The Townsend Bee Book 31 
It is probably true that, in a colony of bees in normal condi- 
tion, the workers do not become field bees until they are seventeen 
days old. By ‘‘ normal condition ’’ here is meant a colony having 
enough field bees to keep the nurse bees (those under seventeen 
days old), busy taking care of the nectar that is brought in, build- 
ing comb, ete. If often happens in the clover belt, especially in 
the Northern States, that the honey season begins before many of 
the colonies reach this normal condition, especially if the winter 
was long and severe. In such cases many of the bees must go to 
the field in search of nectar long before they are seventeen days 
old; and as soon as the colonies get started in earnest they become 
normal, because enough of the bees have been forced into the 
field through necessity to make a balanced force, so to speak. 
Since the old bees that winter over die off in April and May, 
a large number of young bees must be reared during the spring 
months to replace this loss. This is the reason why there must be 
an abundance of stores at all times during this heavy breeding 
season. The ideal way is to feed all colonies that are short of 
stores in the fall, and if, for any reason, some of the colonies be- 
come short of stores during the spring months, combs of honey 
saved for this purpose should be given. If no such combs of 
honey are available, the Doolittle or Alexander feeders may be 
used. For spring feeding the grade of honey is not so important, 
and it should be mixed with an equal amount of water by weight 
to make the syrup. For the fall feeding, only granulated sugar 
should be used, and the syrup should consist of two parts of sugar 
to one of water by weight. With plenty of stores in the hives, as 
mentioned first, no spring stimulative feeding will be found: nec- 
essary. The beginner especially should avoid conditions which 
make it necessary to feed for stimulative purposes or even the 
exchanging of combs to equalize the stores. Such spring ‘‘fussing’’ 
should not be attempted by the novice, and it is a question 
whether even the old hand at the business will gain much by such 
management, or whether the colonies will be in better condition 
than they would be if provided with plenty of stores in the fall 
to last until the opening of the main honey-flow the following 
season. 
THE DANGER OF ROBBING IN THE SPRING; HOW TO STOP IT 
AND HOW NOT TO STOP IT 
The danger of robbing is enough to discourage any one from 
opening the hives during the spring months except when it is 
absolutely necessary during that part of the year. The apiarist 
