194 PROCEEDINGS OF THK 



June is usually a busy month with hiving and increasing stocks. 

 On the 5th I examined hives, and was perfectly amazed at their 

 poverty. In only two cases were they in a fit condition for 

 swarming, and in one of them five queen cells had been torn 

 open, and, no doubt, the princesses destroyed. From the 9th till 

 11th there were storms of thunder, lightning, and rain enough 

 to deluge all the bees in Argyllshire. On the 20th I removed 

 eleven stocks two miles from my apiary close to a dover field, 

 in the hope, if weather at all favourable did come, they would 

 easily secure a rich harvest, but alas ! up till the end of the month 

 they scarcely found a bare existence, and out of the whole stock 

 there was not a single swarm. 



July, like June, proved cold, bleak, and wet, and it was pitiable 

 to see the bees darting out and in, and after weary labour returning 

 to their hives with empty sacs. Here I had recourse to the same 

 treatment as in 1877, and during the month fed liberally every 

 hive in the apiary. At the end of the month I had the pleasure 

 of meeting Mr. Thomas A. Newman, Chairman of the North 

 American Bee-keepers' Association, who had come at his own 

 expense to Europe to report progress in the science of Apicul- 

 ture — and here I may state what our friends on the other side 

 of the Atlantic are doing. Professor A. J. Cook has regular 

 classes for teaching theoretical and practical Apiculture; and, 

 notwithstanding that many of his students have been engaged for 

 years in the study, there are hundreds of things yet to be 

 discovered in connection with the mysteries of the hive, and 

 the lives of its inmates. There are over 70,000 people engaged 

 in Apiculture in America, and why should the people of Great 

 Britain lose a million pounds sterling a year for the want of a 

 little knowledge how to keep bees to collect the fragrant sweets? 



August opened well, and again hopes were raised, as in the 

 first three days more honey was stored than during any month of 

 the year. Having purchased some Italian queens at Perth Show, 

 three of them were at once introduced into the apiary, the wisdom 

 of which step was apparent later on. On the 16th I again exam- 

 ined the hives and found plenty of workers in all, but not two 

 pounds of sealed honey in any one of them. But when August 

 closed, our hopes of reaping any harvest went with it, rain taking 

 the place of sunshine. Though it began with promise, it ended in 

 disappointment. 



