THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



97 



They say "this should never have been 

 published," "It was a great mistake," etc., 

 etc., etc., and call everybody's attention to 

 the subject, in the most conspicuous way at 

 their command. If they think it should not 

 be discussed, why don't they keep still ? 

 They are making more fuss than any one 

 else, and in a manner calculated to attract 

 the very attention it would seem they would 

 avoid. 



Beblin, Mo., March 1, 1892. 



How to Rear Bees in the Spring.— Uniting. — 



Keeping Records.— Artificial Pollen. — 



Spreading of the Brood. 



B. O. AIKIN.* 



JN our last we 

 said the first 

 general examina- 

 tion would be last 

 of March, or first 

 of April. Of course 

 the date depends 

 on the weather ; 

 whether the spring 

 be early or late ; 

 but it should be 

 when the weather 

 is warm, and after 

 the bees have flown freely, cleaned house, 

 and gotten things in shape; i. e., started 

 brood and settled down to business. 



We think it pays to unite some in the 

 spring, if there be queenless colonies. Give 

 such bees to the colonies that are most in 

 need of bees. I would not unite colonies 

 having queens, so long as such colonies can 

 be preserved, even if it Vje necessary to give 

 bees from some strong colony. The colony 

 that has too few bees to build up of itself is 

 too weak to care for brood given it, so we 

 would give bees and not brood. 



We unite colonies by placing one above 

 the other, with a quilt between, saving a hole 

 in it ; sometimes without a quilt, by shak- 



*R. C. Aikin is 37 years old. Was born in Ohio. 

 When five years old he accompanied liis parents 

 to Southwestern Iowa, where he remained until 

 the year 1888, when he went to Colo. He early 

 took an interest in bees and kept them with vary- 

 ing success in Iowa. When he went to Colo, he 

 took twenty colonies with him, but by Dec, 

 1890, they had simply stabved out. During the 

 years of 1890 and 1891 he was in the employ of the 

 Hon. W. C. Alford. running apiaries for him. 

 He and a brother, with whf)m he makes it his 

 home, now have a little less than 400 colonies in 

 partnership, and expect to make a specialty of 

 honey production. His hobby is the getting of 

 large yields of honey from few colonies. 



ing bees in front and allowing them to run 

 in ; or by letting them get so cold they are 

 glad to get anywhere 'tis warm, then dump 

 them right in ; also by placing the combs 

 they are on, in one side of the hive of the 

 colony they are to be united with. If more 

 care is necessary, rob them of combs and 

 stores, and leave them so from half an hour 

 to half a day, or more. After this they will 

 perform as if robbed of their queen, and 

 may be united direct in twenty minutes to 

 half an hour. The amount of bees, the kind 

 of day, time of day, kind of hive, etc., deter- 

 mine what plan I use. 



A record is kept with a lumberman's cray- 

 on (a heavy lead pencil will do) on the front 

 of the hive, thus : 3-20, 4-3-8, which means 

 March 20th, bees 4, brood 3, honey 8, grading 

 on a scale of 10. After the date the first 

 figure tells how many bees. 4 is 1 point 

 below an average, the proportion of brood a 

 little less, while honey is abundant. The 

 standard by which we grade is our estimate 

 of what they should be at that date. A col- 

 ony graded '>-»-'>, in May, does not mean the 

 same amount of bees it would in March, but 

 several times more. The amount of bees, 

 brood and honey is graded in proportion to 

 what it ought to be at the date of entry. 

 After the day's work is done, a few minutes 

 work copies the record into a book, with en- 

 largements if necessary, such as, " united 

 with," " queenless," etc., as the case requires. 



After this work is done and all colonies 

 are covered up again snug and warm, with 

 stores to last them five or six weeks, but 

 little remains to be done in the yard for 

 three or four weeks, except occasionally 

 looking after the weak ones to see that they 

 are not robbed. 



However, there is one other matter that 

 demands our attention very soon after spring 

 weather comes. Our location seems to be 

 short in pollen, and when brooding starts in 

 earnest, the bees visit mills, feed-boxes, 

 granaries, in fact anywhere almost that they 

 can get a floury substance to substitute for 

 pollen. They will hunt it out almost as 

 quickly as honey, causing horses to leave 

 their feed, and even making holes in grain 

 and flour sacks for it. So, both to avoid the 

 nuisance, and to supply their needs, we feed 

 chop or flour in open troughs or boxes in and 

 about the apiary. But just so soon as natural 

 pollen can be had, they cease to take the 

 chop. Our first pollen is from cottonwood 

 bloom. 



