bee-keeper's calendar, 547 



honey. As brood is now veiy rapidly maturing, there is a 

 lai'gely increased demand for honey, and great care should 

 be taken to prevent the bees from suffering for want of food 

 (607). If the supplies are at all deficient, breeding will 

 be checked^ even if much of the brood does not perish, or 

 the whole colony die of starvation. If the weather is pro- 

 pitious, and the bees do not have a liberal supply of stores 

 on hand, feeding to promote a more rapid increase of young 

 may now be commenced (606). Feeble colonies must now 

 be reinforced (-ISO), and should the weather continue cold 

 for several days at a time, the bees ought to be supplied 

 with water (271) in their hives. 



This point is much neglected, by ourselves, as well as by 

 others, in practice, but we are convmced that much of our 

 April loss is due to the bees going in search of water in 

 inclement weather (662). At this time, if not before, the 

 larvae of the bee-moth will begin to make their appearance, 

 and should be carefully destroyed, not that they are very 

 damaging to bees in a carefully-conducted apiary, but only 

 that they give annoyance by their presence on the combs or 

 comb-honey, removed from the bees, in the latter part of the 

 season (812). "One stitch in time saves nine." One moth 

 killed in April, prevents several thousand in October. 



It is at this time^ that the hives should be inspected, to 

 remove all drone comb that can be found, as well as crooked 

 combs and broken pieces,— to be replaced by straight worker 

 comb (676), or strips of fomidation (674). At this time, 

 also, the hives that are intended for drone raising (511), 

 should be supplied with sufficient drone como for the purpose. 

 Queenless colonies should be given young queens, purchased 

 from queen-breeders in the South. This may be deferred 

 until May, if the weather is cool. Weak queenless colonies 

 should be united to others, as a rule, it does not pay to give 

 brood to a queenless colony for raising young queens, unless 

 it is quite strong, in bees. 



883. May.— As the weather becomes more genial, the in- 



