96 BEE PAST0KAGE. 



quantity in boxes, and are so crowded for room as to 

 store honey outside, or under the bottom boards. 



COMBS CONSTKTJCTED AS NEEDED. 



Young swarms seem unwilling to construct combs faster 

 than needed for use. This would appear, at first thought, 

 to be a lack of economy. When no honey is obtained, 

 and there is nothing to do, it would seem to be well to 

 get ready for a yield, but this is not their way of doing 

 business. Whether they can not spare the honey already 

 collected to elaborate the wax, or whether they find it 

 more difficult to keep the worms from a large quantity of 

 comb, I shall not presume to decide. If honey is abun- 

 dant, large swarms, when first located, will extend their 

 combs from top to bottom in a little more than two weeks, 

 but such hive is not yet full. Some sheets of comb may 

 contain honey throughout their entire length, and not a 

 cell be sealed over, but the bees generally find time to 

 finish up to within a few inches of the lower end as they 

 proceed. Whenever unfinished cells contain honey, it will 

 generally be removed soon after the flowers fail, and used 

 before that which is sealed, and the cells will remain empty 

 till another year. 



BEST SEASON FOE HONEY. 



The inquiry is often made, " Which is best for bees, a 

 wet or dry season?" I have studied this point veiy 

 closely, and have found that a medium between the two 

 extremes produces the most honey. When fai-mers begin 

 to express fears of a drought, then is the time, if in the 

 season of flowers, that most honey is usually obtained, but 

 if dry weather is much protracted, the quantity is greatly 

 diminished. Of the two extremes, a very wet season is 

 perhaps the worst. 



