bee-keeper's calendar. 403 



the hives, before the delicate whiteness of the combs be- 

 comes soiled by the travel of the bees, or the purity of the 

 honey is impaired by an inferior article gathered later in the 

 season. 



The bees should have a liberal allowance of air during all 

 extremely hot weather, and if the stocks are strong, I often 

 remove entirely the entrance blocks. 



August. — In most regions there is but little forage for 

 bees, during the latter part of July and the first part of Au- 

 gust, and being on this account tempted to rob each other, 

 the greatest precautions should be tised in opening hives, 

 (p. 342). 



In districts where buckwheat is extensively cultivated, bees 

 will sometimes swarm when it comes into blosso^.i, and in 

 some seasons extraordinary supplies are obtained from it. I 

 had a buckwheat swarm this year (1856) as late as the 16th 

 of September ! 



If any colonies are, in the expressive language of old 

 Butler, " over fat," some of their full combs should now be 

 removed, (p. 201), If the caps of the cells are carefully 

 sliced off, with a very sharp knife, and the combs laid over 

 a vessel, in some moderately warm place, and turned once, 

 most of the honey will drain out of them, and they may be 

 returned to the bees, to be filled again. I know of scarcely 

 any more profitable operation in the whole range of bee- 

 keeping, than this, when a fair price can be obtained for the 

 liquid honey. 



The bee-keeper who has queenless stocks on hand in 

 August, must expect as the result of his ignorance or neg- 

 lect, either to have them robbed by other colonies, or de- 

 stroyed by the molh,* (p. 264). 



* An attentive perusal, quite recently, of what Aristotle has written 

 on the subject of the honey-bee, has impressed me with the extraordi- 



