years ago, after reading some of this sort of stuff in the bee-press and elsewhere, about how simple and easy swarm control
can be without having recourse to periodical examinations, I really did begin to wonder whether, after all, I could have been altogether mistaken through all these many years; so I wrote a line to the two most extensive bee farmers I know at all well, Gale and Madoc. I asked the simple question: 'Is there any other way of control that will certainly prevent the loss of swarms?'Gale replied, 'I know of none'; Madoc said, 'I do not know of any.' Well, I don't know of any other way, either.
On bee farms where the production of honey with a minimum of labour is the object, it seems to have become generally accepted that there is only one practicable method of management. This is the system of periodical examination every nine, or possibly ten days. Amateur beekeepers frequently write to the bee-press pointing out how foolish the bee farmers are to go to all this labour when there are
so many much more simple and easy methods that might be employed. It does not, seemingly, occur to them that the reason we do it is that we know of no better way. We don't open our hives in regular rotation eight or nine times every summer for the fun of it. On a bee farm you must have a method which provides for the management of distant apiaries that can only be visited at stated times: every kind of scheme must allow for considerable intervals between visits, and the biology of the honeybee practically forces us to make the intervals nine days in length.
I have found that when I have mentioned the usual methods employed on bee farms, quite a lot of beekeepers seem to misunderstand what is implied. The late Dr. Anderson was a case in point, and he used to become quite facetious when dealing with those of us who spend a good deal of our time over what is known as swarm control. Anderson, of course, had no experience of large-scale beekeeping, any more than have the great majority of those who read the bee-press, and he seemed to be unable to understand the reason for our routine work; seemed, in fact, to think that every colony dealt
with was a swarming colony, and to consider those who practised it, little better than fools. Like so many others who are greatly interested in beekeeping, Anderson never got beyond the stage of the enthusiastic amateur. Some years ago, after reading some of this sort of stuff in the bee-press and elsewhere, about how simple and easy swarm control
can be without having recourse to periodical examinations, I really did begin to wonder whether, after all, I could have been altogether mistaken through all these many years; so I wrote a line to the two most extensive bee farmers I know at all well, Gale and Madoc. I asked the simple question: 'Is there any other way of control that will certainly prevent the loss of swarms?'Gale replied, 'I know of none'; Madoc said, 'I do not know of any.' Well, I don't know of any other way, either.
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