CALENDAR. 161 



the chapter on Supering, he will see that it is important 

 to induce the bees to commence to iill supers at or from 

 their tops or crowns, and that this is done hy the use of 

 guide-combs. A few pieces — the larger the better — of 

 white drone-comb, fixed in a super, induce the bees of 

 the hive on which it may be placed to commence to fill 

 it at once. 



Both on the swarming and non-swarming systems of 

 management, drones will appear in strong hives about 

 the end of this month or beginning of next. Early 

 drones, it is said, indicate early swarms ; but this is not 

 invariably the case ; for we have known hives possess a 

 superabundance of drones for weeks before they were 

 ready for swarming, and we have known hives send off 

 colonies before a drone was hatched in them. 



In the case of small hives used for supering, it is desir- 

 able to enlarge them by ekes, and wait till the, ekes are 

 nearly filled with combs before supers are placed on them. 

 They will thus be enabled to breed more bees and do 

 more work than they could do without the ekes. 



May. — May and June may be deemed the most inter- 

 esting and busy months in the apiary. Now all is activ- 

 ity. The bees go abroad early, and carry in water for the 

 day while dew is on the grass, and before honey can be 

 obtained from the flowers. Almost from sunrise to sunset 

 bees may be found returning to their -hives with water, 

 or pollen, or honey, and frequently with both pollen 

 and honey. It is a time of activity too for the owners 

 of large apiaries. The time of multiplication is at 

 hand. Swarming commences this month. The bee- 

 master should examine his hives internally every week 

 to ascertain their state and ripeness. We have seen that 

 if a hive is not ready for swarming, the smoke blown 

 into it drives the bees up amongst the combs, and few 



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