THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



139 



chiefly, colonies must be got in 

 proper condition early by June Ist 

 at the latest, in this locality. If 

 the main crop is derived from the 

 basswood, at least three weeks' 

 more time is given to bnikl up 

 strong colonies. Those that have 

 wintered well and are provided 

 with plenty of sealed stores and a 

 good queen will require little at- 

 tention and will usually be strong 

 enough to take in tlieir share of 

 the first honey flow. 



The most needful requisite in 

 building up colonies in the spring- 

 is to see that all have plenty of 

 stores to last at least till fruit 

 bloom. Five Langstroth brood 

 frames will contain the necessary 

 stores for wintering and for brood 

 rearing until May 1st, if the bees 

 have proper winter protection. 

 Then if the beekeeper will add sev- 

 eral combs of sealed honey at the 

 sides and cover all up warm, breed- 

 ing will go on rapidly. 



Protection is not only necessary 

 in winter but valuable in spring. 

 It always saves in stores to pay 

 the cost and it invariably secures 

 earlier spring breeding than in 

 other methods of wintering. In 

 any locality where bees can have 

 a few flights in the month of March 

 out-door wintering is the most de- 

 sirable, since it is these early fliglits 

 that are the inducements to breed- 

 ing. As a rule cellar-wintered col- 

 onies do not breed much till set 

 out in spring. If this should be 

 late in April it will often be found 

 that they have not a particle of 

 brood ; at the same time many 

 young bees may be seen flying 

 from chaff-hives. And it always 

 turns out that the colonies that 

 have the most young bees in April 

 will swarm first and make the most 

 comb honey. But if cellar wintered 

 colonies are taken to the summer 

 stands and packed in the latter 

 part of February oi" in early March 

 they will do equally well. 



Bees may be successfully win- 

 tered out of doors on a full set of 

 brood combs in a large packing 

 case, but more protection is re- 

 quired than in cases where the bees 

 are placed on just enough combs 

 to contain the necessary stores. 

 I prefer a brood comb capacity of 

 about 8U0 square inches of comb 

 surface for winter and to have the 

 combs in a case made to contain 

 no more nor less. During fruit 

 bloom a similar case of combs hav- 

 ing sealed stores, is placed beneath 

 the lirst, when the queen and bees 

 will extend their work downward 

 very rapidly. Indeed, with such 

 cases properly constructed, and with 

 proper management, it is desirable 

 to have a larger brood space than 

 is usually [jrovided ; since a prolific 

 queen can be made to quite All 

 with brood before June 1st from 

 1 ,400 to 1 ,800 square inches of comb, 

 or nearl3'^ as much as two ordinary 

 eight-frame Langstroth hives may 

 contain. This very large area of 

 brood can be obtained after a col- 

 ony becomes numerous b}^ simply 

 exchanging, with proper judgment, 

 the combs between two such brood 

 cases. It is quite probable that 

 the eight-frame Langstroth hive 

 could be very successfully managed 

 in this way. The essential point 

 is to have a numerous colon^^ by 

 fruit bloom, but I have already in- 

 dicated how such colonies can be 

 obtained. In developing these 

 large colonies the beekeeper must 

 see that after fruit bloom the bees 

 have plenty of stores. The inter- 

 val between fruit bloom and white 

 clover is one in which we cannot 

 artbrd to stint the bees in the least ; 

 for every cent invested for needful 

 food to feed a large amount of 

 brood just before clover bloom will 

 be returned with great profit. 



The advantages of this system 

 of management can hardly be es- 

 timated as compared with the usual 

 methods. First, we are able to get 



