122 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



or 40, came through in excellent condition. 

 Two reasons prevent us from recommending 

 this course generally; one is, we seldom have 

 warm days at intervals as we did the past 

 winter, and the other is that so much disturb- 

 ance in mid-winter with the chances in favor 

 of sudden and unexpected changes, would be 

 pretty certain to make mischief among novices, 

 to say nothing of the back breaking task of so 

 much incessant lugging hives about. 



OUlTPRIMARY DEPARTMENT^ 



Or First Principles in fiJce-lieepimj. 



[Designed Especially for the veriest novices, and 

 those who know nothing of bees whatever. Conduct- 

 ed by a fellow Novice of several years experience 

 replete with blunders, as well as with occasional 

 successes.] 



fpSUALLY the first work in the Apiary 

 I commences about April 1st in this locali- 

 ty. If the hives have been wintered in cellars, 

 or special repositories they are generally put 

 on their stands in March or April. The great 

 point in bee-keeping is to have an army of 

 workers ready for the blossoms when they 

 come out. To enable us understanding^ to 

 go to work to secure this we shall have to con- 

 sider something of the Natural History of the 

 bee. As we have before mentioned, the Queen 

 lays all the eggs. These eggs are deposited in 

 the bottom of the cells to which she attaches 

 them by some glutinous matter so that they 

 stick in the center of the bottom with consid- 

 erable force ; she commences to deposit these 

 cga* about the first of Jan., and continues to 

 deposit more or less daily for at least the next 

 ten months of the year. It has of late been 

 discovered that only a very small number of 

 the eggs ordinarily produce bees, more espec- 

 ially those laid in the winter and spring 

 months, although we believe every egg is ca- 

 pable of producing a perfect bee if it has prop- 

 er care from the working bees. Now when we 

 take into consideration that the yield of honey 

 that may be obtained from a hive directly de- 

 pends on furnishing the proper conditions for 

 these eggs to hatch, we see the importance of 

 being able to assist nature intelligently. Per- 

 haps the first essential is to give the Queen a 

 brood nest in the center of the hive at a uni- 

 form temperature of from 90 to 100 degrees ; 

 in the present stage of our knowledge we know 

 of no other way to secure this with all other 

 requisite conditions than to have a large clus- 

 ter of bees surrounding the Queen, and covering 

 the combs. The eggs when kept at the proper 

 temperature hatch out a tin}' worm or larva 1 , 

 in just about three days. It is quite probable 

 that aside from temperature the bees have 

 some agency in making these eggs hatch, for 

 they, from the time the egg is laid seem in- 

 cessantly busy "poking"' their heads into the 

 cells containing the eggs ; be this as it may at 

 any rate so soon as the larvae breaks the shell, 

 it is kept profusely supplied with a milky look- 

 ing food probably produced in the stomach of 

 the attendant or nurse bees. These larva' at 

 first just visible to the naked eye now grow 

 with marvelous rapidity and at the end of 

 about days more, they almost entirely fill the 

 cell, and arc soon capped over forming what 

 we all sealed brood. The voung bee now 



receives no further care, but after about 11 

 days more — 21 days from the egg — it gnaws 

 itself out of its cell a perfect bee and ready to 

 assist in some of the duties about the hive in 

 perhaps 24 hours after. 



This milky food administered to the larva) 

 has of late become an interesting matter, for 

 unless the workers can supply it plentifully, 

 the eggs laid by the Queen seem to be removed 

 by the workers almost as fast as laid, at least 

 they are gone and we find fresh ones in their 

 places every day, but no unsealed larva? is to 

 be seen in the cells until the workers can go 

 abroad and gather pollen from the flowers, 

 providing they have no supply kept over win- 

 ter in the comb. Some instances are mention- 

 ed 'tis true in which a limited amount of brood 

 has been reared without pollen ; but so mauy 

 circumstances seem to indicate pollen as being 

 an absolute necessity for brisk brood rearing 

 that we may consider it established we think, 

 and proceed at once to consider whether any 

 substitute may be profitably furnished in the 

 spring, before the blossoms yield a supply. It 

 was some time ago decided by analysis that 

 the composition of this pollen, or what is bet- 

 ter known perhaps to some of our readers, as 

 "bee bread," was quite similar to that of the 

 unbolted flour from our common grains, Oats 

 and Rye particularly, and that bees will carry 

 into their hives considerable quantities of this 

 in the spring is well known, heavy colonies 

 having been reported to have carried in 20 lbs. 

 or more each, in a season. We are happy to say 

 that this substitute seems to auswer every 

 purpose, and the heaviest crop of honey we 

 ever had was after having fed them most liber- 

 ally with the Rye and Oat meal in the spring. 

 To get them to take it 'tis only necessary to 

 place it in some sunny place, as much out of 

 the wind as possible, in shallow frames or 

 boxes. If they don't find it readily, get a few 

 bees at work on some bits of comb honey, and 

 then lay them in the meal. If it is before nat- 

 ural pollen has come they will soon abandon 

 the honey, and commence a joyous hum over 

 the meal ; after the soft maples and aiders 

 yield pollen they will pay little or no attention 

 to the substitute. 



While fruit trees are in bloom, but little can 

 be done to aid nature unless it be to put a 

 frame of empty comb in the centre of the brood 

 "nest to give the Queen more room for eggs, 

 this should only be done however when so 

 much honey is brought in that she is really in 

 need of more empty cells than the workers 

 have provided for her. Much mischief has 

 been done by beginners, in their zeal to have a 

 colony rear brood faster, by spreading the 

 brood nest so as to expose and chill the larvffi. 

 After fruit blossoms, in most localities there- 

 is a dearth of honey yielding plants for two or 

 three weeks, or until clover begins to yield. 



As we cannot by any means afford to have 

 our colonies stop rearing brood we would ad- 

 vise feeding through this period. No provis- 

 ion need now bo made for pollen, as plenty of 

 it abounds, and we need ouly consider liquid 

 food. For this purpose sugar syrup is probably 

 equally as good as honey ; for the method of 

 feeding, see Universal Feeder in Sept. No. 



At this season we should feed only so much 

 as will be used in brood-rearing and no more. 



