84 



THE AMERICAN A PIGUL TURIS T. 



per day is sufficient for this pur- 

 pose ; feed inside of the hive and feed 

 regularly. As a substitute for pollen, 

 use rye meal ; place a dish of it in 

 some sheltered and sunny spot where 

 the bees may have easy access to it. 

 To start them to work on it break 

 the cappings of a small piece of comb 

 honey and place on the meal ; they 

 will soon find it and once at work 

 they will not desert it until they can 

 get natural pollen. 



To get as large a force of bees as 

 possible by the time the honey har- 

 vest commences, is the object sought 

 for by all systems of spring manage- 

 ment, and the foregoing method has 

 been proved to be safe and effectual 

 for this locality. 



Drownville, R. I. 



For the American Apiciilturist. 



TREATMENT OF BEES 



WHEN TAKEN FROM THE 



CELLAR OR BEE-HOUSE. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



As the time is near at hand when 

 our pets which have been housed all 

 winter must be placed on their 

 summer stands and cared for, per- 

 haps, I can do no better at this 

 time than to tell the readers of the 

 American Apiculturist what I do 

 when setting out and afterward, un- 

 til time to put on the surplus ar- 

 rangement. I manage the setting 

 out of bees differently from what 

 most apiarists do and after trying 

 all the plans for years, which iiave 

 been given, like this much better 

 than any other. Beginning with 

 the first day that the bees which 

 are out-doors gather pollen, I com- 

 mence at about 4 o'clock p.m. (if 

 the mercury stands as high as 55° 

 in the shade), to set out "a part of 

 them, say from five to fifteen colo- 

 nies as the case may be, scattering 



them about the yard so that they 

 will be as far apart as possible and 

 yet be within the limit of what 

 space I wish the yard to occupy. 

 This is done so that I need keep 

 no track of where they formerly 

 stood, and yet not have any mixing 

 of bees as would be the case were 

 all set out at once or near together. 

 To set out I place my spring wheel- 

 barrow and lighted smoker near the, 

 door of the cellar or bee-house,' 

 when I carefully open the door and 

 quickly step in and get the first 

 hive nearest the door, placing it on 

 the wheelbarrow, when the door is 

 immediately shut again. The bees 

 in the hive now begin to realize 

 that their long winter nap is at an 

 end, and if I took no precautions 

 would soon be out of the hive and 

 in the air, losing their homes and 

 stinging fearfully. To avoid this, 

 I now blow four or five puffs of 

 smoke in at the entrance to keep 

 them quiet, when the entrance is 

 closed by laying a square stick in 

 front of it, when the hive is wheeled 

 and placed on the stand it is to oc- 

 cupy. The stick is now taken from 

 the entrance and the bees allowed 

 to fly. This they will do as lei- 

 surely as they would had they not 

 been disturbed at all, which is a 

 great advantage to them in mark- 

 ing their location and repelling 

 robbers. The next pleasant day 

 more are set out in the same way 

 and at about the same time, scat- 

 tering them about as before, but 

 paying no attention as to how near 

 they come to those already out, for 

 they are liable to mix only with 

 those set out at the same time, I 

 sometimes set out about the same 

 number in the morning of a pleas- 

 ant day beginning to carry out as 

 soon as the mercury reaches 45°, 

 because in this case the bees must 

 get through their greatest flight 

 before those already out become 

 active, or else there is danger from 

 robbing. In fact, those set out in 



