310 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE. 



artificial pollen be permitted to become damp ; it is sure to become 

 mildewed. In that condition bees will refuse it, and if used it will 

 produce dysentery. Treacle must not be used as a substitute for 

 honey, nor wheat-flour for pollen. They act as a purgative, and 

 thereby weaken the young brood. 



October. 



Nearly the whole of last month drones were on the wing, and, 

 as anticipated, queen-cells were in construction. Indeed, in the 

 metropolitan district, during the latter part of August, my own 

 were hatched, and on the 16th of last month my first spring swarm 

 came out. From the stock they issued, neither in 1895 or 1896, 

 did I get an increase. It was one of those ne'er do wells. Twice 

 I had changed the queens, but nothing good followed. Early in 

 last December I placed in it a strong swarm that half an hour 

 before had issued from a neighbouring colony. There was no fight- 

 ing; I had killed the queen of the weak colony. With new blood 

 it became one of my best, resulting in giving me my first swarm 

 this season. In the beginning of last month I noticed several 

 small patches of drone blood. As there are numbers of drones on 

 the wing, and swarming has begun here, it should be abundant 

 further north. Speaking of drones, if what I have so often ad- 

 vocated, i.e., old queens that were known by their fruits to have 

 been very prolific and their progeny good workers, have been kept 

 over from last season as drone breeders, the mating of young queens 

 with high class drones will be sure to give the best results. 



During last month the summer fruit-trees were aglow with 

 bloom, and pollen stores were plentiful. Before this number of the 

 Gazette is in circulation, swarming will be in full swing. If it is 

 the "early bird that gets the first worm," undoubtedly it is the 

 early swarm that gives most profit. The bee-keepers in the old 

 country used to say, "A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of 

 hay; one in June is not much out of tune; but one in July is 

 never worth a single fly." The same rule holds good here, in the 

 corresponding months. 



Be careful to see that room in the brood chamber is provided 

 for giving the queen sufficient unoccupied space for laying purposes 

 otherwise she will use the empty cells in the supers. 



There will not be much trouble in catching the first swarms of 

 the season. It is the fertile queen that leaves with them; she 

 cannot fly far; she is heavy with eggs, and will not proceed a 



