AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



789 



remove the packing the first warm day 

 that comes along. Wait until it is 

 pretty certain that summer has really 

 come, and that the room is needed for 

 the surplus cases. 



It is the best now to "crowd on the 

 steam," to induce the bees to build up as 

 rapidly as possible. Should a season of 

 scarcity happen, after fruit bloom, feed 

 the bees, to keep up brocd-rearing, as 

 they will be the very bees that will 

 bring in the honey harvest. 



Do everything possible to make the 

 bees prosperous, without a break, in 

 some honey coming in from some source, 

 even honey-dew may still be fed, before 

 the surplus cases are put on the hives. 

 Such feeding will pay well, even though 

 there is plenty of honey in the hives. 

 Bees must keep up a temperature of 

 about 98- in order to hatch brood rap- 

 idly, and surplus room should not be 

 given too fast. It is better to be sure, 

 that more room is needed, by seeing the 

 bees commence to " lie out " on warm 

 days, than to put on the cases before the 

 combs in the brood-chamber are all 

 occupied, and then have a cold storm 

 come along and chill the brood. 



Save all the nice pieces of worker- 

 comb, cut out of old sections to patch 

 up your brood-combs with. If there are 

 any empty hives where the bees have 

 died out, be sure to look over the combs, 

 and cut out all patches of drone-comb. 

 I'he comb cut out of the sections are 

 just the thing to fit into the holes. It is 

 much better to discard all brood-combs 

 that are not nice and straight, and fill 

 with either good comb or foundation. A 

 frame of foundation placed between two 

 straight combs in a strong colony, will 

 soon be worked into a comb that one can 

 enjoy handling ever after. It is a ques- 

 tion if we have not really lost by old 

 combs that were "not just what they 

 should be," too long. We want to save 

 all we can, but we also want to put the 

 bees in the very best condition, even 

 though it costs something, as we are 

 sure the money will be returned to us 

 many fold in the long run. 



Up to this time we have been feeding 

 bees on honey-dew extensively. As we 

 had many hives, where the bees had 

 died, containing honey, we exposed 

 them, so that a few bees could enter, 

 and carry off the stores. We expected 

 that this would set the bees wild, and 

 that we would have to watch closely to 

 prevent general robbing in the apiary. 

 After a day or so of this kind of robbing 

 of undefended hives, the bees seemed to 

 conclude that there was no hurry, and 

 worked in a very ordinary way. 



We placed the hives containing the 

 honey some little distance from the 

 other hives, and put out about a dozen 

 at once, which divided the bees up a 

 good deal, and there was little or no 

 fighting, neither were they at all cross. 

 What surprised us still more was that 

 hives remained unmolested in the api- 

 ary, containing plenty of honey, though 

 there was not a bee to defend it, for 

 days at a time. A great majority of the 

 bees paid no attention to the food offered 

 them, but gathered pollen, and some 

 honey from maple, box-elder, elms, and 

 willows. Our object is to have all the 

 honey-dew used up, before the clover 

 begins to bloom. — Western Plov:man. 



Milan, Ills., May 15, 1892. 



The Mm of Bees. 



L. HARRISON. 



I fed them last fall until I thought 

 they had an abundance to last until 

 there would be plenty in the fields. It 

 stopped raining, and I laid aside my pen 

 to take a look at the bees, when I was 

 convinced that I had better " hustle 

 around " and feed instanter. Coffee A 

 sugar was dissolved with boiling water, 

 and all sorts of feeders were pressed 

 into service. Fruit jars with perforated 

 covers, tin basins with muslin tied over 

 the top, tin and wooden feeders that are 

 sold by dealers in bee-supplies, were 

 filled and given to the bees. I was com- 

 pelled, by rain, to adjourn and go into 

 the house, and if I am able in the morn- 

 ing I shall feed every colony. So much 

 rain washes out the nectar from fruit- 

 bloom, and prevents the bees from gath- 

 ering what there is. It is not so partic- 

 ular what kind of syrup is fed now as 

 during the fall for winter food. Some 

 bee-keepers have reported good success 

 in feeding sorghum and maple sugar In 

 the spring when bees can fly. 



It is a shame to let the bees starve 

 now when a little sugar could tide them 

 over until they are able to make their 

 living. They may have had plenty two 

 weeks ago, but be destitute now, as they 

 consume food rapidly while rearing 

 brood, for an Insect in the larval state 

 consumes more food than during the 

 remainder of its existence. — The Prairie 

 Fanner. 



WTien You Have any honey to sell, 

 get some Honey Almanacs and scatter 

 in your locality. They will sell it all in 

 a very short time. 



