are generally abundant by that time in 

 our gardens, bad not been seen. 



In April, flowers began to make their 

 appearance and the willows, that bad 

 been almost stationary for tbe past two 

 months, opened afresh. With the in- 

 gathering of pollen and artificial feed- 

 ing, breeding began, and we hoped 

 that all our anxieties and troubles for 

 another season were over. 



On May 7th I found the stores in 

 every hive nearly consumed and in two 

 cases almost beyond hope of recovery ; 

 clearly proving that up to that date the 

 bees had not gathered any honey. 



On the 24th inst., I attended a sale of 

 bees and bought 9 colonies. 2 of which 

 were pure Italians. This I may men- 

 tion, was the best sale of bees I ever 

 heard of in Scotland ; about 80 persons 

 being present; showing a growing 

 interest in apiculture. 



June is usually a busy month with 

 hiving and increasing colonies. On the 

 5th, I again examined the hives and 

 was perfectly amazed at their poverty. 

 In only two cases were they in a fit 

 condition for swarming and in one of 

 them 5 queen-cells had been torn open 

 and no doubt the Princesses destroyed. 

 From the 9th to the 11th, we "had 

 thunder, lightning and rain, enough to 

 deluge all the bees in Argylesbire. On 

 the 20th I removed 11 colonies 2 miles 

 from my apiary, close to a clover held, 

 hoping that if weather at all favorable 

 did come, they would easily secure a 

 rich harvest; but alas ! up to the end of 

 the month, they scarcely obtained a 

 bare existence, and from the 11 colo- 

 nies I had not a single swarm. 



July, like June, was cold, bleak and 

 wet, and it was pitiable to see the bees 

 darting out and in, and returning to the 

 hives with empty sacs. During the 

 month, I fed liberally every colony in 

 the apiary. 



At the end of this month, I had the 

 pleasure of meeting Mr. T. G. Newman, 

 President of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers 1 Society, who had been sent to 

 Europe in the interest of the science of 

 apiculture. I learned with pleasure 

 that Prof. A. J. Cook, has regular 

 classes for teaching theoretical and 

 practical apiculture, and notwithstand- 

 ing many of bis students have been 

 engaged for years in the study, hun- 

 dreds of things yet remain to be dis- 

 covered in connection with the mys 

 teries of the hive and the lives of its 

 inmates. There are over 70,000 people 

 engaged in apiculture in America and 

 why I ask, should the people of Scot- 

 land lose a million a year, for the want 

 of a little knowledge and bees to collect 

 the fragrant sweets. 



August opened well, and again my 

 hopes were raised ; during the lirst 3 

 days more honey was stored than dur- 

 ing any previous month of the year. 

 Having purchased some Italian queens 

 at the Perth Show, 3 of them were at 

 once introduced in the apiary, the wis- 

 dom of which will be seen later on. 



On the 16th, I again examined the 

 hives and found plenty of workers in 

 all, but not 2 lbs. of sealed honey in any 

 one of them ; I could not resist the 

 temptation to take about a pound from 

 the strongest colonies, hoping that the 

 heather would soon burst into bloom and 

 there would be a plenty for all and some 

 to spare. But alas, August closed and 

 with it, all hopes for reaping a honey 

 harvest died away. Rain took the 

 place of sunshine. The month began 

 with promise, but ended with disap- 

 pointment. 



September, the great heather honey 

 harvest month, as a rule, was this year 

 like its predecessors, bleak, cold and 

 wet. The heather did not burst into 

 bloom at all, and the hills around the 

 Holy Loch generally clad at this season 

 with brilliant purple, presented a 

 gloomy brown appearance. On the 

 20th, I examined my apiary and decided 

 to bring home the 11 colonies I had 

 taken away in June, with the view of 

 reaping a rich harvest of clover and 

 heather honey. In the quaint words of 

 our gardener, " with the exception of 

 thae Italian boys the rest hae naething 

 ava but the skeps and the broads." On 

 the 23d, I procured 280 lbs. of sugar to 

 be made into syrup for winter feeding. 



On October 4, 1 weighed all the hives 

 and found the gross weight ranged 

 from 57 to 27 lbs.: the two Italian ones 

 formerly mentioned, being respectively 

 57 to 53% lbs. The best black colony 

 was 45 lbs. I at once decided to Italian- 

 ize my whole apiary and sent off for 12 

 Ligurian queens; arrived on the 20th 

 and on the 22d (a lovely day) two friends 

 accompanying me, we introduced them. 

 We were net a moment too soon, for in 

 2 cases we found princesses reigning in 

 the hives. That is the old queens had 

 died and the princesses were too late in 

 hatching to meet the drones, so that 

 nothing but destruction could have been 

 the outcome. 



Unless the practical bee-keeper makes 

 a minute examination of all his hives 

 some such calamity as this may from 

 time to time happen. Having satisfied 

 myself of the fertility of the remaining 

 queens, I weighed all hives leaving 

 nothing to chance. We have had an 

 exceptionally bad season for bees, but 

 let us take courage and hope it will be a 

 long time before another such comes 



