FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 10,1 



two full combs of stores. If they have not so much I supply 

 them. I formerly thought it desirable to have any feed given 

 them as far as possible from the brood-nest, so that they might 

 have the feeling they were accumulating from abroad. Further 

 observation makes me place less confidence in this. 



STRONG VERSUS WEAK COLONIES. 



I think that with increasing years I have an increasing 

 aversion to weak colonies. At the time of the honey harvest, 

 40,000 bees in two colonies will not begin to store as much i.s 

 the same bees would do if they were all in one colony. Of 

 course you have thought of that, but possibly you have not 

 noticed so clearly that something like the same rule holds good 

 about building up in spring. Take a colony that comes out of 

 the cellar with only enough bees to cover two combs. It will 

 remain at a standstill for a long time. Indeed, it may not stand 

 still, but may become weaker, so that it will not have as mu<'h 

 brood June 1 as May 1, with a possibility of pegging out alto- 

 gether before the harvest opens. On the other hand a colony 

 with bees enough to cover well three frames is likely to hold its 

 own, beginning to increase slowly as soon as weather permits ; 

 and if it has bees enough to cover four frames it will walk right 

 along increasing its brood-nest. 



GIVING BROOD TO STRONGER. 



Shall I take frames of brood from strong colonies to give 

 to the weaklings f Not I. Tor the damage to the strong colo- 

 nies will more than overbalance the benefit to the weaklings. 

 If any taking from one colony to give another is done in the 

 spring, it wiU be to take from the weak to give to those not so 

 weak. If one colony has four frames of brood and another two, 

 taking from the stronger frames for the weaker would leave 

 both so weak they would not build up very rapidly, whereas 

 taking one from the two-frame colony and giving it to the four- 

 frame colony would make the latter build up so much faster 

 that it could pay back with interest the borrowed frame. 



