BEE-KEEPEK'S CALENDAR. 365 



If the Apiary is not carefully watched, the bee-keeper, 

 after a short absence, should examine the neighboring 

 bushes and trees, on some of which he will often find a 

 swarm clustered, preparatory to their departure for a new 

 home.* 



As fast as the surplus honey-receptacles are filled,f and 

 the cells capped over, they should be removed, and empty 

 ones put in their place. Careless bee-keepers often lose 

 much, by neglecting to -do this in season, thereby con- 

 demning their colonies to a very unwilling idleness. The 

 Apiarian will bear in mind, that all small swarms which 

 come off late in this month, should be either aided, doubled, 

 or returned to the mother-stock. With my hives, the 

 issue of such swarms may be prevented, by removing, in 

 season, the supernumerary queen-cells. During all the 

 swarming season, and, indeed, at all other times when 

 young queens are being bred, the bee-keeper must ascer- 

 tain seasonably, that the hives which contain them, suc- 

 ceed in securing a fertile mother (p. 218). 



JULY. In some seasons and districts, this is the great 

 swarming month ; while in others, bees issuing so late, are 

 of small account. In Northern Massachusetts, I have 

 known swarms coming after the Fourth of July, to fill 

 their hives, and make large quantities of surplus honey 

 besides. In this month, all the choicest spare -honey 

 should be removed from the hives, before the delicate 



* "As It may often be important to know from which hive the swarm has Issued, 

 after it has been hived and removed to its new stand, let a cup-full of bees be taken 

 from it, and thrown into the air, near the Apiary ; they will soon return to the 

 parent-stock, and may easily be recognized, by their standing at the entrance, and 

 fanning, like ventilating bees." DZIEKZON. In my hives, it will be easy, from the 

 back ventilator, to decide whether a stock is full enough to swarm, or has recently 

 swaimed, even when there is no glass for observation. 



t Mr. Qninby informs me, that he succeeds in making bees fill a double tier of 

 small boxes, by placing one set on the hive first ; when they have partially filled 

 these, he puts the second set under the first By making a hole in the top, as well 

 as in the bottom of the box <P1. XI., Fig. 24), this can easily be effected. 



