66 BEE-KEEPING FOR PROFIT 
gathering. This is to encourage brood-rearing 
and is accomplished by feeding the bees with 
syrup or artificial pollen. (See Chapter on 
Feeding, p. 82.) 
It must be remembered that once artificial 
feeding for this purpose has been resorted to it 
must be continued until the natural sources of 
nectar are available to the bees, for nothing 
checks the population or does more harm to 
the hive than stopping the food supply when 
breeding has commenced. 
It should be the aim of every bee-keeper 
to make himself acquainted with the order 
and approximate times of blossoming of the 
flowers and trees, and particularly the largest 
source of nectar in his neighbourhood. 
As a tule, from six to eight weeks is 
required to get the hives into a profitable 
condition after brood-rearing has commenced 
in earnest. In some favoured places the queen 
may begin to deposit eggs as early as January, 
though of course, in the north and colder 
districts, this is exceptional. Unless, therefore, 
a bee-keeper is in an exceptionally good district, 
and works for early fruit blossoms as a source 
of nectar, it is to his interest to leave the bees to 
themselves until the middle or end of March, 
provided, of course, they are not short of food. 
