THE AMERICaiS BEE JOURNAL. 



697 



cutting around the hives and adjust- 

 able to any bevel, were also noticed as 

 being shown at this fair for the first 

 time. 



We came away, highly pleased with 

 our visit and with the information 

 gained through the popular manager 

 of Sunnyside Apiary, who deserves 

 much credit for his zeal and energy in 

 the cause of bee culture and the cour- 

 teous attention given to the many vis- 

 itors who examined that tine display. 



Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 21, 1882. 



Norwnik Chronicle. 



Spriug Management of Bees. 



H. li. BOA ROMAN. 



The queen stops laying at the ap- 

 proach of cold weather, tlius leaving 

 the liive destitute of brood during the 

 winter, but resumes her duties on the 

 approach of spring. Usually brood 

 rearing commences some time in 

 February in the bee house or cellar, 

 either later or earlier, according to 

 the condition of temperature, and 

 somewhat later on the summer stand. 

 As the life of a bee is very short only 

 a few weeks at most in the summer 

 when in full activity, and as many 

 months of the winter the occupants 

 of the hive at the close of the winter 

 are aged and intirm and their lease of 

 life necessarily short, if no brood were 

 raised to supply the places of the 

 rapidly diminishing numl)ers of old 

 bees at this season the hive would 

 soon be depleted of its numbers. 

 Colonies that are queenless may win- 

 ter very well but they are very soon 

 all gone when the warm weather of 

 spring calls them into active life. The 

 dying out of the old bees thus rapidly 

 at this season vs'hen not accompanied 

 by a corresponding increase from the 

 hatching brood causes that much 

 feared and much talked of casualty, 

 spring dwindling. 



Therefore, it is important that the 

 bee-keeper see to it that the brood is 

 hatching, to bridge overthis important 

 and critical period in the history of 

 the colony. 



It is a disputed point even among 

 verv practical bee-keepers as to how 

 early brood rearing should be en- 

 couraged; but I think there need be 

 no doubt about the economy of con- 

 tinuing it uninterrupted when once 

 begun. 



After brood rearing has continued 

 for a time in winter quarters it will 

 cease entirely for want of water, and 

 colonies willsuffer from thirst. The 

 higher the temperature the greater 

 the suffering. They may be supplied 

 to a limited extent with drink, pro- 

 vided the temperature is high 

 enough {not under 50). or, they may 

 be set outside if the weather will per- 

 mit and take tlie chances of sudden 

 changes of cold and winter blizzards 

 which is very demoralizing to colonies 

 that have been wintered in a warm 

 bee house. Tlie prudent and thought- 

 ful bee-keeper will often find himself 

 in a dilemma at this point not easy to 

 decide. Pollen is also necessary to 

 carry on brood rearing to any consider- 

 able extent. If bees are out before 



natural pollen appears and the weather 

 will permit, pollen may be supplied 

 by a substitute of flour which will 

 take the place of natural pollen. 



Before the time comes in the spring 

 to set the bees out permanently some 

 attention should be given to the 

 preparation of tlie yard. All rubbish, 

 the harbor of the bee moth and its 

 progeny, should be removed ; the 

 yard made level and smooth, the shrub- 

 bery trimmed, anil everything possible 

 done for the pleasiu'e and convenience 

 of the summer work and last, but not 

 least, every stand leveled with a spirit 

 level, for if this be omitted the combs 

 in the hives will hang to one side and 

 be built irregular. When all is ready 

 the bees should lie carried out on a 

 warm day and each hive set upon its 

 own stand from where it was taken. 



Examination of all colonies should 

 be attended to without delay on the 

 first warm days after they have had a 

 thorough flight, to determine : 1st. 

 The aruount of stores. 2d. The quan- 

 tity of bees. 3d. If supplied with a 

 good queen. This may be done by 

 raising the hive and looking in at the 

 bottom of a bottomless hive or box 

 hive, thus determining at one opera- 

 tion the amount of stores and bees, or 

 by removing the cover of the hive, if 

 it has a fixed bottom. For more min- 

 ute examination the hive must be 

 opened, if movable-frame hive. If 

 box hives are used they may be ex- 

 amined on cool mornings by raising 

 the hive and examining the bottom 

 board for immature young bees and 

 larvfe, which determines as nearly as 

 we can the presence of a queen. I 

 would advise that all such colonies be 

 transferred to movable-frame hives 

 and queenless ones should be carefully 

 marked, and particular attention 

 given them at the first favorable op- 

 portunity, when the weather will 

 admit. 



Although these light and queenless 

 colonies are really worth little, they 

 will be a source of much trouble and 

 annoyance if not looked after, by in- 

 ducing robbing, which may result in 

 a general demoralization of the whole 

 apiary. 



Weak colonies may be very much 

 assisted by aid of the division board, 

 by which we ma\ contract the hive so 

 as to confine the bees upon such a 

 number of combs as they will be able 

 to cover, and by placing the stores 

 upon the other side of the board they 

 are made accessible to the bees and 

 constitute a perpetual feeder. 



By use of the division-board too, we 

 may unite such colonies as we wish to 

 unite by placing the colony containing 

 a queen on one side of the board, and 

 carefully cover with a cloth or quilt?, 

 and the other colony deprived of its 

 queen on the other side, leave them 

 tlius for several days when the board 

 may be removed and the brood packed 

 together as compactly as possible and 

 the work is done. All queenless colo- 

 nies before mentioned should be dis- 

 posed of in tliis manner. I have 

 practised this mode of uniting bees 

 almost entirely for several years with 

 the most perfect success. 



If this work has been neglected and 

 our bees are found robbing, the en- 



trances of all hives should be closed., 

 so that but one or two bees can pass at 

 a time and if no disposition is shown 

 to defend themselves the hives shoidd 

 be closed or removed to a room or 

 bee house. If the hive is closed and 

 the weather is warm and the colony 

 of considerable strength, some cau- 

 tion should be exercised about their 

 becoming heated and even melted 

 down. If after carrying in, for a day 

 or two, no disposition can be en- 

 couraged to defend their stores the 

 sooner they are united with a colony 

 of more spirit the better. 



I have only to say in my opinion if 

 bees have been properly wintered and 

 judiciously managed during the spring 

 there will be no such thing as spring 

 dwindling. 



There is neither excuse, nor profit, 

 in having strong and weak colonies in 

 the same apiary. The light should be 

 encouraged by feed and strengthened 

 by brood from the strong. A comb of 

 brood just hatching from a strong 

 colony placed in a weak one will give 

 it an astonishing impetus, and in the 

 place where the brood was removed 

 from, the strong colony is supplied 

 with a nice emutycombor foundation 

 which will be filled with eggs, and the 

 work of the hive go on without inter- 

 ruption. In this way the whole apiaty 

 may be built-up into uniform strength 

 anrf when the harvest comes the re- 

 sult will be a uniform yield of honey. 



The amount of honey, and conse- 

 quently the amount of profit, depends 

 entirely upon the force of workers we 

 have ready when the harvest comes. 

 If we feed when natural stores fail, 

 and thus keep brood rearing steadily 

 going on, the hives will be full of in- 

 dustrious workers when the harvest 

 comes, our brightest dreams of a 

 sweet harvest will be realized, and 

 our bank balance will be a substan- 

 tial encouragement of judicious man- 

 agement. 



East Townsend, O. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Pui'ity of the Atuiosphere. 



S. COBNEIL. 



To assist Mr. E. Moore in his in- 

 vestigations as to the purity of the 

 air surrounding his hives permit me 

 to make the following quotations : 



" AH gases of different densities 

 which are not disposed to ui te chemi- 

 cally with one another ha e a strong 

 tendency to mutual admixture. Tlius, 

 if a vessel be partly filled with hydro- 

 gen and partly with carboni c acid the 

 latter, wliich is twenty- two times 

 heavier than the former, will not re- 

 main at the bottom but the two gases 

 will in a short time be found to have 

 uniformly and equably mixed. And 

 it is on tliis principle that the con- 

 stitution of the atmosphere is every 

 where the same, although the gases 

 wliich compose it are of different 

 specific gravities."— CarMe)i(er's Prin- 

 ciples oj Coin2mrative Physiology, page 

 295. 



•• It (diffusion) is of the greatest im- 

 portance in terrestrial physics being 

 the cause of the uniform composition 



