THE bee-keepp:rs' review. 



39 



set out a part of my rolonies quite early, 

 and to leave in a pari until the prospects 

 for settled warm weather are pretty well 

 assured. Oi course, the exact time may 

 vary considerably with the difference in 

 seasons. 



There are, also, a number of other 

 things that might have considerable in- 

 fluence as regards the best time to set 

 out bees; but I will not take space to dis- 

 cuss them here; instead, I will pass on to 

 another matter about which there is a 

 difference of opinion; viz., if it makes 

 any difference as to whether each colony 

 is set upon the same stand that it occu- 

 pied the previous fall. Where the hives 

 set close together, and for any reason the 

 colonies are all set out the same day, it is, 

 1 think, better to set each colony on the 

 same stand that it occupied the previous 

 season. When this is done there is less 

 danger of the bees mixing up. There is 

 no question but what a large number of 

 liees remember their old stand. My prac- 

 tice, as a rule, is to set each colony upon 

 its old stand. The hives are set in rows, 

 and a permanent number is on each hive- 

 body; and, by the way, it would be a 

 very difficult matter for me to handle a 

 large number of colonies unless the hives 

 were numbered in the fall. I make a 

 plot of the yard on a piece of smooth 

 board, and, when setting bees out in the 

 spring, I can, by glancing at this board, 

 tell exactly the stand each hive was re- 

 moved from in the fall. By this arrange- 

 ment it is not much more work to give 

 each colony its own stand than it would 

 be to mix them all up. There are also 

 Dther reasons why I prefer to have each 

 colony occupy the same stand each sea. 

 son 



If no attention is paid to placing each 

 hive upon the stand previously occupied, 

 the hives being set out haphazard, a gen- 

 eral mix up of bees, such as sometimes 

 ecurs, niay be greatly lessened by 

 nioking each colony just as it is removed 

 from the cellar, keeping the entrance 

 partly closed. 



Sometime ago Mr. Doolittle described 

 in one of our journals how he smoked 



bees before their first flight in the spring; 

 and I soon after received several letters 

 from friends who keep bees, asking me if 

 there was not great danger of injuring 

 bees by smoking them after their long 

 confinement and before their first flight. 

 I have practiced this to some extent for 

 ten years or more, and have never observed 

 any ill effects whatever. Too much 

 smoke, or an injudicious use of it, es- 

 pecially from a hot - bla.st smoker, may 

 be injurious at au)' time. I much prefer 

 a cold-blast smoker; but there are none 

 of this kind on the market that are prop- 

 erly constructed. 



In regard to the arrangement of hives 

 in a yard, I have, of late, set mine just as 

 close together as possible, and yet have it 

 convenient to handle them. If not more 

 than 150 hives are in one yard, I doubt 

 whether they can be placed so close to- 

 gether that it will cause confusion, or 

 bother the bees much to find their own 

 entrances, even if the hives are all paint- 

 ed the same color, and are as near alike 

 as machinery can make them. In some 

 cases it is more convenient to have hives 

 a considerable distance apart, yet, on the 

 whole, it saves much work to have them 

 close together. 



When I began to set hives in such a 

 compact mass as I do at present, p recau- 

 tions were taken to avoid as much as 

 possible the loss of queens when return- 

 ing from their mating trips. If a record 

 is kept, it is an easy matter to know 

 when to mark a hive for a queen in a 

 case of swarming, or when a cell or a vir- 

 gin queen is introduced, but in the many 

 cases of supersedure that are liable to oc- 

 cur, it is hardly possible; and I expected 

 a larger loss of queens on this account; 

 and at a time when it would be difficult 

 to replace thepi with queens of my own 

 rearing; but I am glad to say that such 

 losses did not occur to any noticeable ex- 

 tent. 



While a still day may be preferable for 

 setting bees out of a cellar, if the temper- 

 ature is warm enough, I have failed to 

 notice any injurious effects from a pretty 

 stiff wind; and I am acquainted with a 



