Securing Workers for the Harvest. 



ACH BEE-KEEPER ought to 

 s:^ thorougMy understand the hon- 

 ey resources of his own local- 

 ity. He should know when to 

 expect a honey flow. When the time 

 comes, the expected harvest may not 

 come, but the bee-keeper should be in 

 readiness for it. It is possible to have a 

 good honey flow and yet secure no sur- 

 plus, because there is not a sufficient 

 number of bees to gather it. Bees are 

 valuable when there is honey to gather, 

 at other times they are consumers. I<ess 

 populous colonies can be more success- 

 fully wintered in the cellar than out of 

 doors; while by proper protection and 

 care in the spring, such colonies can be 

 brought up to the requisite strength in 

 time for the honey harvest. If by such 

 management we are enabled to so reduce 

 our colonies in strength during the non- 

 producing time of the year that stores 

 are saved to the amount of from three to 

 five pounds per colony, we are well paid 

 for our trouble. 



Rapid breeding late in winter or very 

 early in the spring is undesirable. Noth- 

 ing so quickly wears out bees as the rear- 

 ing of brood; and the more unfavorable 

 the conditions the greater the wear. It 

 is better that the bees should remain 

 quiet until warm weather furnishes the 

 most favorable conditions for brood rear- 

 ing, when the same expenditure of vital- 

 ity will produce two bees instead of one. 

 If the bees in the cellar are quiet and 

 show no signs of dysentery, don't allow 

 a warm day or two to tempt you to their 

 removal. Leave them in until either 

 honey or pollen may be gathered. Some 



bee-keepers leave them until consider- 

 able later than this, and, if the bees are 

 to receive no extra protection when 

 placed upon their summer stands, this 

 course is advisable. But the bees are not 

 always quiet as spring approaches. The 

 character of their food may have been 

 such as to overload their intestines, and 

 unless they are soon allowed an opportu- 

 nity of voiding their fjeces, death will re- 

 sult, or their vitality will become so im- 

 paired that death will soon claim them. 

 Whether the bees are quiet or not, / 

 would carry them to their summer stands 

 as soon as there is pollen to be gathered, 

 and then I would protect them by some 

 temporary covering. 



Aside from food in abundance, warmth 

 is the one thing needed to promote safe, 

 early breeding. An ordinary colony will 

 generate sufficient heat to enable the 

 bees to rear as much brood as they can 

 tend, the trouble is that so much of this 

 heat is lost by radiation. Unless there 

 is considerable brood present when the 

 bees are taken from the cellar, protection 

 is not needed very much at first — not un- 

 til a quantity of brood has been develop- 

 ed. I have learned from repeated ex- 

 periments that protection allows or en- 

 ables the bees to develop greater quan- 

 tities of brood; but I do not consider this 

 the greatest advantage of protection; 

 The point is just here: We often have 

 nice warm weather for three weeks. 

 The alders, elms and maples bloom, pos- 

 sibly the cherries, and all this has en- 

 couraged the bees to extend their brood 

 until the combs are well filled. Then 

 comes a cold "snap." The mercury 



