30 
A YEAK AMONG THE BEES. 
day ; put a super on No. 84 ; look at the record to see what is 
to be done at No. 79 ; on Tuesday 14, destroy the queen-cells 
in No. 172; give a queen to No. 184 ; give a queen-cell to No. 
139 ; free the queen whicli for some reason has been caged in 
No. 148. 
I always keep a lead-pencil tied with a long string to the 
record-book. No ink must be used in it, for you know it will 
get a little wet sometimes. 
THE HONEY HARVEST. 
There are certain things always noticed by a bee-keeper, 
with much interest, as heralding the beginning of spring or 
of the honey-harvest. Among theseare the singing of frogs, 
theadventof bluebirds, and theopeningof various blossoms! 
With me the highest interest centers in white clover. As 1 
go back and forth to the Wilson apiary, I am always watching 
the patches of white clover along the roadside ; if your 
attention has never been called to it, you will be surprised to 
find how long it is from the time the first blossom may be 
seen, till clover opens out so bees will work upon it. I 
usually see a stray blossom days before it seems to have any 
company. In my location I do not count upon anything 
usually besides white clover for surplus, so no wonder I am 
interested in it. Basswood trees are scarce, and I don’t know 
that I ever took any honey in which the basswood flavor 
could be detected, excepting one year. Raspberries and 
other sources exist, to be sure, but not in sufficient quantity. 
If I kept only a few colonies, I might secure surplus from 
various sources. One or two years I had sections filled with 
what I believed to be cucumber honey, a pickle factory being 
in the neighborhood. 
Quite likely if a second crop of apple-bloom came a month 
or two later than the usual time, I might get some surplus 
from that ; but coming so early I think there are hardly bees 
enough to store it. Still, the bees are at this time using large 
quantities of honey for brood, and so the apple-bloom is of 
very great value. Another advantage is that the great 
