are encountered at this time of the year. 



First, a beginner, as he goes out among 

 his outdoor-wintered colonies after the first 

 warm fly day, on seeing the number of dead 

 bees in front of the entrances naturally con- 

 cludes that he is going to lose all his bees 

 before spring. As a matter of fact, there is 

 sure to be some mortality; and the stronger 

 the colony the greater the number of dead 

 bees that will be found. 



Or we will suppose that Mr. Beginner has 

 his hives in the cellar. Even when condi- 

 tions are ideal, and he has complied with all 

 the rules for safe wintering, he wdll find 

 what appears to be an abnormally large 

 number of dead bees on the cellar bottom; 

 and again he is sure he is going to lose all 

 of his bees. The fact is, there is bound to 

 be a good many even when conditions are 

 normal— especially toward spring. If he be- 

 gins to tinker w4th his bees to see what is 

 the matter, he will make matters ten times 

 worse than they were. 



Some over-ehthusiastic novice may be m- 

 clined to open up his hives of outdoor bees 

 every now and then to see how they are 

 coming on. If they have been properly fed 

 and properly housed, he will do well to leave 

 them entirely alone. 



Perhaps he is afraid they have not enough 

 stores, and then he will try to feed them 

 liquid syrup, which they will not take if the 

 weather is at all cold. If the syrup is left 

 on top of the cluster they will take it down 

 the first warm day, and then they will fly 

 out at the entrances to find more, only to be- 

 come chilled and die on the ground. Feed- 

 ing should not be practiced during wmter 

 except to give cakes of hard candy, queen- 

 cage candy, or combs of sealed stores. 



Sometimes a beginner on a cold day, 

 looks down into his hive and finds a ball of 

 bees only a little larger than his double fist, 

 even in some of the best colonies. "My, 

 oh my!" he concludes, "this will never do;" 

 and so, perhaps, he will attempt to unite. 

 He does not know, perhaps, that the strong- 

 est colonies— the very best that he or any 

 one else may have— can compress themselves 

 into a space almost as small as the double 

 fist providing the weather is very cold. 



Many a beginner makes the mistake of 

 placing his hives on an exposed knoll where 

 the cold prevailing winds can strike them. 

 Apiaries should always be protected by be- 

 ing placed in an inclosure formed by a barn, 

 out-buildings, fence, or shrubbery —any 

 thing that will break the force of the wind. 



In the si)ring of the year, one starting in 

 bees reads what is said about spreading 

 brood in order to get more brood. He un- 

 dertakes to do work of this kind with insuf- 

 ficient knowledge of the requirements. The 

 novice and most experienced bee-keepers 

 should not undertake to disturb the posi- 

 tions of the combs in the early season. As 

 a general thing it will do more harm than 

 good. 



Reading that bees should be stimulated 

 in the spring by feeding, some beginners 

 will feed when the weather is too cool or 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



when honey is coming in from fruit-bloom. 

 No feeding should be practiced at either 

 time. 



Many beginners make the mistake, after 

 having read all the bee-books, and keeping 

 bees for a couple of years, of supposing that 

 they "know it all " when they don't. Such 

 people usually wander into the stage of in- 

 venting bee-hives or bee-feeders. They 

 should understand that most veterans who 

 know most about the business do not waste 

 any time in trying to improve (?) on the 

 basic principles put forth by father Lang- 

 stroth. The fact is, nearly all the so-called 

 improvements on the Langstroth frame and 

 hive have been a step backward rather than 

 forward. If our beginner friend clearly un- 

 derstands this, perhaps he will not get it in- 

 to his head that he is going to revolutionize 

 hives and appliances. 



Another trouble with the beginner is that 

 he is apt to be too impatient to get his crop 

 of honey. He reads of some one's great suc- 

 cess, or possibly hears his neighbor telling 

 about putting on a super on such and such 

 a day and taking off 82 full sections a little 

 later, and he is perplexed because he can 

 not get the same results. His bees seem to 

 be working so steadily and so industriously 

 that he can not understand why they don't 

 go into the super on business intent; and at 

 the very start he is apt to get discouraged, 

 feeling that all the reading which he did 

 has not prepared him for even this first 

 emergency. He finds that the books recom- 

 mend the use of "baits" in the supers to 

 get the bees started, and he wonders wheth- 

 er a bait consists of a bunch of flowers, the 

 sweet perfume of which would be attractive, 

 or what. On reading further he finds that 

 "baits" are unfinished sections containing 

 some honey left over from the year before, 

 or, possibly, merely sections with the comb 

 pretty well drawn out. As he has just sta'Vt- 

 ed, and has nothing left over from the year 

 before, he wonders where he is going to get 

 his bait. Meanwhile, the bees keep on fly- 

 ing merrily, but refuse to notice the tempt- 

 ing white sections above them with their 

 starters of comb foundation. 



WHY BEES DO NOT ENTER SUPERS. 



As explained in the questions and answers 

 under Heads of Grain in this issue, there are 

 several reasons why bees do not go above 

 for storing honey; and it may be any one of 

 them or a combination of several. In the 

 first place, it must be remembered that the 

 tendency of the bees is to place honey as 

 close as possible to the brood. It is niuch 

 handier there, and far more convenient for 

 winter. Estimates vary as to the actual 

 amount of honey which bees consume them- 

 selves during a year: but assuming that it is 

 ;5001bs., it is plain that the suri)Ius honey — 

 that is, that which is stored in the sections — 

 forms only a relatively small percentage of 

 the honey really brought into the hive. The 

 super, then, is to the bees what the savings 

 bank is to mankind— a storage-house for the 

 surplus wealth accumulated during a period 

 of prosperity. A colony that is not strong 



