120 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS JOURNAL. 
from the stage of life and action. Whether the 
exit of old bees in the spring before the young ones 
appear in sufficient force to keep house and pre- 
serve the existence of the colony is a normal con- 
dition or not is another question. We knew that 
Nature does some very foolish things, and we are 
constantly improving upon her methods and 
arrangements. The dying off before the young 
can take charge, whether wise or otherwise from 
our standpoint, is natural enough. Most experi- 
enced bee-keepers have noticed with what start- 
ling rapidity the old bees will sometimes die 
off from a populous colony in the spring, 
apparently in perfect health and under favourable 
weather conditions. In such cases it would appear 
that the bees are all probably about the same age, 
having been hatched about the same time in the 
fall, and they all go off at their “ appointed time” 
together. I have occasionally had colonies depart 
this life in that summary fashion, leaving a lot of 
young brood utterly unprotected. Of course, this 
is not a frequent occurrence, for the reason that 
brooding usually begins in February or March, 
and the young bees are thus present to take the 
place of the old ones. I have noticed that some 
strains of the Italians are slow in brooding in the 
spring, and defer the business till they begin to 
dwindle, and it is too late. 
What are the remedies? First amongst them 
is a good young queen, so that the young bees 
may come forward in the spring fast enough to 
take the place of the dying old ones. This is only 
one of the advantages of young, prolific queens. 
In a conversation with Mr. Cowan on queens in 
the fall 1887 in Toronto he said, if I remember 
aright, that he only kept his queens two years 
before superseding them — in fact, less than two 
years, as they were reared late in the honey season, 
and simply kept through the balance of that sea- 
son and the next. I was much surprised at this 
information, as, if I mistake not, Canadian and 
American beekeepers were in the habit of think- 
ing a queen’s prime usefulness not gone till she 
had put in about three years of service on an aver- 
age. Some, of course, failed at two. Possibly 
the Canadian queen wears longer than the English, 
but, taking climate into consideration, I should 
think the reverse ought to be true. I am, how- 
ever, in favour of young queens, and am inclined 
to think that the extra trouble and expense of 
early superseding will be more than counter- 
balanced by tlie accruing advantages. 
One thing is certain, however, if this is a good 
thing, with profit in it, the advocates ot natural 
superseding are sure to be “ left,” for a majority of 
colonies left to themselves in this manner will 
usually keep their queens three years before super- 
seding them, and sometimes four or five years. 
The apiarist must, therefore, take the matter in 
hand himself, or take the unprofitable con- 
sequences. 
Next to a prolific young queen, in avoiding the 
effects of spring dwindling, is abundance of whole- 
some stores ; and next come the proper tempera- 
tuie. and other conditions for early moderate 
spring brooding. With these three prime 
requisites present, the beekeeper has little to fear 
from the dreadful 14 spring dwindling.” 
Two other important factors in successful spring 
management are cleansing the hive and keeping 
the brood-nest warm and comfortable. Whether 
the bees are wintered in a repository or in the 
open air. every colony ought to be cleansed or 
“cleared out” in the spring the first suitable 
weather. The best way to accomplish this is to 
start with a clean empty hive to hold the first 
colony, when its hive can be thoroughly cleansed 
and prepared for the second, and so on. Frames, 
bees and all, can be lifted out, one at a time, the 
adhering dead bees on bottom bar brushed off 
with a feather or wing, and gently placed in a 
clean hive, when the familiar hum of joy and 
satisfaction will soon ascend to your ears. 
But, above all, keep the brood-nest warm dur- 
in the chilly days and nights of spring. This is 
rendered Imperative by the rapid disappearance 
of the old bees at this time, and the consequent 
diminution of the natural heat in the hive, which 
must be retained by proper packing and contrac- 
tion of entrance, or *■ chilled brood,” and possibly 
the loss of the colony, is the result. 
“ .Stimulative” spring feeding as a supposed 
necessary part of spring management is not now 
so much practiced as heretofore. While it may 
be advisable in some cases of inferior queens and 
backward brooding through deficient stores, it is not 
at all necessary with good queens and abundant 
stores. 
At the time of overhauling and cleansing the 
hives, my practice is to take away empty frames of 
combs and crowd the bees up into snug and 
smaller quarters, leaving the colony on two, three, 
four, or more frames, according to its strength. 
These may be replaced in the hive from time to 
time as required. 
What is called “spreading of brood” in the 
spring to hurry up brooding is unsafe with 
any but the experienced, and is not to be recom- 
mended. When adding needed frames from time 
to time, I prefer to leave the brood -nest intact 
and make the additions on each side of it. The 
frames thus added generally contain more or less 
honey, and it is often desirable to uncap, or par- 
tially to uncap, that side facing the brood, when 
the queen will promptly do her part. When the 
temperature and other conditions justify and call 
for it, a frame of honey may be thus uncapped or 
abraded and placed in the centre of the brood- 
nest to be filled with brood. This is about all 
the spring stipulation necessary, or safe, where 
there is a good queen and pleniy of food. But 
the queen ought, in my opinion, to get abundance 
of room and have full swing up to the beginning 
of the heavy flow, when her area ought to be cur- 
tailed ; but about this “ contraction of brood-nest,” 
which is a disputed point, in next letter . — British 
Bee Journal. 
THE BEES OF BORNEO. 
[2085] The genus Apis, the honeycomb 
builders, maybe conveniently divided into three 
parts, — the small bees, the big bees, and the 
medium-sized bees. 
