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BEES— MANAGEMENT AND CARE OF. 



Let the gauze be coarse enough to keep 

 the bees from entering, and it will not 

 obstruct the sight. 



BEE, Drones, in Swarming. — Mr. 

 Quimby, one of the best bee men in the 

 country, speaks thus in regard to drones : 

 "A strong colony of bees, with a fertile 

 queen, and abundance of honey on hand, 

 will rear drones at the commencement of 

 warm weather, usually in May. Yet but 

 few swarm then in this latitude. If honey 

 should become scarce between fruit blos- 

 soms and clover — it does sometimes — the 

 mature drones are destroyed, and even 

 the chrysalis is often dragged out and 

 sacrificed. When honey is again abun- 

 dant in the flowers, more eggs are de- 

 posited in the drone-cells. The swarm 

 may issue before the drone appears. 

 When a stock has too little honey to 

 afford to rear drones until the flowers 

 yield it, they will occasionally swarm be- 

 fore drones appear. The appearance of 

 drones is not a certain indication of 

 swarming. But when they are destroyed, 

 it indicates that honey is scarce, and no 

 swarms need be expected at such time. 

 If it occurs late in the season, they may 

 not swarm, although they may rear drones. 

 A hive that has not reared % any drones 

 until the flowers yield honey, is much 

 more likely to swarm than one that has 

 destroyed them once. The queen does 

 not lay drone eggs exclusively at any 

 time, but a number of both drone and 

 worker eggs daily for months in some sea- 

 sons. Drones do not appear to control 

 the swarming. We consider so many of 

 them a useless horde of consumers, and 

 take measures to prevent the bees from 

 rearing so many. We find that if the 

 queen lays her eggs in drone-cells they 

 hatch out drones ; if in worker cells, they 

 are workers. Acting on this hint, we cut 

 out all the combs from a box-hive, trans- 

 ferring them to movable frames, rejecting 

 drone-combs, and without them they can 

 raise no drones." 



BEES, Feed for.— Should the weather 

 be favorable, every stock should be ex- 

 amined about the first of February. 

 Should any one be in want of food, it 

 should be supplied. If in a box or gum 

 hive, thin pieces of white sugar candy can 

 be slightly pushed between the combs 

 through an opening in the top. Honey 

 or good sugar syrup can be given by 



means of a saturated sponge or comb, 

 filled with honey, placed at the opening 

 on top, being careful to cover with a box v . 

 to keep out outside bees. In movable 

 frame-hives, frames of honey from other 

 hives having it to spare, is most conve- 

 nient, and any required quantity can be 

 given to the various feeders through the 

 honey board. This feeding should be 

 kept up, or food enough should be given 

 for the bees and their brood until honey 

 can be gathered from forage outside. As 

 soon as bees begin to fly freely, stimulat- 

 ing should begin, which may be accom- 

 plished as in feeding for stores, except the 

 feed should be given every day about sun- 

 down, and not more than three table- 

 spoonsful of honey or four of syrup should 

 be given at any one time. This should be 

 done, whether the bees have an abun- 

 dance of honey in their hives or not. 

 The bees getting a little every day, it 

 produces much the same effect as honey 

 gathered from the field, which stimulates 

 and promotes early brood. 



Another important feed for bees is un- 

 bolted flour, or, what is better, rye-meal, 

 which supplies the want of pollen (bee 

 bread) for the larvae brood of the hive. 



This meal is given to the bees on a 

 waiter, or wide plank having strips nailed 

 on the edges to prevent waste, and should 

 be placed in or near the apiary, out of 

 the wind, and in the sun as much as pos- 

 sible. 



Should the bees be tardy in finding the 

 meal, put a piece of empty comb on the 

 meal, or a few drops of honey on the 

 plank, and when found the bees will pack 

 it on their legs and take it to their hives 

 every warm day with great avidity, until 

 they can get pollen from the blossoms. 



The effect is to produce large and early 

 broods, strengthening weak stock, and 

 making all strong with young bees Iff good 

 time for the honey harvest, giving earlier 

 and larger swarms, and greatly increasing 

 the amount of surplus honey. 



White clover, buckwheat, the linden- 

 tree, golden-rod, and aster furnish good 

 food. White clover and the linden-tree 

 yield the best honey. Alsike clover is 

 sown extensively for this purpose, and not 

 only supplies honey for the bees, but hay 

 and forage for the farm stock. It pro- 

 duces a great abundance of honey of fine 

 quality, yields two crops of hay a year, 



