148 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
little salt. In cases where the bees are dying in 
numbers, while there is plenty of old honey in the 
hive, we have found taking out the frames of 
combs and giving them others without honey or 
pollen, and feeding slowly with warm syrup, to 
frequently bring them back to health ; the combs 
of honey taken out, if entirely free from foul brood, 
can be given to freshly-hived swarms later on. 
Some of these cases of spring disease go hope- 
lessly from bad to worse, and eventually die 
out altogether. 
Even the manifestly strong colonies should also 
be looked to, all dirt and debris, old propolis, 
projecting pieces of combs, &c., cleared out, the 
frames adjusted a little closer, and, if necessary, 
clean new mats should be put to replace the old 
ones. 
It is a matter of great importance to those 
keeping bees for profit that all their stocks should 
be strong and in good working trim by the time 
the first honey flow comes on, and to secure this, 
a little care and attention at the beginning of 
September, or latter part of August even, will be 
found the best course. After seeing the hives 
trimmed up as already advised, the frames nicely 
spaced not more than half-an-inch from centre to 
centre, ascertain if there is plenty of honey left, 
because the consumption will be great im- 
mediately the queen commences to lay. If there 
be plenty of sealed honey, break the sealing of 
a good portion of it by scraping slightly over the 
cells with the edge of a knife, or by any other 
method, so that the honey in a great number of 
cells is exposed to the bees, for it is remarkable 
how unwilling the bees in some hives are to unseal 
honey until driven to it. The slightest bruising of 
caps diffuses the odour of honey, and the queen 
and bees get as pleased and excited as if they had 
discovered new stores, the queen is thus induced to 
lay more freely, and young bees will be hatching 
just when extra strength in the hives is wanted. Of 
course if honey is scarce in the combs feeding 
freely with warm syrup in the evening as already 
advised, will be found a profitable proceeding. 
^mmm^.-Wehave come to the conclusion that 
it is best for an apiary all round to allow the bees 
to swarm once at least without any hindrance, and 
if the season is good and stocks strong and increase 
is wanted, a second swarm may be allowed, 
but further swarming should be prevented, but if 
third swarms do issue they should be returned 
after clearing out all queen cells and destroying or 
removing all but one queen. Generally speaking 
however it will pay best as far as honey production 
is concerned, to stop all second swarms by any of 
the usual methods such as giving a young queen 
to the stock a day or two after the first swarm 
issued, or cutting out all queen cells but one 
which is left to hatch. By the latter method how- 
ever, valuable time is lost at the busiest season ; 
first because breeding will cease till the queen is 
hatched, mated and commences laying, which often 
amounts to three weeks from the time the swarm 
came out, and second it frequently happens that a 
young queen gets lost when she leaves the hive 
for mating. The introduction of a young fertile 
queen directly after swarming is therefore the 
best plan where queens are reared in the apiary. 
A FEW HINTS TO OUR READERS. 
We must again ask our readers to send in all 
the Beekeeping news they can. The reports we 
sometimes get from the owners of apiaries are 
very interesting and useful to Beekeepers working 
for profit. 
There are many items of importance which we 
feel sure numbers of our readers could supply us 
with, and no matter how 7 trival the information 
may appear to the sender, it may perhaps be 
very important to us. 
There is one item of information concerning 
which we are very desirous to get reports, and 
that is the dates at which different honey pro- 
ducing plants, and especially shrubs and trees 
commence and end blossoming in various locali- 
ties ; for we find the same kind of gum tree or 
shrub comes into bloom at quite a different time 
of year in one place from what it does in others. 
A good knowledge of this kind will help the Bee- 
keeping industry immensely, and if all our readers 
would do their best to give us the information for 
their own particular locality, we shall be able 
to write with confidence on this point, and give to 
bee farmers, and those entering upon apicultural 
ventures, the information they most need. 
(Drtginal Contributions. 
There are many objects noticed in modern 
beekeeping which would, no doubt, interest many 
intelligent people who are strictly speaking not 
beekeepers, but which among the uneducated are 
not heeded in the least. For instance, where is 
there among bipeds or quadrupeds a parent who 
could previously decide ihe sex of its offspring? 
yet that such is the prerogative of the queen bee 
is an undoubted fact. The bees are taught by 
their instinct to supply the hive w r ith every 
necessary requisite, such as honey, pollen, water 
and resin. This latter substance is only used 
to fill up crevices in the hives, or fasten the 
frames so that they may not move. Water they 
only carry in just sufficient to supply immediate 
need, such as to prepare the food for the queen, 
and the young in their larval state. Of honey, 
however, whatever more is stored than needed is 
made use of and at once taken away by “ greedy 
man.” But a superabundance of pollen in a hive 
is a complete nuisance. Whatever is not made 
use of at once becomes dry in the cells, and is 
scarcely used at all afterwards, so that w'hen we 
extract frames out of the lower story we fre- 
quently find, in our locality at least, whole frames 
almost entirely filled with this useless substance. 
That it is necessary in the hive every careful ob- 
server will at once admit, but it appears to me 
that in our climate, when the bees can no longer 
get any honey, they take home pollen in loads. 
This is one main point which has induced me of 
late to arrive at the conclusion that in our 
mountainous districts the ten-frame Langstroth 
hive is too large for the brood room, for if they 
had less room given them every inch of it would 
be required for brood rearing, and very little 
space left to fill with pollen. The same argument 
