84 THE beekeepers' directory. 



While the bees always seem to know where their old location 

 Was, so that the swarm or bees in the spring can return if they 

 desire to, still a swarm does not so desire except from loss of 

 the queen, nor do bees in spring, if set out in the manner de- 

 scribed above. Hence, in setting out, I always place the hive 

 » where I wish it to stand, thus avoiding much inconvenience and 

 extra work. 



Ouarding against robbing— Feeding. 



About the first thing which is necessary to know, after getting 

 the bees from the cella;:, is that they all have stores sufficient to 

 carry them through till honey becomes sufficient in the field for 

 their support. Because there are a few wild flowers here and. 

 there, we must not presume that the bees'are getting honey, even 

 if they are flying freely, for the fact proves that, as a rule, scarce- 

 ly any honey is obtained until fruit bloom opens, except in lo- 

 calities where the golden willow abounds. Hence, we must 

 know that each colony has honey, or loss by starvation is liable 

 to occur. If it were not for robber bees, the best way to ascer- 

 tain the amount of honey in a hive would be to open it and take 

 out each frame ; but as robbing is to be guarded against as much 

 as possible at this season of the year, I simply raise the cover to 

 each hive and blow a little smoke over the top of the. frames, 

 which causes the bees to run down from the top of the combs 

 (where the honey is always stored), thus leavmg them exposed 

 to view. If much sealed honey is seen, that colony is marked 

 as having enough stores to carry it through. If litde sealed hon- 

 ey is seen, the hive is so marked that I know that it needs look- 

 ing after in a week or so. If none is seen it must be looked 

 after at once. After having gone over each hive as^bove, I 

 know at a glance all those which need feeding. If I have combs 

 of sealed honey left over from the season previous, I set such 

 combs in these hives, which, by the way, is just the nicest way 

 to feed bees of any I know. If I do not have such combs, or 

 honey on hand, of any kind, I make a feed as follows : Put a 

 gallon of water in any tin vessel and bring it to a boil, when 

 eight pounds of granulated sugar are to be poured in and stirred 

 a little, so it will not settle to the bottom and burn. As soon as 

 it boils again, set from the fire and put in a gillof good vinegar 

 (stirring a little to mix), when the feed is ready for the bees as. 

 soon as it is cool enough not to burn them. In "feeding, use any 



