11 



May 24. — Vetch. Bees work on stems. 

 II 28. — White clover and hawthorn. 

 Jiine 7. — Snowberry, chokeberry, mustard, stonecrop. 

 II 22. — Bees rushing on snowberry. Goldenrod, buckwheat, fireweed, sage, sweet 

 clover, and alfalfa are reported from various parts of the Province, but 

 dates of blooming are not given. 



CHAPTER II. 



Starting Bee-keeping. 



To learn the art of bee-keeping, one must keep bees. It is not enough to buy a 

 colony and trust to luck for the outcome ; the owner must learn to keep bees, that is to 

 say, have them at the end of some definite period, sa}^ twelve months or five years, or 

 longer. The beginner in bee-keeping must realise that bees are just a varieiy of stock, 

 like cattle, hogs, or chickens, and, like them, must be taken care of ; therefore, he must 

 learn about bee needs and bee habits, so that in times of necessity he can give the little 

 aid that is required to ti<ie them over the period of trouble. Too many beginners assume 

 that bees need no care, that they will work for nothing and board themselves, yielding 

 profit in the form of honey, and multiplying their kind several times in the course of a 

 single season, so that by the investment of a few dollars in one hive there will in a very 

 few years resvilt a good-sized apiary that has easily paid its way out of surplus honey. 



The actual facts do not correspond with so rosy a picture. Without doubt, bees 

 will pay better returns for the capital, time, and labour invested than any form of farm 

 enterprise; but the big returns are got, one year with another, as the result of 

 knowledge and skill judiciously applied. It is undoubtedly true that in most years bees 

 reproduce themselves prolificly by means of swarms ; but this is Nature's way of 

 compensating for a high death-rate in normal conditions, so that there will generally be 

 in an average of years just about the same number of colonies in a certain locality. 

 Any permanent increase must be brought about by the skill of the bee-keeper. 



Again, the production of surplus honey is not the reason for the existence of the 

 colony ; this result is due to the manipulations of the apiarist. In a state of nature, 

 A\ hat would be surplus honey is transformed into more bees, until the hive is overflowing 

 M'hen it divides, often several times, into duplicates of itself. Bees, We thus see, make 

 honey, and then out of the honey make more bees. 8o the colony that sends off swarms 

 is not always a honey-producer that season ; hence the bee-keeper who is working for 

 surplus honey is generally endeavouring to find a sure method for the prevention of 

 swarming 



The purpose of this book is to set the beginner in bee-keeping in British Columbia 

 on the right track, but he is advised to see, if possible, an experienced apiarist open 

 and examine a hive, if for no other reason than to gain confidence in himself, so that he 

 may do slowly and methodically what he is tempted to rush rather hastily. 



How TO START BeE-KEEPING. 



In most regions the beat time to begin bee-keeping is in the end of April or the 

 beginning of May. Not (»nly is it near the commencement of the honey-flow, which in 

 this Province is mostly from white clover in June, but the risk of loss through the 

 death of the colony is at the nnnimum. Of course, the novice is ignorant of what 

 constitutes a good colony ; but if he buys a hive in which the bees are clustering in six 



