THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



65 



Before coninienci«g operations 

 with the bees in s|)ring, I procure 

 a siniiU bhiiik book. At the tup 

 of tlie pages in this book, I place 

 figures corresponding to tlie num- 

 ber of colonies, allowing two or 

 nioie pages to each colon}'. When 

 a suitable waiin day comes, I pro- 

 ceed to overhaul my bees, com- 

 mencing with whatever colony I 

 may think needs the most immedi- 

 ate attention. If I find b^' exam- 

 ination that they have more combs 

 than they can occupy, I take away 

 the unoccupied one ; see that they 

 have plenty of food left them ; 

 clean the dead bees and other 

 accumulations out of the liive ; 

 move up the division-board close 

 to the remaining combs ; fill in 

 back of the division-board with 

 dry sawdust or chaff; lay a dry 

 quilt over the cluster and over the 

 quilt lay on an old newspaper to 

 retain the lieat ; replace the saw- 

 dust cushion ; contract the entrance 

 in proportion to the strength of 

 the colony and close up the hive ; 

 but before leaving them I take up 

 the blank book mentioned above, 

 open it to the figures at the top of 

 page corresponding to the number 

 of tlie colony which has just been 

 examined, and under this number 

 I make an entr}', something like the 

 following, to be varied of course 

 according to circumstances : 



1. Queen all right. 



2. Strong in bees, condition 

 healthy. 



3. Stores plenty. 



4. Brood and eggs in three 

 combs. 



5. Whole number of combs in 

 hive at this date, five. 



March \b, 1887. 

 This done and I am ready to 

 paSs on to the next and do like- 

 wise, and so on until all are at- 

 tended to. A little fixing up in 

 this way, when the first warm (.lays 

 in early spring begin to arouse 

 them into activity, will seem to 



help them along wonderfully, if the 

 weather is such that it can be done 

 without too much exposure to the 

 bees. Once having done this, if 

 all have a sufticienc}^ of stores, 

 they ought not to be molested 

 again until they begin to bring in 

 fresh pollen ; brood-rearing will 

 then progress more vigorously and 

 they may soon need more room 

 and more combs. When such is 

 the case (and this can generally 

 be determined by rolling back one 

 corner of the quilt and looking in- 

 to the brood-nest) ; if the space 

 which they already have is well 

 packed with bees, move back the 

 division-board and give them an- 

 other comb; if it contains a little 

 honey all the better, at the side of 

 the brood-nest. 



SPREADING BROOD. 



If it is clearly evident that 

 young bees are now hatching out 

 faster than the old ones are dying 

 off (for it is a well-known fact that 

 old bees sometimes disapjjcar very 

 rai)idly at this season of the year), 

 it may be best to spread the combs 

 which were in the hives, if they 

 are well filled with brood, and in- 

 sert an empty comb right into the 

 centre of the brood-nest ; but be 

 very careful not to spread the 

 brood any faster than there is an 

 increase of bees to cover, care for 

 and protect from cold ; otherwise 

 the damage done thereby will more 

 than counteract any advantage that 

 may liave been gained. Past ex- 

 perience has convinced me that the 

 si)reading of brood with judicious 

 management may be productive of 

 highly beneficial results. On the 

 other hand, with a little mismanage- 

 ment, the whole business would be 

 a mistake with correspondingly 

 bad effects. The greatest danger 

 lies in the liability of extending the 

 brood beyond the capacity of the 

 bees to keep warm during any period 

 of cold weather which might occur. 



