THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 205 



was near, and entered the pile, under a warped cover (it was not a 

 metal cover, we hasten to assure our readers!) and when we looked 

 they were as much at home as if they had been there always. 

 While we have heard of many such cases, still this is the first time 

 it has happened to us. There seems no doubt in this instance, that 

 those earlier flying bees were the scouts that later led the swarm 

 to the selected spot. We can not help wondering whether that par- 

 ticular swarm clustered before going away, whether the scouts 

 made a last final trip, while the rest clustered, to see if all was well, 

 or whether they took their word for it, and sailed away for the new 

 domicile ! Truly, a wonderfully interesting little creature is the 

 honey-bee ! — E. G. B. 



Annual Hive Record During Orange Bloom 



We append herewith our annual hive record, during orange 

 bloom. The record this year, is remarkable, in many ways. One 

 must have gone through that period, right along with the bees, to 

 appreciate it fully. Most striking of all, is the great fluctuation in 

 daily gains. Notice the slow gain at the start, for nearly a week 

 the hive was placed on the scales, hardly more than a pound or two 

 was added to weight. During this time, the weather was cool, very 

 cool, for the time of year; many days the bees could not fly till 

 ten o'clock, to any advantage, and in any numbers ; and moreover 

 they would have to stop work about three o'clock. Of course in 

 such weather with such short hours, with immense quantities of 

 brood coming on, the daily gain in weight is slow. About April 1st 

 there was even a slight frost, and the hive lost for three days. This 

 was very discouraging; for seldom if ever before have I known of 

 much honey being stored after the 10th of April, and it surely look- 

 ed as if our Orange blossom honey were to be conspicuous by its ab- 

 sence this year. But with the advent of April weather became al- 

 most perfect. It was warm enough, but not too hot, dry enough 

 but not too dry. And we have found that infallibly too much heat 

 is as disastrous for yields from orange blossoms, as too much cool 

 weather. It dries up the nectar, and the bees stop work about ten 

 o'clock, when heat is too great. But note the gains, then, eight, ten, 

 eleven, seven lbs. etc. Things looked a bit more hopeful ; still time 

 seemed too short for much of a harvest. We still anticipated April 

 10 as the end of our harvest. 



Imagine our surprise when April 11 gave us 11 V^ lbs., the 

 greatest gain of any one day, only one other day equaling it, and 



