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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



51 



Seasonable Hints- 



I 



The first of March is, iu most phices, 

 loo early a date to take bees permanently 

 from a winter repository, or cellar, but if 

 they have become uuoasy and excited, it 

 is well for them if on some warm day, 

 the hives may be set out and opened, so 

 that they can fly freely, and then be re- 

 turned again to winter quarters. We do 

 not advise this, however, when the bees 

 are quiet. In that case they are just as 

 well to be left undisturbed until there is a 

 prospect of continued pleasant weather. 

 In many localities bees flew so freely last 

 fall until a late date, that they will bear a 

 little longer confinement this spring, 

 without injury. 



No exact time or rule for weather can 

 be given. Every bee-keeper must exer- 

 cise judgment and common sense in this 

 matter. We are always pleased, when 

 we are able to set our bees out early iu 

 !Marcli. A few cold days, after they have 

 once taken their cleansing flight, does 

 not injure them, but much of the season's 

 success depends on the care taken of 

 them the first mouth after they are placed 

 on their summer stands. Every opening 

 iu the hive should be closed except a 

 small entrance — the bee quilt or mat 

 placed snugly over the frames, plenty of 

 food be provided near the cluster of bees, 

 and the entrance shaded iu some way 

 from wind and the direct rays of the sun. 

 One thing must be borne in mind now. 

 We want a good, strong force of bees to 

 gather our honey harvest, when ever it 

 comes. To secure this, brood_,[must be 

 in progress six weeks at least before the 

 time of the harvest, and plenty of it. If, 

 then, we expect our honey harvest in 

 May, we should in this month be' using 

 all efforts to foster brood 'rearing, and if 

 this is done the colony will Tbe full of 

 bees at the time when they are'profitable. 

 This same advice applies to those further 

 South, who expect their harvest a month 

 or two earlier. Their feeding to^stimu- 

 late brood rearing should begin six weeks 

 at least, in advance of the main honey 

 harvest. If bees are amply supplied with 



sealed honey, it may be unnecessary to 

 feed them, and yet we find that a little 

 diluted honey or sugar syrup fed to them 

 regularly stimulates them to rear brood 

 faster. After the brood is well started, 

 if you can give them a comb or two of 

 sealed honey, it is well. 



Put out rye meal for the bees just as 

 soon as they are set out of doors. Wc 

 often receive inquiries how to feed rye 

 meal, in spite of all the directions that 

 have been given how to do it. In reply 

 to them we say here, that we feed the 

 meal in some sheltered place and in shal- 

 low pans or boxes, using several of these 

 boxes and putting only a quart or two at 

 a time and spread it thin, dry not wet. 

 The bees can best work it into pellets if 

 given in this way. It is no use to feed it 

 to them inside the hives. 



A piece of honey comb put with it iu 

 the first place, is useful iu attracting the 

 bees to it ; after they find it, they will 

 take it strictly until natural pollen comes 

 in the fields and trees. We know that in 

 our locality this feeding of meal is very 

 important, 



We cannot too strongly impress upon 

 beginners the importance of attending 

 well to their stocks when they are first 

 put on their summer stands. Every hour 

 of care bestowed on them now will be 

 repaid largely in the months to come. 



T. 



Answer to Mr. Dadant. 



We are glad to give Mr. Dadant's arti- 

 cle a place in the Journal, being willing 

 that in the matter of imported bees, as iu 

 all else, both sides should have a fair hear- 

 ing. 



In regard to the assertion that Mrs. 

 Tupper is " changeable " in this matter, 

 we are willing our readers should decide 

 whether a woman who has followed bee- 

 keeping persistently for seventeen years, 

 can hardly be called "fickle;" and leave 

 it to them also to say, if after having 

 spent over three thousand dollars in the 

 one branch of importing, she is not very 

 wise now to let others bear the expense of 

 further risk in the matter, or at least until 



