OS 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



May 



light shower comes up, you can go^in- 

 to the house apiary and work quite 

 comfortably unfcil the shower is over. 

 When we have a whole rainy day it 

 is better uot to^handle bees at all if it 

 can be avoided. 



The best time to take bees out of 

 the cellar is along about the 15th to 

 20th of April, or after they can begin 

 to gather pollen. The best time in 

 the day to set them out is about one 

 hour before sunset on some warm sun- 

 shiniug day, and they will have a 

 nice fly, and protect themselves the 

 next morning from any robbers that 

 may be around. 



If you want to have good success in 

 getting surplus honey, keep your sur- 

 plus boxes warmly protected when the 

 bees are storing honey. This is one 

 great secret of success in gettiug box 

 honey. 



If your bees get to robbing and you 

 have a colony that wont defend itself 

 just cover the hive up with a large 

 sheet, and then there is no chance of 

 smothering; and, also, the robbers are 

 not confined to the hive, 



I am asked the question; At what 

 time do queens commence to lay ? I 

 have had them laying in from 10 to 

 12 days from the time the cell was 

 sealed over, or in three days after the 

 queen has hatched, and at another 

 time I reared one that did not lay for 

 nearly a month from the sealing of 

 the cell. 



The question is asked; How few 

 bees with a queen, may start a colony? 

 I would not advise you to start with 

 less than h pound of bees with a good 

 young queen, an experienced apiarist 

 might start with even less than one- 

 half pound and increase to a strong 



colony and get some surplus honey 

 from it by fall. I have started with 

 two frames of brood and a young 

 queen in July, and have increased to 

 a strong c6lony by fall with plenty of 

 bees and honey to winter safely. 



Spreading the brood. — I would not 

 advise the beginner to spread combs 

 of brood and place empty ones be- 

 tween before the 1st of June or later, 

 for it will injure any colony to do 

 such work before the date named. I 

 have had brood chilled in this way 

 years ago when I first commenced 

 bee-keeping, this is why I advise you 

 to go slow about sbreading the brood. 

 I used t<> practice spreading the brood 

 nest, but I have quit it altogether, 

 as there is more loss than gain in 

 spreading the brood nest too early in 

 the Spring, let it alone. 



If you want a good honey plant try 

 SAveet clover, I have tried it the past 

 season and I have counted bees by the 

 dozen on a single stalk. It is one of 

 the greatest honey plants we now have 

 for honey and it comes in bloom right 

 at a time when most needed by the 

 bees. It grows very rank and will 

 also make good hay and good pasture 

 for stock, but don't let it grow too 

 rank and large before you turn stock 

 into it. 



A new bee Journal is on my desk 

 it is published by James Heddon, 

 Dowagiac, Mich., and is called the 

 Bee-Keepers Quarterly. It is a very 

 bright newsy paper with many good 

 things in it. Mr. Heddon is a prac- 

 tical bee-keeper and 1 wish him suc- 

 cess in his new undertaking. 



" I took ten colonies out of the cel- 

 lar March 17. Weather kept beauti- 

 ful for a week, but wife would'nt let 



