126 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



HOW TO GET AND PREPARE FOR THEM. 



I do not know of better bees to 

 buy than " May bees," whether 

 Holy Land, Italians, C3q:)rians, 

 or black bees, for, if they are 

 in poor hives, now is the time to 

 transfer them into respectable 

 ones ; if they have swarmed, yon get 

 the advantage of an early swarm ; 

 if they have not, you get the 

 advantage of a double swarm, un- 

 less they are weak ; ifthey are weak, 

 — well, betoare of weak sioarms, 

 unless you can get them very cheap, 

 and are willing to go to work and 

 build them up to strong ones. A 

 good way is to send to a near 

 dealer, and buy a pound of bees, 

 and a queen already introduced, 

 putting them into a hive on combs 

 as soon as received, or (if a pro- 

 fessional) buy a swarm, and five 

 or six queens, dividing the bees 

 equally, and giving each lot a 

 queen. Anyway, get the bees. 

 "Tliere's millions in it," and " may 

 be" a few bee stings, but lots of 

 good sweet honey. I never knew 

 any honey that wasn't sweet ; even 

 that from foul brood colonies is 

 sweet, though I don't relish it so 

 well. Perhaps 1 am afraid of 

 diphtheria. 



Well, to come to the task, we 

 want a good hive to be handy for 

 us, as well as the bees. It would 

 not be so handy to get a "new 

 fangled " hive that nobody else 

 used, for many reasons. So get a 

 popular one, Langstroth, Simplic- 

 ity, or some one that is popular in 

 your locality ; and then, if you are 

 ingenious, you might modif}' it to 

 your notions, provided you do not 



change the size and shape of the 

 frames. If it is not convenient 

 to contain pound sections, chaff for 

 wintering, etc., make it so. 



Then you want some combs. 

 Bees won't put honey in tumblers 

 and jars ; they are not used to it, 

 and use is second nature. It takes 

 beeswax to make comb, and bees- 

 wax costs money ^ — I mean honey; 

 more honey than money. It don't 

 pay to raise beeswax, if you 

 can help it. The better way is to 

 buy comb foundation, and the bees 

 will make you a nice comb every 

 morning before breakfast, if j^ou 

 put it in the centre of a strong col- 

 ony the night before. Buy only 

 that with thin bases and strong 

 side walls, or else you lose beeswax 

 or make work for your bees, which 

 they will sometimes not do. 



HOW TO RAISE BEES FOR HONEY 

 GATHERING. 



Now Ave have good clear "sail- 

 ing" right into the " hone}^ harbor," 

 if we mind the " helm." There are 

 a good many "snags," however, 

 that we must "steer" clear of, or 

 we ma}^ get "wrecked," yet keep a 

 good lookout for weak colonies, 

 moth, foul brood, etc. Rickets 

 you can't help, and d^'senteiy is 

 passed. Bees and combs are what 

 you want now, especially bees, and 

 plentyof them, comb full, hives full, 

 and twoor three stories on top, full. 

 How can we get them ? That is what 

 I was about to remark. If enough 

 honey is coming in, look thankful ; 

 if not, look thankful, but feed the 

 bees. Keep the division board 

 close up to all the combs the bees 

 can cover, and allow them no more 



