252 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



great central markets at a distance rather than the 

 immediate local needs. 



In the establishment of a bee-farm the first care 

 must be the choice of a suitable district. The 

 nature of the surrounding country must largely 

 govern the systems on which the farm can be most 

 profitably worked. The first maxim in success- 

 ful beemanship is to get all hives filled to the brim 

 with worker-bees by the time the great honey- 

 flow sets in. This time, however, varies accord- 

 ing to the district. In the orchard-country we 

 need bees early ; in heather-districts we want 

 them late. In south-west England, where the 

 country is half fruit-ground and half moorland, the 

 hives must be huge in population both late and 

 early. But where the bee-keeper follows the sheep- 

 farmer — and there is no better guide to honey than 

 the sheep — his true policy is to work his colonies 

 slowly and steadily up to their greatest strength 

 by the time the main feed-crops come into blossom, 

 which is seldom before the middle of May. And 

 all these considerations land us on the brink of a 

 very vexed question in modern bee-craft — whether 

 bees should be artificially fed, and if so, how and 

 when ? 



If only the purest cane-sugar is used, and the 

 syrup well boiled and never burnt, there is nothing 

 to say against the practice on the score of harm to 

 the stocks. Where early bees are wanted, it is 

 absolutely necessary to give them a continuous 



