POLLEN AND POLLEN SUBSTITUTES 125 



to a new site, without loss, as the bees are too young 

 to have any idea of location. The stock may be built up 

 by judiciously adding a frame of hatching brood now 

 and then. 



INTRODUCTION BY ANJSSTHETIC. 

 European apiarists sometimes introduce a queen after 

 having first stupefied the bees by the use of some anaes- 

 thetic. This plan is now never practised in Australasia. 



POLLEN AND POLLEN SUBSTITUTES. 



POLLEN SHORTAGE. 



Queen-rearing in most places in Australasia is usually 

 held up by a dearth of honey and pollen for a week or 

 so in midsummer. This scarcity happens sometimes in 

 the spring and autumn, but the midsummer spell is 

 usually characterised by dry weather, and is considered 

 a critical period in Australasian beekeeping. 



This naturally brings us to a consideration of pollen 

 shortages and how to minimise the effects on the brood, 

 etc., etc. Prom the remarks made on swarming, it will 

 be seen that the best queens can be reared only while 

 honey and pollen are to be obtained in abundance. Honey 

 is the heat-forming portion of the bees' diet, and if the 

 protein-forming element {i.e., pollen) is missing or 

 deficient the young larvae must suffer. Pollen, under 

 analysis, contains ingredients similar in a great measure 

 to pea-flour. Owing to a great many of the Eucalypts 

 failing to yield pollen some seasons, and a number, 

 (mostly the "box") that never yield any quantity, this 

 shortage is of periodical occurrence. 



This is verj^ marked when the bee-farm is located on 

 a "pure" forest, e.g., where the only timber is "Yellow 

 box" or "Red box" — although the latter yield a fair 

 quantity some seasons — or some other single variety. On 



