THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



103 



Apiary for May. 



This month the hiboi-s of the bee- 

 keeper will beg-in in earnest, populous 

 colonies will begin to prepare for 

 swarniiiiiji; towards the last of the 

 month, and where artiticial swarming 

 is not resorted to, they should be kept 

 constantly under the eye of the bee- 

 keeper, in order that the}^ may be 

 hived, and not be permitted to escape 

 to the forest. AVheu the swarm has 

 been shaken down in front of the hive 

 the bee-keeper should sprinkle them 

 with cold water, (especial)}" if the 

 weather be (piite warm), and all the 

 bees should be brushed up to the en- 

 trance of the hive and driven in, after 

 which the hive should be moved with- 

 out delay to the stand it is to occupy, 

 as, if it is left where the swarm is 

 hived until night, the bees will have 

 marked the location, and many will 

 visit the spot the next day and perish, 

 for on leaving the hive after beinir 

 moved to a new stand the bees do not 

 view and mark surrounding objects, 

 having done this the day previous 

 where they w^ere hived and left till 

 nightfall. As a natural consequence 

 many must be lost, not hjiving mark- 

 ed the last location of their hive. 



It will still be highly necessary to 

 see that the colonies are not destitute, 

 tor it often happens that the weather 

 is so cold and wet. whilst the fruit 

 trees are in bloom, that they are not 

 able to collect honey sufficient to last 

 them until white clover blooms. This 

 will often be the case at the North ; in 

 the Southern States it Avill of course 

 be otherwise. At the South bees may 

 be expected to store a surplus of 

 honey for their owner, and swarming 

 will be quite brisk. A close lookoul; 

 should be kept after the moth, as 

 many colonies will still be unable to 

 cover all their combs, and are liable 

 to be destroj-ed by these ravagers. 

 If wren houses are put up, so as to 

 induce these little birds to build close 

 to the apiary, they will catch many 

 moth millers. It is stated by pretty 

 good authority, that ducks are exceed- 

 ingly fond of moth millers, and that 

 they will catch many of them if per- 

 mitted to take up quarters about the 

 bee hives. If, however, the bee hives 



are kept in the kitchen garden, where 

 cabbage plants are growing, it may 

 puzzle the bee-keeper somewhat to 

 hire his ducks not to eat them along 

 with the moth miller. 



It will be well enough for the bee- 

 keepei- to select his ground this 

 month, ill which to sow a patch of 

 buckwheat, for the special benefit of 

 his bees. When the time of the season 

 arrives for sowing it, the farmer who 

 keejis bees can also afford to make 

 preparations to sow Alsike clover 

 seed another season, as the seed will 

 not be likeU' to cost as much as at 

 present. This variety of clover is not 

 only superior for bee forage, but is 

 also excellent for hay, being inferior 

 to no other variety cultivated in this 

 country, but is said by many to be 

 superior to our best red clover, giving 

 a larger 3'ield of both seed and hay. 

 Care should of coui'se be taken in 

 the selection of parties to purchase 

 seed from, as it is not alwaj'S pure. 

 I have seen some that was simply 

 common white clover seed and green 

 besides, so much so that it would not 

 gro w. — Scientific Farmer. 



For the American Bee .Tournal. 



A Visit to Adam Grimm. 



He isn't gri?n at all. A round faced, 

 clean shaven German, of medium stature, 

 perhaps tifty years old ; very earnest, and 

 witlial pleasant in manner, impressing you 

 at once as athorouglily candid, honest man. 

 Slow to adopt new ideas, his careful con- 

 servatism will, no doubt, sometimes appear 

 to the more volatile Yankee as old fogy 

 stubbornness. 



On a very hot day last summer, just at 

 the beginning of the bass-wood harvest, I 

 went to one of his apiaries, and found some 

 eighty hives under a little cluster of lindens, 

 in the centre of which sat his daughter 

 Maggie, pretty well covered up with a huge 

 sun-bonnet (Katie is married — the one who 

 did the big day's work extracting). Very 

 shortly Mr. CTrimm put in an appearance on 

 his round of visits to his different apiaries, 

 for he had in all some seven or eight hun- 

 dred colonies. For a bee veil he has what 

 looks for all the world like a Dutch night- 

 cap made of heavy sheeting, having the 

 face covered with a wire cloth, in the cen- 

 tre of which is a round hole, through which 

 passes streams of toliacco smoke and words 

 of wisdom. He occupied himself princi- 

 pally that afternoon in putting on boxes, 

 taking olf the honey board entirely, and 



