156 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



principles will do more for the reader than an enumeration 

 of details of management ; for after all that can be said, 

 much must be left to the judgment and experience of 

 every apiarian. 



July is perhaps the best month for honey, taking one 

 county with another. White clover is the principal 

 honey-plant this month. 



Swarming is permitted by many experienced bee- 

 keepers till the middle of this month; but where bees are 

 not removed to the heather, swarming should be pre- 

 vented after the first week in July by eking and supering. 

 Late swarmers are generally heavier when they swarm 

 than those that swarm earlier, and therefore often contain 

 a great deal of honey three weeks after swarming. By 

 putting all their bees into empty hives, their honey may 

 be obtained. This is the system advocated in the chap- 

 ter on "Turnouts." Late swarms and turnouts should be 

 well attended to during the first ten days of their separate 

 existence, for then they have a passion for comb-building. 

 A few half-pounds of sugar given at this time enable the 

 bees to build comb rapidly and fill them with brood. 

 This branch of bee-management is less attended to than 

 many others. Indeed all should be kept in a state of 

 progress this month. Breeding should be encouraged and 

 promoted to the uttermost in all hives intended to be 

 kept for stock another year, for hives filled with brood in 

 July and August wiU be strong and populous during the 

 following winter and spring. 



Parent hives or turnouts and second swarms should be 

 carefully noticed about ten or fourteen days after their 

 queens are born ; for, as we have already seen, young 

 queens sometimes never return from their marriage tours. 

 Swarms which thus lose their queen are seized with fits 

 of grief in which they may be found making a great noise, 



