142 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



nosis that 1 put on all my supers; merely 

 looking' at a colony here and chere where 

 I may have a slight doubt. In the same 

 way you can readily ascertain whether a 

 colony may be in need of stores, or de- 

 termine the queenless ones. In the 

 swarming season you can generally de- 

 termine the colonies about ready to swarm 

 by the same method. If I am buying bees, 

 and given my selection in a yard, 1 select 

 the colonies I buy in precisely the same 

 way, and I know of no way I could make 

 better selections. But it all requires 

 study and close observation, and each of 

 us must learn all these things for himself. 

 We can get hints from others, the line of 

 work and observation may be pointed out, 

 but, after that, we must assimilate and 

 make a part of ourselves what we re- 

 ceive, c;nd if we desire the greatest suc- 

 cess all w. L V: -^. can get from others 

 should be fitied into or molded with our 

 own individuality. 

 DROP "fussing" when running 0UT-AP1AR1£:S 



In handling' bees in out-apiaries we 

 soon learn to drop all fussing. 



Instead of spending half an hour on a 

 single colony, we do the same amount of 

 work for half a dozen colonies in the 

 same time. The question may be asked, 

 is it as well done? In answer 1 would 

 say it is better done, with larger crops, 

 and better results in every way, but it 

 requires a very intimate knowledge of the 

 economy of the hive; it also requires ex- 

 perience and close observation; but when 

 you have acquired the knowledge and ex- 

 perience it means that the bees are per- 

 fectly under your control; and this means - 

 that you are no longer confined to one or 

 two ways of doing anything, but you can 

 do the same thing in a dozen ways, quick- 

 ly, and, as a matter of course, and yet be 

 able to forecast the direct result of your 

 work almost to a day, directly up to the 

 time you next visit your bees; and, in this 

 way, visiting my bees every eight or nine 

 days, my orders to the people where my 

 bees are located are to pay no attention 

 to them whatever, and I can take a day 

 off at almost any time, except it be during 



the surplus season, and when Sunday 

 comes I am ah/ays entirely free. The 

 only season when I am greatly rushed is 

 the honey season, and then I, or rather 

 we, have to hustle. 



Dandelion is still in bloom at the time 

 when I make my next visit, and the bees 

 quite busy. At this time nearly all un- 

 contracted hives will need second stories, 

 and most of those having second stories 

 before will require third stories, and near- 

 ly all of the contracted hives can be filled 

 out with frames of empty combs. At 

 this time if some of them are too weak to 

 permit the hive to be filled with frames 

 of comb a frame or two of rapidly hatch- 

 ing brood may be given them with very 

 little detriment to the colony from which 

 the brood may be taken, and with the re- 

 sult of transforming the weak colony into 

 a very fair one. This could not be wisely 

 done earlier in the season, but now the 

 weather is becoming quite warm, and any 

 ordinary draft like that on one of the 

 st.'-pnger colonies of bees is not noticed. 



In many irrealities there is a scarcity of 

 honey for a wfufe preceding the white 

 clover harvest, and, as bpes are breeding 

 heavily now, they may, in some si'asons, 

 require feeding to prevent a check in their 

 development. In such cases they should 

 be fed a heavily diluted honey. Do not, 

 however, buy honey for this purpose, but 

 save some of your cheapest grades of 

 honey during the previous season for the 

 purpose. If you have no honey of this 

 kind you will feed a thin sugar syrup, but 

 you will only feed sufficient for their 

 needs, for in case it is stored, some of it 

 is liable to be passed into the surplus, and 

 of this we cannot be too careful. 



Preston, Minn., Mar., 19, 1907. 



[I agree with Mr. Facey that, as a rule, 

 not much honey is lost in open air feeding 

 by its being carried away by neighboring 

 bees. I think the greatest objection to 

 this method of feeding is that the colonies 

 greatly in need of feed, often get the least. 

 Then, too, there is often a spell of cool 

 weather lasting for several days, when 

 bees won't visit feeders in the open air, 



