IRISH GAKDENING 



69 



Beekeeping* 



By Peter Brock, Fairview, Enniskillen. 



May is generally a critical montli for bees, 

 especially for stocks that have used up all their 

 sealed stores. If a spell of cold or wet weather 

 should set in, a strong colony may soon die of 

 starvation, owing to the rate at which stores are 

 consumed for the feeding and nursing of brood, 

 or it may, through losing a large percentage of 

 brood, be so much weakened as to render it unable 

 to store any sur- 

 ])lus during the 

 remainder of the 

 season. No hard 

 and fast rule can 

 be laid down as to 

 the quantity of 

 feeding a stock 

 will require to keep 

 it in a prosi^erous 

 condition during 

 an adverse period. 

 so much depends 

 on the weather and 

 size of the colony. 

 The stronger th.e 

 colony the more 

 feeding it will re- 

 (|uire, say from one 

 half pint to a pint 

 of warm syrup 

 every night during 

 the worst of the 

 weather. It is 

 much safer to err 

 on the side of giv- 

 ing a little too 

 much ; although 

 sugar is at war 

 price, it will be 

 amply repaid later 

 on. 



Brood-spreading, to hasten the development 

 of undersized or backward stocks, should be 

 attended to by skilled beekeepers, but it is an 

 operation that is very liable to be overdone by 

 beginners. On no accomit should either an 

 empty comb or frame of foundation be placed 

 in the centre of the brood area before the hive 

 is well crowded with bees to the bottom of the 

 dummy. Even then, unless the weather is 

 warm and honey coming in, sufficient feeding 

 should be given to keep up, or rather increase, 

 the temperature, so as not to extend the brood 

 area beyond where the bees can nurse it safely, 

 and to encourage the queen to lay in the new 

 comb. It is. however, much safer for beginners 



to let the bees choose their own rate of expansion 

 th.an run the risk of chilling brood on the outside 

 frames. 



When the honey flow begins and all danger of 

 robbing is past, gradually give more room at the 

 entrance. If the Swiss metal entrance is in 

 use. keep it at the jVii^c'h depth, but increase 

 the width of entrance to 8 inches, and towards 

 the end of this month or beginning of next the 

 plate regulating the depth of entrance may be 

 moved up to the full depth of |-inch, as required 

 for ventilation. This entrance gives ample 

 ventilation with- 

 out ventilating the 

 floor-board ; it is 

 also an excellent 

 protection against 

 robbing, and when 

 adjusted to the ,« 

 inch depth for 

 winter it com- 

 pletely excludes 

 mice. Floor-board 

 ventilators are 

 liable to be for- 

 gotten and left 

 open when they 

 should be kept 

 shut, thereby chill- 

 ing large patches 

 of brood, or, when 

 not used at all they 

 are dirt -traps and 

 niirseries for 

 moths. 



The sources from 

 which honey may 

 be obtained this 

 month (weather 

 permitting) are 

 chiefly — black- 

 thorn, plums, dam- 

 so n s , cherries, 

 holly, sycamore, 

 and in very warm 

 furze gives a fair 



OxALis ennp:aphylla (see p. 70). 



apples and raspberries, 

 weather the whin or 



amount. The sycamore, when the weather con- 

 ditions are favourable, yields a dark-coloured 

 honey, fairly dense in texture, but only second 

 rate in flavour. In districts where holly is 

 plentiful, very fine sections of delicate-flavoured 

 honey may be obtained about the end of this 

 month, the apple alone, or better still, the 

 apple and raspberry, gives a dense-textured 

 honey of first-rate flavour, and being attractive 

 in appearance it alwavs commands top price in 

 well-filled sections. Beekeepers situated near 

 large apple orchards and raspberry plantations 

 will, in most seasons, be amply repaid for having 



