262 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Grace Allen 



THE DIXIE BEE 



Nashville, Tenn. 



Apparently we have all wintered 

 satisfactorily here in Tennessee, 

 tho at this writing the hives in our 

 own yard have not yet been opened, 

 as we prefer to wait till fruit- 

 bloom. Last year the fruit-bloom 

 came April 7, unusually late; to- 

 day, March 13, it looks as tho another day 

 or two would see both the earlier plum and 

 peach trees in full bloom. Yet I am com- 

 pelled to admit they have looked like this 

 for nearly three weeks, the result of unusu- 

 ally warm weather in February followed by 

 a cold blustery March. 

 What a season it has 



been, anyway ! Here § ■ """""" 



came Spring dropping 

 purple violets in our 

 neighbor's yard and 

 golden daffodils in ours, 

 filling us all with the 

 delight of her coming 

 and the hope of her 

 staying; and then while 

 she was coaxing the tight 

 fisty little peach-buds to 

 show their crumpled 

 pink, quite suddenly out 

 of the north old Winter 

 came roistering back. 

 He pelted us with a 

 wonderful storm, with 

 big north winds and 

 hours of swirling snow. 

 And poor little Spring, 

 for all her singing as 

 she came, had merely 

 " walked right in and 

 turned around and walk- 

 ed right out again !" Can =.... "..... ...n. 



you blame her, with 

 snow on her daffodils'? She had a deal of 

 tidying-up to do when she finally did come 

 back, for Winter, careless old fellow that 

 he is, left many a mile of slush puddling 

 up our roads, and ' many a brave-hearted 

 blossom dead by our fences. But she has 

 done it well, and now once more there are 

 violets like bits of sky in our neighbor's 

 yard, and daffodils like stars in a corner of 

 our own. 



It was during those early warm days in 

 February that there were so many bees fly- 

 ing low around our yard, some of them 

 alighting on the ground, especially on bare 

 worn places fifty feet or more from the 

 hives, seemingly drinking the moisture from 

 the damp earth, while others were slipping 

 into the little brooder-coops of the baby 



Bees in April 



Drifting down the ages 



On the wings of time, 

 April dawn comes rippling in 



Like a little rhyme, 

 Eippling in and dancing 



With her daffodils. 

 Dropping unexpected things 



Over startled hills. 



April with your treasures, 



Have you ever guessed 

 Which of all your graceful gifts 



My heart loves the best? 

 Not your lilting birdsong, 



Not your swelling trees, 

 Not your brimming buttercups^ — 



Bees, dear! Bees! 



How you set them humming! 



When their gauzy wings 

 Flash across my world, ah! then 



My whole world sings. 



chicks, apparently after bran. I put out 

 water, which promptly became popular, and 

 then, lacking a better kind, sdme plain 

 graham flour, which also drew some atten- 

 tion. I watched them for a long time one 

 warm Sunday afternoon, alighting on the 

 shallow edge of the flour for a busy instant 

 or two, then hovering just over it while 

 brushing the flour back to the carrier legs, 

 and finally going off loaded with big light- 

 colored balls in their pollen-baskets. 



FOR BEGINNERS. 



When spring is quite surely here, and 



the weather pretty well settled, you will 



want to look thru all 



"' ' ' "" " i your colonies to see the 



conditions in each hive. 

 You will make sure of 

 stores. If they are ii\ 

 need, give them food, a 

 comb or two of sealed 

 honey if you have it — 

 sugar syrup from a pan 

 in the super, if you have 

 not. You will noticQ 

 now brood-rearing is 

 coming on. If they are 

 crowded, give them room 

 by removing a comb or 

 two of honey from the 

 sides or raising it to the 

 super. The queen must 

 have plenty of room to 

 lay, but do not spread 

 what brood she has. 

 You will make sure of 

 the queens themselves. 

 Of course, where you 

 I find eggs or young 



'"'" niiiimm 1 brood, you will know 



your colony has a queen, 

 even tho you don't happen to see her. 



However, when you get ready to clip 

 your queens you must hunt for each one, 

 thru frame after frame if necessary to find 

 her — even tho your record shows you clip- 

 ped last year. It may easily happen you 

 will find an undipped queen where you 

 left a clipped one — the bees having super- 

 seded the other without either your advice 

 or knowledge. As to the actual clipping 

 itself, it may be done in several ways, but 

 is always a matter of great delicacy and 

 care. The method probably generally used 

 is to ijick up the queen by the wings, with 

 the right hand; then with the thumb and 

 first finger of the left hand take hold of 

 her body — you will see by trying that it 

 works out that the thumb goes under the 



