AIDS TO SUCCESS. 89 



In early spring a colony of bees should be as strong 

 in numbers as it was when closed up in the previous 

 October for the winter. This satisfactory state of 

 things can only be brought about by a late supply of 

 food, either from natural sources or through the 

 feeder, which wiU have the effect of continuing the 

 breeding until, say, about the middle of September. 

 Such a colony when opened in the spring will be 

 foimd to contain a satisfactory quantity of brood, and 

 a large number of young bees, without which progress 

 must of necessity be slow. 



As the greater the number of worker bees, at the 

 commencement of the honey-flow, the greater will be 

 the amount of honey stored, the efforts of the bee- 

 keeper must be directed to getting the hive as full of 

 bees as possible by the time the honey -flow commences. 

 By feeding this object may be attained. 



In many districts the last source of honey of any 

 importance is white clover, and as this crop ceases 

 blooming, as a rule, by about the middle of July, egg- 

 laying gradually ceases, the consequence being that 

 very few young bees wiU be found in the hive on 

 October 1st. The bees then in the hive, compared 

 with young ones, will be of little service the following 

 spring, and rapidly die off in consequence of the hard 

 work that they have to perform, and then the cry is, 

 " My stocks are becoming weaker and weaker instead 

 of stronger in numbers." The first step towards pre- 

 venting spring dwindling is to feed from the close of 

 the honey-flow, and thus ensure that the bulk of the 

 bees going into winter quarters are young ones. 



Again, when the surplus honey, gathered dm-ing the 



