REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 217 



Season of 1898. 



March 9th being a warm, sunny day, twelve colonies were removed from their winter 

 quarters : six were placed in the House Apiary, and the other six in the exposed apiai-y, 

 where the snow was about eighteen inches deep. All began to fly at once, and the 

 snow soon became very much spotted with feces, but there were very few dead bees 

 around the entrances of the hives. The hives in the exposed apiary were covered with 

 coarse sacks as a protection, leaving a very small entrance for the bees. In the House 

 Apiary no such protection was given. From 9th to 26th March the bees flew eight 

 days. The remaining colonies were taken out on 26th March. 



From 26th March to 9th April the bees flew five days. On 9th April the first pollen 

 was noticed to be gathered. From 9th to 27th April they gathei"ed pollen very freely off 

 soft maple and willows, also ofiF the Manitoba maple. They were seen gathering sap from 

 hard maples, wherever the trees were cut. On 27th April, a very fine and warm day, all 

 colonies were inspected. Any that were found short of stores were fed with warm 

 syrup. For this an empty frame was taken out and held slightly slanting, the syrup 

 was poured on the empty comb until every cell was filled, then the frame was returned 

 to the hive. This plan of feeding answers very well for sprinf^, but not for autumn 

 feeding. The first new honey was noticed on 1st May. Up to 1st May the bees in the 

 house and sheltered apiaries appeared to work better than those in the exposed apiary. 

 On many days when the weather was cool, they were flying well, while none of the 

 others were flying. Those set out early appeared to be in the best condition, as they 

 had several cleansing flights before the others were set out. 



May was very fine and warm. The bees worked unusually well, gathering honey 

 and pollen from maples, apple, plum, cherries, Siberian pea-tree, buckthorn, and also 

 from dandelions, buttercups, white and alsike clovers. On 27th May two fine swarms 

 came off; one from the house apiary, and one from the sheltered apiary. Supers were 

 put on all the hives which were full of bees. Many at once began to work in them. 



June was very favourable for the bees to work, white and alsike clover being 

 abundant, very much honey was stored in the supers. 



July 4th, all supers containing clover honey were removed to a warm room, where 

 the temperature was not lower than 65°. We have found by experience that honey 

 kept in a cool or damp room does not ripen properly. The basswood was just then 

 coming into bloom ; the bees gathered considerable honey from it up to 20th July. 

 The supers containing basswood honey were removed on 25 July, as the buckwheat was 

 then beginning to bloom. 



On 3rd August when the buckwheat was ploughed under as a fertilizer, the bees 

 had already gathered much honey from it. From 3rd to 18th August the bees were 

 working well on the second growth of alsike and Bokhara clovers. On 18th August 

 all supers were removed, and any honey gathered after that date was left for winter 

 stores. All the colonies were carefully examined at this date to see if they were good 

 and strong, and had a good laying queen. Several were found queenless, and were at 

 once supplied with young queens. It is very important to see that there are no cater- 

 pillars of bee-moths around or in the hives. If any traces of moths are noticed these 

 should be cut out at once, and the hives examined at short intervals afterwards. 



September 1st to 12th the weather was fine and warm ; there was considerable flying. 

 All the hives were weighed, and any that did not weigh over 50 pounds were given full 

 frames of sealed honey. The beginning of September is a good time to inspect winter 

 stores. If syrup has to be fed, the bees will take it down better when the weather is 

 warm, and will thus have a chance to seal it over, which is very important for 

 wintering. But rather than feed syrup to the bees, I would strongly advise every 

 bee-keeper, unless he is thoroughly experienced, to save a few frames of sealed honey in 

 case his bees have not enough to carry them through the winter. He will find it to his 

 advantage to place one or two full frames in the hive in preference to feeding syrup. 

 Feeding syrup to the bees in the autumn gives them a tendency to rob. A good receipt 

 for bee syrup is the following : Boil the water, then remove it from the stove, add at 

 once two parts of granulated sugar to one part of water (by weight) and stir until dis- 



