1907. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



89 



far. This shows no great mortality. 

 "This season we experimented with 

 a few colonies which had the covers 

 sealed down tight. In order to see 

 what their condition might be, I re- 

 moved some of the covers, and found 

 that there had no water collected and 

 no signs of dampness as I had expect- 

 ed. We try to keep the bees in the 

 cellar as long as content; last year we 

 put them out the 14th of April. In 

 some years we have supplied water in 



orous one. When the bees are hatch- 

 ing freely, it is often well to average 

 up the colonies by exchanging combs 

 of sealed brood from strong colonies 

 for the empties of the weaker colo- 

 nies. By the middle of May, in a 

 ten-frame hive, there should be at 

 least seven or eight frames of brood." 

 Mr. Gary, as a producer of bees and 

 queens, has a chanc^ to learn the con- 

 ditions of bees throughout the state. 

 He says that there is brood disease 



A CORNER OF MR. DEWEY S APIARY. 



a bottle through the chaff cushion in 

 order to keep them quiet; lately we 

 have not gone to the trouble. 



"About April 20th, we will com- 

 mence to manipulate the bees, hav- 

 ing previously examined them. The 

 Alexander method of strengthening 

 weak stock is a good one provided 

 you remember that Mr. Alexander 

 emphasized the necessity of having 

 the nurse colony a particularly vig- 



in the state, unquestionably. He more- 

 over is an advocate of inspection of 

 apiaries. Mr. Gary gave several lo- 

 calities where to his knowledge, in 

 Massachusetts, Gonnecticut, and in 

 eastern New York, there were diseas- 

 ed colonies last year. He is anxious, 

 as are others of the society, to see 

 some move for protecting the bee- 

 keeper. 



The session of the society was un- 



