REPORT OF MR. R. ROBERTSON 297 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



BEES. 



April 17. The bees were all taken out of winter quarters and placed on their sum- 

 mer slaiuls at 12 o'clock, noon. The day was bright and sunny with a light north 

 wind blowing. The hives wore full of bees and they had a good fly until ^> p.m. The 

 liives were covered with empty bags at night for a while as the temperature of the 

 iii.iht was similar to the temperature of their winter quarters. The weights of the 

 different colonies were as follows : — 



Nov. 18, 1905. April 17, 1006. Loss. 



No. 1 55 lbs. 43i lb.s. 11^ lbs. 



No. 2 53 " 40.^ •' m " 



No. 3 54 " 42 " 12 " 



No. 4 59 " 4G " 13 " 



No. 5 40 " 30 " 10 " 



261 " 202 " 59 " 



Average loss per hive, 11| lbs. 



April 29. First pollen gathered from willows . 



l\ray 5. Bees working well. Dandelions coming in bloom. 



IMay 17. Examined all hives and found from 4 to 5 frames of brood in each hive 

 except No. 5, which had only 3 frames of. btbod, some dandelion honey stored, and 

 young bees hatched. 



June 6. No. 1 and 2 each threw off a swaim ■■ 



June 22. No. 4 threw off a swarm. 



June 29. No. 5 threw off a swarm. 



/Vugust 6. No. 6, prime from No. 1, threw off a swarm, seven weeks from time of 

 liiviiig. making 5 swarms safely hived during the Bummer. 



July 2. Bees began storing honey. 



Following are a few of the best days gatherings for single hive. 



No. 1 hive gathered July 2, 7 lbs. ; July 6, 5* lbs. ; July 7, 4 lbs. 



No. 2 hive, gathered July 9, 4 lbs.; July 14, 3 lbs.; July 15, 4 lbs.; July 28, 



3 lbs. 



No. 4 hive, gathered July 14, 3 lbs. ; July 15, 4 lbs. ; July 16, 4 lbs. 



No. 5 hive, gathered July 18, 5 lbs. ; July 19, 3 lbs. ; July 21, 3 lbs. 



No. 6 hive, gathered July 14, 3 lbs.; July 15, 3 lbs.; July IS, 3 lbs.; July 19, 



4 lbs.; July 20, 3 lbs.; July 21, 3 lbs.; July 23, 4 lbs.; July 28. 4 lbs. 



No. 7 hive, gathered July 18, 3 lbs. 



No. 8 hive, gathered July 3, 3 lbs.; July 20. 3 lbs.; July 23, 3 lbs.; July 26, 



4 lbs. 



No. 10 hive, gathered July 3, 3 lbs. ; July 18. 3 lbs. 



July 10. Nos. 1, 2 and 4 colonics being full of bees, fairly \vc]\ filled with brood 

 and having top of all combs filled with honey capped, and weighing at this date 81, 

 52 and 49 lbs., had supers put on them. Nos. 5 and 10 had supers put on them also. 

 The early swarms of June 22 and 26 had supers put on them f>n June 27. Tiering up 

 was done on the last three mentioned colonies and also on No. 1. those colonies hav- 

 ing at once started above, the honey coming in at a good rate. 



August 11 to September 8. Very little honey was gathered between these dates. 

 Some frames were taken out for extracting and all supers taken off. After September 

 8, some buckwheat and aster honey was gathered. 



November 17, being a clear warm day the bees had a good fly. 



November 18. The temperature on this date fell to 38° and the bees were carried 

 into their winter quarters in the cellar of the superintendent's house, the temperature 

 of which was 44°, the variation being from 38° to 44° during the winter. The weights 

 of the various hives were as follows: 53, 63, 59, 50, 57, 58, 66, 50 and 64 lbs. 



