JOURNAL. 
Vol. II.— No. 11.] APRIL, MAY. [Prick 6r>. 
Editorial. 
HINTS FOR MAY AND JUNE. 
It is now quite late enough to make the final 
examination of our stocks for the season. 
Choose a -fine, warm morning when the bees 
are flying briskly, and open your hives. 
1. Examine the frames first to see if there is 
brood of all ages ; if so, look carefully for any 
signs of foul brood. If you see covered cells 
S uttered irregularly over the comb while the 
mainder of the cells are empty it should at 
once arouse suspicion, more especially if some 
of the cappings appear sunken and have tiny 
holes like pin holes through them. In such a 
case take a little splinter of wood, or a pointed 
stick, and open out a cell. If it contains the 
viscid brown matter of a grub putrefying, 
there can be little doubt of the presence of 
foul brood. At this time of year the disease 
is not likely to progress much, at the same j 
lime it is not likely the bees will prosper. We j 
recommend, however, that all combs badly 
affected be removed from the hive, and the '< 
bees crowded on to as few combs as possible, 
at the same time feeding them freely with 
plain syrup. We have come to the conclusion 
that physicing bees with phenol, salicylic acid, 
&c., does more harm than good so long as 
they get plenty of wholesome food in a clean, j 
well-ventilated hive. The best course to | 
pursue, if one has empty combs from healthy 
hives, is to get a new hive and place four or 
five empty combs in it. Remove the diseased 
hive, and put the new one with empty combs 
in its place. Take the diseased hive some 
distance away, and shake and brush all the 
bees from the frames on to a sheet, on which 
any kind of clean box has been placed, with 
one end propped up, for the bees to cluster in. 
Towards evening shake the bees out of this 
box into the new hive, and feed them freo’y 
i for two or three weeks. If no empty combs 
are obtainable, all we can do is to remove the 
diseased combs, and feed freely till Spring- 
time comes, when the bees should be put into 
a new hive with new frames with starters of 
foundation as soon as breeding commences, 
for the weather will be too cold for much 
comb building till September or October. 
2. If there is no brood or eggs a careful 
search for the queen should be made, for it is 
quite possible the stock may be queenless, 
and unless supplied with a queen at once will 
be utterly valueless by the Spring. If no 
spare queens are obtainable, the proper course 
will be to unite the stock with another having 
a queen, as soon as possible. 
3. If there be brood of all ages visible we 
may safely conclude the queen is present, but 
it is always more satisfactory to sight her if 
possible. 
4. Carefully examine the amount of stores in 
the combs, and if there is not at least ten 
pounds of honey for every five frames of bees, 
ten pounds of good, thick syrup (made as 
directed on page 143, No. 10) should be given 
them as fast as they will take it away. 
5. Lift the body of the hive from the bot- 
tom board, and clean away all dirt and rub- 
bish that may be found on it. 
0. Replace all old and worn mats by new 
ones, and it will be none the worse to put a 
second mat over each stock. 
7. Entrances should be left not less than 
four inches wide for full stocks, as free venti- 
lation is as important in Winter as in Summer. 
Where any planting or sowing is done for 
bee food near home, it should bo done not 
later than May. Sunflower, borage, phacelia, 
all the kinds of clover and lucerne, echium 
candicans, cornflower, Ac., may bo sown , and 
any plants from self-sown wls planted out 
for early flowering. 
