April, 22] PETTiT : apiary practice 123 



tion the best method. This is provided by placing several layers of 

 newspaper directly over the cluster and separated from it by a porous 

 cloth to keep the bees from gnawing the paper. Upon the paper is a 

 heavy layer of packing material kept dry by ventilation in the roof 

 of the outer case. Any cluster moisture which may condense on the 

 paper passes freely upward by absorption, but heated air does not 

 readily escape as it does in ordinary systems of upward ventilation. 

 This gives upward absorption insuring dryness with a minimum of up- 

 ward ventilation and corresponding loss of heat. 



The preparation part of the Active Season is devoted to rearing an 

 abundant supply- of workers. The essentials of management here are 

 to insure a surplus of food, both honey and pollen, protection from cold 

 as in winter, and plenty of worker comb space for brood. A queen 

 moves upward into laying space more readily than downward, yet she 

 hesitates to pass over sealed honey to this space. Using this principle 

 we find it pays to winter in a Langstroth broodchamber with shallow 

 super for stores. Early in the preparation period a second Langstroth 

 broodchamber of dark worker combs is placed between the_brood and the 

 stores. This is only given to colonies which are ready for it and the 

 queen occupies it at once, spreading out great sheets of eggs which the 

 winter packing enables the colony to protect. Dark combs with un- 

 stretched cells acceptable to the queen especially next the top bar are 

 preferred for breeding purposes. It is notable that even for storing 

 honey, bees prefer dark combs, and much more so for brood. E very- 

 such preference should be recognized where possible. At the end of this 

 period the brood chamber is reduced to one story again. 



During the surplus storing period the beekeeper's duty is to prevent 

 or control the swarming impulse, and failing that to prevent swarming, 

 without allowing the working morale to be lowered. This calls for rather 

 close supervision of colony conditions by someone with expert judgment. 

 Entrance diagnosis is dangerous as it only reports lowered morale in- 

 stead of forecasting it. One must watch internal conditions to prevent 

 loss of working vigor. If absolute uniformity of stock and rate of 

 development could be secured by breeding, treatment suitable for a 

 whole apiary could be decided by examining a few hives. But not 

 many apiaries have been brought to that state of perfection. In 

 most apiaries it is profitable to see internal broodchamber and super 

 conditions at regular intervals of time. The appearance of a colony 

 in prime working condition is well defined: — Plenty of eggs and brood 

 in all stages and no queen-cells, plenty of bees of all ages and no loafing, 

 room for the queen to continue brood-nest development, and ample 



