130 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



May 



both sides of every comb, and if bees 

 gather iu bunches in the hive off the 

 combs dust them some too. For a few 

 days after dusting the bees will die 

 faster than before, then cease dying. 

 About a week afterward examine brood 

 comb and if there is plenty of eggs 

 and no unsealed brood, the combs 

 should be replaced with clean combs 

 from other hives. Sometimes this 

 treatment has to be repeated in a few 

 months, but not usually. If diseased 

 colonies are very weak it pays better 

 to break them up and replace with 

 nuclei made from healthy colonies." 

 Spruce Bluffs, Fla. 



^ ■ I ■ ^ 



Straws from the Apiary. 



BY FRED S THOEINGTON. 



In running for comb honey I find 

 it best to have the colonies go into 

 winter quarters with a good prolific 

 queen, plenty of young bees, ample 

 supply of good sealed honey or sugar 

 syrup (I like honey best where it can 

 be had) and a good warm brood cham- 

 ber. This fall preparation is almost 

 a sure preventative of poor wintering 

 and spring dwindling, which I call 

 weakened vitality, caused by poor 

 wintering. It gives a good supply of 

 of field bees early in the spring ready 

 to go to work on the first bloom that 

 comes. As soon as pollen comes in 

 freely the queen, if she is of any ac- 

 count, will commence to lay eggs more 

 rapidly and the amount of brood will 

 increase daily, provided they have 

 ample stores left from their winter's 

 supply to last until apple bloom comes, 

 which they should have. If not they 

 should be fed. When apple bloom 

 comes, if the weather will admit of 

 the bees working on it and it gives a 



good supply of nectar, work in the 

 brood nest will progress more rapidly 

 than before, and by the time white 

 clover commences to bloom, which it 

 usually does here the middle or last 

 of May, the hives contain many thou- 

 sand eager field workers ready for the 

 coming harvest. If on examining a 

 hive you find room is wanted to store 

 honey, which will be found to be the 

 case if the top bars of the frames 

 show new white comb, the sections 

 should be put on at once, not too 

 many at a time for fear of discourag- 

 ing the bees in their work, for if we 

 do they are apt to lay idly around and 

 become consumers until they swarm 

 out. No more sections should be put 

 on than the bees will fill compactly, 

 which they will now do if the honey 

 is coming in rapidly. More sections 

 can be added as wanted by the bees, 

 in various ways. A good way is to 

 remove the sections as fast as they are 

 filled and well capped over, putting in 

 their place empty sections having a 

 starter of thin or extra thin founda- 

 tion. In this way of doing we avoid 

 the travel stains caused by the bees 

 running over the combs, until all are 

 full in the crate and then remove the 

 crate. Then, too, it seems to have a 

 tendency to keep the bees at work in 

 the sections provided the flow of honey 

 remains good and the conditions of the 

 weather is such as to allow the bees to 

 work. We must keep onr bees con- 

 tented and at work if we wish to se- 

 cure a large crop of honey. In the 

 first place we want the field workers 

 when the main flow comes on and not 

 afterwards. Then, too, we want every 

 thing in readiness. If no sections are 

 removed until the super or crate is 

 about full of honey and the honey is 



