E>EA7"OTE:d EXCLUSIVELY TO BEES -A.3STXD HONEY 
Vol. II. 
MAY 1, 1874. 
No. V 
HOW XO COIVDIOX A IV APIARY. 
No. 5. 
T?N these papers we shall only consider such 
3, a course of management as will probably 
give the largest crop of honey ; for rearing 
Queens for the market will have to be consid- 
ered rather as a separate department, and will 
necessitate a somewhat different mode of man- 
agement. 
In our Northern localities, we believe there 
is seldom enough honey gathered to render 
extracting necessary in May, and the large 
amount of brood under way, requires an 
amount of food that is many times overlooked. 
We would make it the most important busi- 
ness of the month to see that every colony has 
at all times an abundant supply of food. We 
have sometimes on examination, found what 
we supposed a great plenty, but in a week 
more, have found brood in all, or nearly all the 
combs, and not a cell of honey to be found any 
where. Of course brood-rearing had to wait 
until some could be gathered from the fruit 
blossoms, and at evening we would And a tol- 
erable supply scattered among the brood, but 
the next morning we would find them once 
more entirely destitute. Should bad weather 
occur at such a time, a careless Apiarist 
might never guess what it was that so sudden- 
ly checked what had been one of his best 
colonies; in fact we have known bees under 
such circumstances, starved outright, in the 
month of June. 
Perhaps next in importance, is inserting a 
clean empty worker-comb in the middle of the 
brood nest, as often as the colony will bear it. 
To determine this, requires some judgment, 
and much mischief may accrue from going too 
fast; a feeble colony that have just begun to 
get up a tolerable cluster of brood, would find 
their “house-keeping arrangements” upset to 
such an extent by this proceeding, that it 
might almost spoil their value for the season. 
I ou had best make a few careful experiments; 
if at the end of a week you And the new comb 
nicely Ailed with larva;, and none of their 
older brood left too much exposed, if the col- 
ony is strong , they may have another eomb- 
and so on. One great point to be secured, is 
to have combs of brood all nearly of an age, 
that the Queen, nurses, etc., may proceed with 
their separate duties as we would hoc a Aeld 
oi corn, instead of searching all over the combs, 
10 what cells need attention. 
1 his is the great month in the Northern 
states for transferring, as all agree we believe 
uit the most favorable time is during the 
bloom of the. fruit trees. With all deference 
to good authorities, we would advise to omit, 
the drumming out process. It seems to us 
that it only needlessly bothers the bees, and 
yourself also. In our opinion, by far the eas- 
iest, and safest plan, (see Vol. 1, for May,) is to 
give the colony one, two, three, or more good 
combs of brood from other hives, and then 
distribute the . transferred combs in place of 
these, that the work of patching up inaj’ he 
distributed among several, and our transferred 
friends will have nothing to do but to recon- 
cile themselves to a new hive having a few 
new combs perhaps, among their own.' 
As we have often before said, before you 
commence transferring Ax your new hive 
nicely in the place the old one occupied, and 
he sure you pack it all around with saw-dust 
in such a way that the Queen and bees cannot 
make a mistake and crawl, under the hive 
instead of into it.. We feel xure that any of 
our readers, can Work without any danger 
whatever, without, veil or gloves, if they only 
use plenty of smoke to start' with. After the 
bees are subdued, get out a sheet of comb as 
neatly as you can, and' shake, or brush oA' 
every bee at the entrance of the new hive. If 
they don’t go in at once, never mind, they will 
as soon as there, js, enough of. them, and if a 
comb of brood aWaits them, they will soon be 
all right. If you have. no other movable comb 
hives, you will JiaVe to get a piece of comb 
containing brood, .transferred as soon as you 
can. When j’ou have takeu all the combs out 
of the old hive, you' will And many of the bee= 
and perhaps the Queen, clustered ‘on it, or in a 
corner-; shake them before the entrance ; clear 
up every thing and you are done. If robbers 
begin to trouble at any stage of the proceed- 
ings, cover up every thing except the comb 
you are cutting, with cloths; if you are much 
of a novice perhaps you had better do this any 
way. The greatest danger from stings will be 
from robbers. • 
We consider transferring, .well done, only 
When the bees keep. right on with their work, 
bringing pollen, etc. . 
The whole operation should not occupy, to 
exceed one hour. We presume many of our 
.friends will have colonics this month that will 
need more room than a single story will afford, 
and the following is just at hand. 
If an Extractor Is used Would It be better to usd 
Hives single or double ? 
Atwater, O. April 7th, 1871. Jas. M ai-Toon. 
With the present heavy testimony in favor 
of extending the combs horizontally, and tint 
greater convenience in handling the combs for 
