THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



61 



tongue register. We should be 

 pleased if any person having a 

 valuable colony of bees, one that 

 is remarkablj' good, would send us 

 about twent}' bees alive in a queen 

 cage. After testing them we intend 

 to preserve them in alcohol, and 

 write on a label, placed on the 

 vial, the results of the test and 

 also publish them in the journal, 

 hoping thereb}^ to start a new 

 interest in the improvement of our 

 races aivl thus benefit apiculture. 



BEE NOTES. 



There is but little to say on this 

 subject this month other than to 

 repeat our advice for last month. 



In many sections bees are stor- 

 ing honej' rapidl3^ Much care 

 should be taken that they are pro- 

 vided with just the surplus room 

 that they need. Should there come 

 a hone}' dearth, it will be wise to 

 stimulate the bees with thin food 

 to keep up breeding. Remove full 

 sections as soon as they are com- 

 pleted and do not leave them stand- 

 ing around where the moth-miller 

 may deposit her eggs, but place 

 them at once in a dark, moth-proof 

 honey-room. Mr. House has thor- 

 oughly described this point in the 

 "Handy Book." After removing 

 the full sections, place those not 

 completed in the centre over the 

 brood chamber as they will be 

 more quickly finished there than 

 elsewhere. 



We would advise our readers to 

 supersede all old and feeble queens 

 in August, replacing them with 

 choice ones. This gives you time 

 to test them before fall when, if 

 the}'^ do not prove valuable, they 

 may be changed again. This ad- 

 vice may seem premature, but we 

 do not consider it advantageous to 

 wait until cold weather before be- 

 ginning to prepare for Avinter ; 

 moreover, if yow wait until late 

 before rearing your queens and re- 

 queening the apiary, many of the 

 queens ma}' be lost in mating and 

 the bees dwindle and die during 

 the winter. 



Do not extract hone}- too closely 

 just before a honey dearth, unless 

 you choose to feed your bees to 

 keep up breeding. 



If the bees in some of your sec- 

 tioned colonies loaf around, clus- 

 tering on the fronts of the hives or 

 running aimlessly about the en- 

 trance refusing to work, just re- 

 move the sections and extract the 

 honey from the combs in the brood 

 chamber ; or, if this does not ac- 

 complish the desired results, pinch 

 off the queen's head and give them 

 a better one. You cannot atford 

 to encourage loafers. 



When you get stung go immedi- 

 ately and wash oflf the poison in 

 cool water. 



Be ver}' careful never to leave 

 any honey or other sweets around 

 in the apiary when honey is scarce, 

 as when bees once commence rob- 

 bing it is hard to stop them. 



