AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



651 



ey. Its first care is to store near its brood, 

 so the brood-chamber will be first occupied, 

 then it will fill jvhatever is given to it, sec- 

 tions or extracting-combs. If both are 

 given to it at once it will be likely to fill the 

 combs first, so you hardly need expect the 

 sections to be touched if it has all the ex- 

 tracting-combs needed. After they are 

 filled, then the sections will be taken in 

 hand. It may suit you well to give sec- 

 tions for your first or best flow, then take 

 off the sections and give extracting-combs. 

 If sections are given late in the season you 

 are likely to have a lot of them left unfin- 

 ished, but unfinished extracting-combs are 

 not so objectionable. 



3. I would shade the hives as mentioned 

 in No. 1, or better still, have them in the 

 shade of trees, and then with the ordinary 

 hive-entrance, say the width of the hive 

 and half an inch deep, the bees will take 

 care of the ventilation. 



4. You must have pretty bad bees. If 

 the fault is all in the bees, and none of it 

 due to the handling, I think I'd introduce 

 some new blood. If you can't smoke them 

 out of the way, I'll tell you what you can 

 do. Put on one end of your escape care- 

 fully, holding the other end up. Now move 

 the free end up and down, a little at a 

 time, each time letting it go a little lower un- 

 til it is down. You will soon get "the 

 hang of it," and be able to do it without 

 killing a single bee, for each time you lower 

 it some of the bees will be pinched a little, 

 and then as you raise they will get out of 

 the way. 



Temperature for Handling Brood. 



How warm must it be before frames of 

 brood can be taken from the hive with 

 safety without chilling it ? W. H. R. 



Answer. — You can't go altogether by 

 the thermometer. You know on a chilly 

 day it makes a good deal of difference to 

 you whether it is still or windy, whether 

 you are on the housetop or in some shel- 

 tered place, and bees, I suppose, are much 

 like folks. Better not disturb them any 

 time when they think it isn't warm enough 

 to fly freely. 



May-FloM'ei-s and Mistletoe is 



the suggestive name of a book of over 250 

 pages containing selections of poetry and 

 prose for all seasons, for older boys and 

 girls, from the best writers of the day, 

 with dialogues, motion songs, and drill ex- 

 ercises for smaller children. It is suitable 

 for rhetorical exercises in the school and 

 entertainments given by church, library 

 and benevolent societies. Beautifully illus- 

 trated, and each poem or selection set in a 

 colored border. Cloth-bound; size, 8x10 

 inches; price, postpaid, only $1.00. Clubbed 

 with the Bee Journal for one year — both 

 for $1.75; or given free as a premium for 

 sending us three new subscribers to the 

 Bee Journal for a year. 



CONDUCTED BY 



MRS. JENNIE ATCHLEY, 



Beeville, Texas. 



PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING. 



Lesjiion No. 2. 



(Continued from page 558.) 



As we just finished transferring in 

 closing our first lesson, we will now sup- 

 pose that the bees are working nicely, 

 and will soon be ready to swarm. But 

 I wish to impress upon your minds, be- 

 fore we proceed further, that the season 

 must be watched, and see if the bees are 

 gathering sufficient honey to support 

 them, as transferring usually stimulates 

 them to the highest pitch, and they turn 

 right in to rearing brood as fast as pos- 

 sible, and soon consume all the honey 

 they have, as it takes honey to rear bees, 

 and Instead of being in a swarming 

 condition, they may be starving. 



To make a bee-keeper, you must study 

 your flowers, especially those that give 

 your honey, and at times when you have 

 no honey coming in, better feed if you 

 wish best results. 



Well, to make this part short and to 

 the point, I will ask you if you would 

 think of letting your horse starve to 

 death on a dry pasture? You answer 

 no. Then you should no more allow 

 your bees to starve than your horse, as 

 at times during warm weather the bees 

 may starve if there is no honey to be 

 had. 



Now, as every bee-keeper that I have 

 ever known wishes his or her bees to in- 

 crease especially until a certain number 

 is reached, I will give instructions how 

 to increase your bees, and give along 

 with it caution. 



HOW TO INCREASE BEES. 



As increase usually comes before we 

 get our surplus honey, we will go into 

 detail and try to describe all manner of 

 successful increase. 



First, let us consider where you live, 

 and at what time of the year you get 



