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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



MONTHLY MANAGEMENT. 



April. 



The weather is usua^lly so changeable in this 

 mouth, and the average temperature so low, 

 that the bees will, during much of the time, be 

 confined to their hives. Still, they are not 

 idle, but diligent in attending to the nurture of 

 the brood, and like good housewives, intent on 

 " cleaning house." All parts of the hive arc 

 explored by strong colonies as soon as the sea- 

 son permits, and unseemly matters carefully 

 removed. Where this is neglected, it is evi- 

 dence of weakness or ciueenlessness. If weak, 

 the stock should be well fed and reinfoi'ced with 

 bees or brood If practicable; and, if ciueenlcss, 

 it had better be promptly united with one in 

 good condition, lor it would r; obably soon be 

 attacked and plundered of its remaining stores. 

 Where willows, maples, and other catkin- 

 producing trees abound, bees will now be able 

 to collect pollen, whenever a tine day occurs. 

 But where such sources of supply are not avail- 

 able, they should be furnished with rye-meal or 

 wheat-flour, placed either in shallow boxes or 

 old drone-coml», in some sheltered spot to which 

 they can have ready access. These are excellent 

 substitutes for pollen, which is indispensable 

 for the due development of the brood. 



Hives from v\diich immature worker-brood is 

 thrown out shoukl be examined and fed, be- 

 cause where such brood is destroyed, the bees 

 are either actually suffering want or are ap- 

 prehensive of approaching famine. The occa- 

 sional destruction of drone brood at this season,, 

 though no disadvantage except where an early 

 supply of Italian drones is desired, is still evi- 

 dence that the colony has no superabundance 

 of stores. Timely feeding may prevent a similar 

 sacrilice of Avorker brood, which would be a 

 serious injury now. 



Mouldy comb should be removed from mov- 

 able comlj-h;ves; and in others it should pruned 

 out as far as accessible. Drone-comb also, 

 especially if situated centrally in the hive, 

 should be removed or cut out. But in other 

 respects the less pruning done in the spring, the 

 belter, except in districts in which there is usu- 

 ally plenty of spring pasturage. It is not de- 

 sirable that the bees should spend time in build- 

 ing comb while forage is scarce, and the brood 

 requires their attention and makes heavy re- 

 quisitions on the stores. 



Stimulative feeding should not be resorted to 

 till the middle of this month, in districts in 

 which Avliite clover does not blossom before the 

 first of June; and such feeding, one commenced, 

 must be regularly continued, on every alternate 

 day, till spring has fully opened, and the bees 

 can gather abroad what they need. The best 

 food for the purpose is diluted honey, or syrup 

 made of sugar. 



In hives containing much brood, a constant 

 suppl}^ of water is required for the preparation 

 of jelly for the larvse. This should be furnished 

 to the bees regularlj% when the weather docs 

 not permit them to fly. In movable comb-hives 

 it may be poured into one of the empty comV)s, 



and in cottage-hives it can be introduced by 

 setting a shallow plate or saucer containing it 

 on the bottom-board, and placing some small 

 pieces of broken comb in it, to save the bees from 

 immersion. 



The larvEB of the bee-moth may often be seen 

 in this month, under the edges of common 

 hives, and in the droppings below the combs. 

 These should be removed and killed, and the 

 bottoms cleansed of all impurities. 



i i i l i l i < g|!) i- < mm 



Disparities of Location. 



In the British isles, in France, Switzerland, 

 and many other countries, there are not only 

 great vicissitudes of temperature, attended on 

 the one hand by parching droughts, and on the 

 other by a long continuance of wet weather, but 

 there are also very marked differences in honey 

 sources, not only throughout extensive districts, 

 but even in the same vicinity; and each of these 

 causes, wherever it operates, must evidpntlj'" 

 produce a considerable effect upon the harvest 

 of honey. To say, therefore, that a peculiar 

 system of management will, in any situation, 

 uniformly cause a great product of wax and 

 honey, betokens a Avant of due attention to the 

 sources whence honey is procured, and attri- 

 butes to a system what is chiefly due to the lo- 

 cality in which it has been adopted. There are 

 not Avanting instances in Avhich it has been ne- 

 cessary to feed bees, at the very time that those 

 in its neighborhood Avere attentively engaged 

 in storing their ware-houses with honey. " At 

 the time of the revolution in France," says M. 

 Lombard, "M. Iluber lived at Com*, near Lau- 

 sanne; but he had the lake on one side of his 

 domicile and vine-yards on the other. He 

 soon perceived the disadvantage of his position 

 (as regarded his bees.) When the orchards of 

 Cour had shed their blossoms, and the few mea- 

 dows in the neighborhood had been mown, he 

 saw tlic stores of his stock hives diminish daily; 

 the labors of the bees-c5ased go entirely that. 

 cA'en in the summer, they would have died of 

 hunger, had he not succoured them In the 

 meantime, though matters were going on so 

 badly at Cour, the bees at Rcaun, Chabliere, at 

 the Avoods of Vaux, of Cery, and places' at the 

 distance of only half a German league, were 

 living in the greatest abundance, thrcAv numer- 

 ous swarms, and filled their hives Avith Vv'axaud 

 honey." 



Again, Huber himself sajf-s : "They succeeded 

 no better at VcA^ay, although it is not more from 

 I that place to Haute ville, Avhere they thrive re- 

 markably Avell." Similar disparities, in the 

 productiveness of neighboring localities, are by 

 no means uncommon in this countrj^; and av1;o 

 can be so deficient in discernment as not to per- 

 ceive that the adoption of any system, however 

 judicious, Avould be attended Avith dilfereut re- 

 sults in these different localities ? — Bea^an, 



Bees have been known to construct combs 

 under the floors of their hives Avheu restricted 

 for room within, their natural activity sur- 

 mounting the impediments thrown in their Avay 

 by want of enclosed space 



