ZDE^-OTEID E^CETTSI'VEI/Y- TO BEES .A^ISTE ZHZOHSTEY. 



Vol. IL 



APRIL 1, 1874. 



No. IV 



HOW TO CONDUCT AN APIARY. 



No. 4. 



FTER the many hints given last month 



j in regard to tidiness etc., and then to go 



and cover our own hives up with stable ma- 

 nure may look a little inconsistent ; it might 

 well be said of us as of some physicians, that 

 they resemble sign posts, inasmuch as " they 

 point the way for others, but go not." Well, 

 the truth is kind friends, we did not dare ad- 

 vise all to do as we have, until we had well 

 tried the plan, any more than we dared three 

 years ago to advise all to sell their honey at 

 20c. and winter their bees on syrup at a cost 

 of 08c, yet we should by all means advise the 

 the latter now. Tis now March 11th, and we 

 have had some very cold rough weather that 

 has made us many times thankful our bees 

 were even warmer than they would have been 

 in the house; besides, the manure when washed 

 by the rain and dried in the sun is not so veiy 

 untidy after all. It covers the ground so as to 

 make a clean soft carpet to walk on, while the 

 uncovered clay soil is a most unpleasant foot 

 hold through the combined effects of sun and 

 frost. We shall probably leave much of the 

 covering around the hives until May, for 

 usually many sudden cold changes occur with 

 us, between now aud that time. 



Strong colonies can probably have a comb 

 put in tiie middle of the cluster advantageous- 

 ly during this month, but the plan of taking 

 brood from them to build up weak ones, we 

 regard as more of a damage to the strong one, 

 than benefit to the weak, although such a 

 course may be !>est to save Queens of extra 

 value. When you. take a comb out of the cen- 

 tre of the cluster, you often take the Ixst half 

 of the brood, and sometimes nearly all the 

 pollen, and the weak stock may be able to 

 prevent only a small part of the brood from 

 perishing. Get every colony as quickly as 

 possible into a condition of things whereby 

 they will be self sustaining, and to do this we 

 know of nothing equal to the meal feed ; and 

 we know of no pleasanter or more enticing 

 work about the apiary than getting them 

 briskly at work on the meal. The heaviest 

 crop of honey we ever had was when we in- 

 duced them to take in most rye meal in March. 

 We are in some doubt if even natural pollen 

 gives brood-rearing the impetus the flour 

 does. Several patent feeders have been claim- 

 ed to have the property of inducing the bees 

 to take the meal in the hive, but as we have 

 entirely tailed with such contrivances, as have 



all we have conversed with on the subject, we 

 think they may be safely classed with hum- 

 bugs and swindles. We have never been able 

 to induce them to take any substitute for pol- 

 len even when placed in a comb next the 

 brood ; the act of flying out and gathering it 

 on the wing, seems to be absolutely a necessity. 



The plan advanced of keeping the bees 

 housed during this month or until flowers are 

 in bloom, it seems to us would be decidedly 

 an error. We think modern Bee Culture de- 

 mands that we proceed to get the hives full of 

 bees as speedily as possible. 



If they can get up a large force to work on 

 apple blossoms they will be prepared to send 

 out an army of young bees when the clover 

 appears. That colonies may catch up and do 

 fairly evji when so kept back in brood-rearing 

 is quite probable, but our largest yields have 

 invariably been from those that commenced 

 brood-rearing quite early. In our opinion the 

 crop of clover honey is very much dependant 

 upon the start the bees get during the month 

 of April. Who can report a colony having 

 brood in every comb in the hive during this 

 month V 



See your bees often, aud please excuse us if 

 we say it " often.'' Some day when you feel 

 like taking a little rest, take the hives" one by 

 one and observe whether each one carries in 

 pollen or meal at a fair rate; if it don't, see 

 what the trouble is. If queenless, give it eggs 

 twice a week from some stronger stock onlhe 

 plan given on page 90 Dec. No. of Vol. 1, un- 

 til they can rear a queen of their own. Any 

 good queen can during this month furnish 

 three or four times as many eggs probably, as 

 her bees can care for, therefore if we can re- 

 move eggs only, we are not injuring the colo- 

 ny, and are furnishing the weaji ones all the 

 help they require. 



Colonies with old or unprolific queens, can 

 be treated in the same way. Before you ob- 

 ject because this is too much trouble, consider 

 that 'twould be time very well invested indeed 

 if you could induce your weakest stock to do 

 as well as your best. Almost every one has 

 colonies that occasionally give a great result. 

 Now this is too much luck aud chance ; we 

 should be sufficiently skillful to make our en- 

 tire Apiary give a great result, perhaps not 

 two or three hundred lbs. to the hive, but half 

 that for instance, from 50 colonies would make 

 a "big stir" in almost any neighborhood. 



The best we have ever done was an average 

 of 131 lbs. per hive, from 47 colonies, yet we 

 have had a fair paying crop every year; even 

 tlu' past one of 1873. with only a yield of lion- 



