24 ALEXANDER'S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 



50 cents' worth if judiciously used, will be enough to carry the colony 

 through the whole spring, and will, many times, be the means of giving 

 you a large increase of colonies long before your harvest for surplus 

 honey commences. 



The rearing of early queens is very important; also early drones. 

 This part of our business has been made very easy and plain by such 

 men as Pratt, and I will pass it for the present. But there is one thing 

 I must describe, and that is the proper and best way to care for our 

 little weak colonies after taking them from their winter quarters. It 

 Is this: As soon as they have some uncapped brood in their hives, take 

 them to a good strong colony; remove its cover and put a queen-excluder 

 in its place, then set the weak one on top of the excluder and close 

 up all entrances to the weak colony, except what they have through the 

 excluder, down into the strong colony below. Leave them in this way 

 together four or five weeks; then separate them and you will have two 

 good colonies and will have saved yourself all worry about these weak 

 colonies being robbed, chilled, or starved. When we are feeding the 

 other colonies we usually give these a few spoonfuls of the warm syrup 

 in a comb next their brood. This encourages them; and if there Is not 

 more than a cupful of bees they don't get much from the feeder under 

 the strong colony. I have explained at bee conventions this way of 

 saving these little colonies, and have received very complimentary let- 

 ters afterward from prominent bee-keepers, saying that this idea was 

 worth more than $100 to them. 



This is something we have been practicing for more than twenty 

 years. Some seasons we have a large number of weak colonies on top 

 of strong ones during early spring, and we don't lose five per cent of 

 them. I am sure it goes a long way toward preventing spring dwin- 

 dling. 



I think I have shown you how we can keep our bees warm and com- 

 fortable through the sudden changes of early spring; also how we 

 can stimulate them to early breeding by keeping them warm and feed- 

 ing a little thin syrup every day. This is very important; and how 

 you may save those little weak colonies and have them ready for your 

 early harvest. 



March, 1906. 



WHY SOME FAILED WITH THE PLAN FOB BUILDING UP WEAK COLONIES. 



For the benefit of a few bee-keepers who have made a failure of this 

 method, and also for the benefit of a very large number of new sub- 

 scribers to Gleanings, I will rewrite this method in question, and make 

 it as plain as I can. 



About six or seven days after taking your bees from their winter 

 quarters, pick out and mark all your weak colonies, also your strongest 



