14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



I began stimulative feeding to aid them in promoting and bringing 

 out the young brood, which so soon lias to take the place of the 

 aged and worn-out bees. 



March, generally the most trying month for bees, was very 

 favourable till about the middle, and it was very pleasing to see 

 them coming back to their hives laden with pollen. About the 

 20th a sharp frost set in, which greatly retarded breeding. 



Till the 18th, April was bleak and cold, with little sunshine. 

 On the 9th I examined stocks, and found that most of them con- 

 tained eggs, larvae, and young bees, and that the latter (unless the 

 weather became milder) would soon diminish the stores, particularly 

 those of the Ligurians. To prevent any sudden collapse I increased 

 the stimulative feeding. The bees have rarely wintered better in 

 my apiary, but my man said, " I have no notion of thae foreign 

 yellow boys, (alluding to the Ligurians), they are just a parcel of 

 thieves and robbers. They are getting honey some gate and I ken 

 it's no mine." To this I answered, " Feed them well, and they will 

 not need to go to their neighbours' hives." 



Here I would direct attention to the gross ignorance that prevails, 

 notwithstanding all that has been written about bees and their 

 feeding in spring. It is well known by every bee-master that the 

 most trying time for his stocks is during the months of March, April, 

 and May, when the hives are in a manner being repopulated, but 

 instead of strengthening and keeping every stock strong by feeding, 

 the bees are allowed to shift for themselves, the result being that 

 thousands (especially of the weak stocks) perish from want during 

 the spring, after having safely got through the winter. 



Why will our Government so long stand idle, while those of France 

 and Germany pay experts to teach apiculture in their rural schools 1 

 By this means the young are there awakened to the fact that a great 

 source of national wealth evaporates daily (honey being merely a 

 secretion) for want of bees to collect it. Who will gainsay the fact 

 that half a million of money has this season been lost to Scotland 

 alone by reason of its inhabitants not having a knowledge of api- 

 culture and bees to collect the sweets from a thousand hills ! 



May opened well, and my hives soon became crowded with bees, 

 but to guard against any lack of food, I kept on feeding till the end 

 of the month. On the 27th Mr. Jones, of America, arrived in 

 London from Cyprus and the Holy Land, where he and a friend, 

 Mr. Benton, had gone for a few months, entirely at their own risk 



