35 



from the poplar and willows, with the scant supply of sweets 

 from the maples, dandelion and wild cherry coming in, the 

 opening of the fruit bloom, beginning with cherries and 

 pears and on to apples brings relief, content and joy. 



For by this time the hives arc filling with young bees 

 that must be ft^d. . Dajl>, hourly, they arrive; by tens, by 

 hundreds, by tiiousan-ly and the remnant of winter stores 

 disappear as by magic. 



Now if the orchard bloom be extensive, the weather fair 

 and not too cold, the activity of the hive is multiplied, food 

 is gathered in abundance and the surplus honey is stored in 

 the cells along the tops of the frames and by the sides of the 

 hive ; the queen stimulated by this richest of food offered 

 constantly by her attendants is laying eggs like steam, five 

 hundred, a thousand or twenty-five hundred per day if there 

 be room, the hive is filled with bees with more hatching or 

 emerging every hour, the spirit of the hive begins to build 

 the new queen cells along the frames of comb, the hive pre- 

 pares for the coming swarm. 



If the orchard be large and the weather continue fair 

 some of this delicious honey may be forced up into the boxes 

 in the super although this is rarely the case with me. 



But the flood of nectar in May has a secondary effect 

 beyond the amount of honey gathered for the life of all the 

 apiary has been stimulated to the production of thousands 

 of bees which will be ready three weeks later for the white 

 clover coming in the warmer weather of June. 



And the mention of clover brings us to the second con- 

 sideration of the value of orchards for the bees, which lies 

 in the use of the clovers for cover crops and the use of ashes 

 for fertilizer which also brings in the clover. The red clover 

 is often used but is of little use to the bees for the tubes are 

 so narrow and so deep that only the bumble bee can reach 

 the nectar at the bottom unless is be very aboundant. On 

 the other hand the alsike clover offers every advantage of 

 the red for forage, humus, and nitrogen, and in addition 

 thereto afford excellent forage for the bees as the tubes are 

 much shorter. 



If therefore the orchardist would consult the interest of 

 the bees which as you have heard are his very efficient aids, 

 he will use the alsike in preference to the red and as far as 



