86 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



April 



always best to prepare your bees in 

 such a manner in the fall, so they will 

 not need any special care or attention 

 until warm weather has come to stay, 

 but if you failed to do this, you must 

 give them the best of care now. Some 

 colonies consume far more honey than 

 others, therefore you will need to look 

 them over occasionally, but remember 

 it will not be necessary to remove the 

 quilt entirely, neither will it be neces- 

 sary to take out frames and break the 

 clusters or expose the brood. Simply 

 raise one corner of the quilt, and you 

 can almost invariably tell their exact 

 condition. If any honey is in the 

 hive it will surely be next to the top 

 bar. 



When examining your bees for the 

 first time in spring, you should so 

 mark their exact condition on the out- 

 side, that thereafter you can tell from 

 an outside glance just what they need 

 and when they will need it. Keeping 

 a record on the outside of a hive, by 

 means of a small slate or otherwise, is 

 an advantage at any season of the 

 year, but particularly so early in 

 spring, when the weather is usually of 

 such a nature, that much handling 

 means injury. 



After the v/eather has settled and 

 bees are working on first bloom, it 

 would be well to thoroughly clean out 

 the hives, and at the same time level 

 them up. The best way to do this is 

 to place a clean hive on the stand of 

 some colony by first removing the old 

 hive, after which place the frames with 

 the bees and all in the hive, then clean 

 up the hive you have just emptied, 

 ready for the next colony. Proceed 

 with all in the same manner. 



Steeleville, 111. 



Early Pollen and Honey. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



The laying of the foundation is al- 

 ways of the greatest importance, for 

 with no foundation, or one poorly laid, 

 the structure built cannot be what it 

 would be were the foundation good. 

 These thoughts have come to me as 

 being quite applicable during the 

 early spring to our bees, so have con- 

 concluded to give the readers of 

 The American Bee-Keeper a few 

 thoughts at this time on early pollen 

 and honey, for this same early pollen 

 and honey is what lays the foundation 

 to our success during the season. If 

 we do not have this early pollen and 

 honey, our bees cannot be brought up 

 to where they should be to reap the 

 best results in the honey harvest, and 

 did I not have trees and plants giving 

 these, I should consider that it would 

 pay far better to plant and provide 

 these, than it would to plant for a 

 general honey crop as many advise. 



The first plant producing pollen in 

 Central New York is skunks cabbage. 

 The buds are all formed the season 

 previous, in a small sheath about the 

 size of a hen's Qg^, and upon the first 

 approach of spring this pushes 

 through the ground, and a small open- 

 ing is made, by the sheath parting on 

 one side so that the bee can crawl in. 

 Inside of this hollow shell is a tiny ball 

 about the size of a marble, with little 

 spikes, Covered with pollen, standing 

 out from it in all directions. The bees 

 roll around in this and run over the 

 ball, collecting pollen in their baskets 

 without taking wing (the same as they 

 manipulate propolis from an old bee 

 hive standing in the sun) till they get 

 a load, when out they crawl, often hav- 

 ing more pollen on their backs than 



