10.1 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



or stored up by the bees themselves six months or a year pre- 

 viously. Moreover, I believe tiiey build up more rapidly if they 

 have not only enough to use from day to day, but a reserve or 

 visible supply for future use. If a colony comes out of the 

 cellar strong, and with combs full of stores, I have some doubts 

 if I can hasten its building up by any tinkering I can do. So 

 my feeding in spring is to make sure they have abundant stores, 

 rather than for the stimulation of frequent giving. 



RAPID CONSUMPTION OF STORES. 



After so many years of experience in that line, I am never- 

 theless still surprised sometimes to find how rapidly the stores 

 have diminished under the constantly increasing demands made 

 by brood-rearing. So there is little danger of getting too much 

 honey in the hive. *It is not enough to have sufficient to last 

 till the white-clover harvest begins. To be sure, that might be 

 all right so far as the building-up of the colony is concerned. 

 But no honey will be put in the supers so long as there are 

 empty cells in the brood-chamber, and it is better to have 

 enough honey left in the brood-cha,mber so that the first white 

 honey shall go straight into the supers. 



SURPLUS COMBS OF HONEY. 



Nothing is better than to have plenty of full combs of 

 sealed honey saved over from the previonis year, with which to 

 supply^ any colony that may need them. 'If I were as good a 

 beekeeper as I ought to be, there would always be enough of 

 these so that nothing else would be needed to take their place. 

 But I am not as good a beekeeper as I ought to be, and while 

 some years I may have all the extra combs of honey that can 

 be used, at other times they may run short, even to not having 

 enough to supply the pinching wants of colonies just taken 

 from the cellar. There may, however, be some combs at least 

 partly filled that have, been taken from colonies that died in 

 winter, or from the uniting of colonies in spring, and these 

 may supplement the number of combs saved up from the prer 

 vious year. 



