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THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



May 



way until about the latter part of 

 March. Aud I thought that 1 would 

 surely loose theru all in this hive long 

 before spring opened. But when I set 

 my bees out on their summer stands 

 the 8th of April, this swarm seemed 

 to be healthy and in good condition 

 as any of the bees in my apiary. 

 They were chock-full of brood. And 

 filled 24 one pound sections the quick- 

 est of any in the apiary. The others 

 did not die seemingly one-tenth part 

 as much as this one swarm, but came 

 through the winter in good shape. I 

 think the reason of their dying so 

 much and coming through the winter 

 so strong was that they must have 

 commenced breeding about the time 

 tlxy commenced dying off. The 

 same swarm this winter is dying more 

 than any one of the 89 I have in my 

 bee house The queens in this swarm 

 will be two years old next swarming 

 time. The winter so far has been 

 mild here in old Allegany county, 

 and my bees are wintering well. As 

 I go down into my bee department 

 and glance my eye over the tops of 

 the frames in the hives that I left the 

 honey boards off when I put them in, 

 the bees lay over the top bars of the 

 frames as though there were more 

 bees now than when put in for winter. 

 I put my bees up for winter the 25th 

 of November, and the mercury in the 

 bee house stood at 44° through De- 

 cember, and raised to 46,° and up to 

 48° through January. The mercury 

 now Feb. 10, stands at 50° or a little 

 above. But the bees seem more un- 

 easy and restless than when down to 

 46° so every night I raise a trap door 

 in the ceiling overhead and let the cool 

 air pass down through the night, clos- 



ing it again in the morning, I think 

 the reason for the temperature rising 

 was that the bees quit breeding earlier 

 than usual through our section last 

 fall, on account of the dry weather, 

 there being no fall flow of honey, so 

 the bees have commenced breeding 

 up enrlier than common this winter. 

 My brother has his bfes in the cellar 

 and last fall he put in a small Nuclei 

 hive. The other day he thought he 

 would look at them, when he lifted 

 out one frame and found a patch or" 

 brood as large as his hand. And in 

 one of his average swarms he found a 

 frame nearly full of hatching brood 

 and larvae. 



The honey crop in this part of the 

 country -was poor, getting only the 

 first flow which was of the finest qual- 

 ity, being all or nearly all made from 

 white and alsike clover. 



Canaserago, N. Y. 



Spring Items. 



BY W. M. BABNUM. 



It always is a matter of surprise to 

 the uninitiated, that the bee-keeper 

 can work among his bees with safety. 

 Neither gloves nor vail are tolerated 

 by the old veteran who has learned 

 from experience that they are unneces- 

 sary, and a positive detriment to the 

 manipulation of the bees and hive. 

 By this I do not mean to infer hurried 

 movements, but steady, careful work ; 

 bees dislike either prolonged "fussing," 

 or rapid jarring movements — they are 

 apt to resent any thing of this kind 

 in a most vigorous manner. 



It is entirely proper, and perhaps 

 advisable for the beginner in bee-keep- 

 ing to wear both vail aud gloves, but 

 as soon as the " ways" of the bees are 



