56 THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



honest as the producers of other sorts of food. Tell them how 

 honey is produced, how it is separated from the comb, and why ; let 

 them know that bee-keeping' is an honorable and legitimate busi- 

 ness, and that honey is the best sweet in existence. Tell them of its 

 wholesomeness. Show them its beauty. Demonstrate its cheapness 

 as compared with other food products. Let them know you have it 

 for sale, and how much would they like to have, at so much per 

 pound? 



Of course all of this does not apply to the car-lot specialist ; but 

 this same car-lot specialist is a business man, and will take care of 

 the selling end of his business; or at least his honey producers' asso- 

 ciation will. However, it does not api)ly tc^ the rank and file of bee- 

 keepers, the majority of whom are dependent on their home market. 

 It is up to the bee-keepers to educate the public, for the public is the 

 ultimate consumer. 



The Spring Management of Bees. 



EARLY BREEDING IN THE SPRING— BEES IN THE ATTIC— PUTTI NG ON 



SUPERS IN APRIL— SECURING FROM TWO TO THREE HUNDRED 



POUNDS OF COMB HONEY PER COLONY— LARGE HIVES. 



By J. E. CRANE, Middlebury, Vermont. 



[This excellent article on Spring management of bees should have appeared a 

 year or two ago, so it will not chronicle the weather conditions of last Spring, 

 but is one of those articles that never get old by time, for it may forecast the 

 very weather conditions we may be "up against" the coming Spring. There are 

 two points brought out in Director Crane's article that are of great import to the 

 honey producer. One is the oft-time advice of having plenty of stores in the 

 hives at the end of winter (say 20 pounds), so that the colony will never feel the 

 '"pinch" of "hard times" caused by lack of capital (honey) to work upon during 

 the breeding season of spring, so as to get in shape to take advantage of the 

 main honey flow when it comes. 



The other point brought out has not had so much thought, that is of giving 

 surplus room two months before the opening of the surplus honey flow. I 

 predict that in future surplus receptacles will be given much earlier in the season 

 than in the past. Not but what the orthodox way of giving supers room a week 

 or so before the opening of the season is all that is necessary as far as holding 

 the crop of honey is concerned, but there are other conditions to be taken into 

 consideration, but I think I had better tell you about this in the Editorial de- 

 partment. — Townsend] . 



^^^^ Y OPINION as to how long before the honey harvest 

 ^£,^ queens should be doing their best, also how early in the 

 flow should breeding- be discouraged? Would say that my 

 views along- these lines have of late changed very materially, and I 

 do not now think that ordinarily there is any danger from a queen 

 putting- in her best work too early in this latitude. 



Our harvest here begins about the twelfth to the fifteenth of 

 June, and to secure best results brood should certainly be spreading 

 rapidly seven or eig'ht weeks earlier, but circumstances vary greatl}' 



