AMERICAN BEE JOURNA>L. 



47 



keep on doing until settled warm 

 weather comes in June, when we go 

 over them every four or five days, 

 putting one frame in the center each 

 time. If we find that the queen will fill 

 this frame every four or five days, 

 besides keeping all the empty cells filled, 

 which are daily vacated by maturing 

 broods, we stop. 



By June 15 every available cell should 

 be filled with brood, and the hive full of 

 bees, if we are to expect the best results 

 from our field. By this time white 

 clover is out in full bloom, and all the 

 honey boxes should be on. A noted 

 bee-keeper once remarked: " Set the 

 bees out, and they will get the honey if 

 there is any to be had." A more truth- 

 ful sentence was never uttered. " Keep 

 an eye to business, and do things at the 

 right time if you wish success." 



If we wait about putting on the honey 

 boxes when our bees have arrived at the 

 condition we have supposed them to be 

 in on June 15, as many do, thinking 

 that the putting on of the honey boxes 

 retards swarming, and there should be 

 but a few days of honey yield, we would 

 get nothing. A day lost in the honey- 

 flow cannot be recovered. It is no 

 unusual thing to secure from six to ten 

 pounds of comb-honey from a colony 

 per day, if the flow of honey is good, the 

 weather right, and the hive is full of 

 brood and bees, as I have said before. 



Now, we will suppose that instead of 

 working, as given above, we will let our 

 bees take care of themselves, leaving 

 weak colonies unprotected, and if any 

 bees have died during the Winter, we 

 leave their stores for the other bees to 

 carry away. After carrying off this, 

 they will be apt to rob our weak colonies, 

 and thus those which survive will have 

 their combs full of honey instead of 

 brood. 



Too much stores in May and early June 

 will just as surely spoil a colony for 

 comb-honey, as it will keep their brood 

 in check all the Spring. There is no 

 such thing as having the combs full of 

 honey during the forepart of the season, 

 and then having boxes filled with clover 

 honey,' for where would the bees come 

 from to gather the honey ? 



AVe must never allow the bees to get 

 in advance of the queen, for if we do the 

 prosperity of the colony is checked at 

 once. Honey cannot be obtained with- 

 out bees. The ten Langstroth frames 

 which we use in a hive during June give 

 from 45,000 to 50,000 working bees 

 every 21 days, and a queen that is good 

 for anything, worked on the plan given 

 in this article, will keep the "frames filled 



with brood, after , they are once full, 

 until the honey season begins to draw to 

 a close, provided the honey boxes are 

 put on at the proper time. 



If a hive contains 5,000 bees on April 

 10, with ten pounds of honey, they are 

 what we call a good colony. With a 

 young and prolific queen, managed on 

 the above plan, if the season is right so 

 there is honey in the flowers, we can 

 expect a crop of comb-honey. Thus, it 

 will be seen, it is bees we want in our 

 hives the forepart of the season, not 

 honey. 



If, by the process given, our bees 

 should run short of honey, of course we 

 must feed them, and money thus spent 

 in feeding will return a large interest, if 

 the season is anything like favorable. 

 Honey is the best thing we know of to 

 feed. 



We often hear it said, if the bees can- 

 not get a living after the first flowers 

 come, they can die. No greater folly 

 could possibly exist. — Read at Farmers^ 

 Institute. 



Whitney's Point, N. Y. 



InWiicin£tliePnnicQneen-Betis. 



E. L. PRATT. 



Some have the idea that the Punic 

 bees are the same as Minorcans or the 

 Malta bees, but they are not. The above 

 are varieties of Apis Niger, but not 

 Punic. This specie is spread all over 

 Northern Africa, from Egypt to the 

 Atlantic, and are met with in various 

 other places, including Spain, more or 

 less interbred with the Apis Melifica and 

 Apis Ligustica, All the yellow banded 

 races &re-Apis Ligustica — even Syrians, 

 Cyprians, and yellow Italians. Black 

 Italians belong to Apis Niger ; hence, 

 one will see that the Punic bees are a 

 variety of Apis Niger, and if any other 

 is obtained for them, people are likely 

 to be disappointed. 



If virgin queens of the Punic variety 

 mate with any of the high grades of 

 drones, a splendid mother bee will be 

 the result, and by allowing only the 

 drones from this queen to fly another 

 season, other virgin Punic queens can be 

 mated, and they will be pure. Thus, at 

 a small cost, pure stock can be obtained. 



The directions for the safe introduc- 

 tion of these queen-bees are very simple, 

 and are as follows : 



Take three or more combs, with some 

 honey in them, but no unsealed brood or 

 eggs, and put them into a hive, then 



