600 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ December 28, 1882. 
inserting a comb containing drone cells right in the centre of the 
brood nest. Under such management drone traps, or the cutting- 
out of drone comb, become quite unnecessary. 
BEE PASTURAGE. 
Next to the natural history of the honey bee there is no subject 
on which bee-keepers should be so well informed as the pasturage 
from which the bees are expected to store their honey. This neces¬ 
sarily varies with each locality, and therefore any calendar of 
operations, such as is given in most bee books, is necessarily to be 
taken only as a general guide to management, which must depend 
so largely on local conditions. We would thus urge on all bee¬ 
keepers to construct for themselves a calendar suited to their par¬ 
ticular circumstances, having as its basis the results of previous 
observations on the comparative value of the different sources of 
honey and the dates at which they usually begin to yield. 
In these islands there are three main sources from which bee¬ 
keepers expect any considerable surplus, and these follow each 
other with but a short interval. These are fruit blossoms in April 
and May, Clover in June and July, and Heather in August and 
September. The later-flowering fruit plants, such as Raspberries, 
often fill the interval before the Clover blooms, and in many loca- 
Fig. 104.—Stevvarton Hive. 
lities the Limes fill the interval before the Heather. Now, the 
management necessary to secure a surplus of honey in any locality 
must largely depend on which of these three great sources is the 
principal one in that locality. Dwellers in or near large towns will 
generally find that the fruit blossoms are the most productive, 
especially since it is becoming more and more the habit to cut down 
the Clover crops in such neighbourhoods for green fodder. In more 
pastoral districts Clover will take the leading place, and in moor¬ 
land districts the Heather. Favoured districts are such as yield 
two of such harvests in succession, but few yield all the three. To 
take advantage of the fruit blossoms requires very special manage¬ 
ment, for at this time stocks are seldom found near their full 
strength. Those, therefore, who have little else in prospect must 
use every effort to have their stocks at their strongest thus early in 
the season. They must be stimulated to early and continuous 
breeding, and even then may have to be united two and two before 
they are fit to enter their supers. Once strong enough to do so 
they should be prevented from swarming till that particular harvest 
is over. 
Owing to the honey from fruit blossoms being somewhat dark 
in colour and peculiar in flavour, those who have abundance of 
Clover in prospect seldom care to have it stored in' supers. They 
welcome it, however, as affording the best stimulus towards getting 
strong stocks in good time for the more coveted Clover harvest, or 
towards getting through with such swarming as may be desired 
before the Clover blooms; for it ought to be a principle in modern 
management, now that we know how, to allow little or no weaken¬ 
ing of stocks by swarming during the height of any honey yield of 
which a full advantage is to be taken. As far as the Clover season 
is concerned this is most desirable, and, as there is time both before 
and after to make all desired increase there is nothing lost in the 
attempt. This matter of controlling or preventing swarms is the 
principal part of good management at this season, for stocks are 
then at their strongest, and it forces itself daily on the bee-keeper’s 
attention. The various methods adopted to this end will be after¬ 
wards described, but we meanwhile press the principle on all who 
would take full advantage of this or any other shortlived harvest, 
that there ought to be no weakening of stocks by swarming or arti¬ 
ficial division while it lasts. The best laid plans w'ill often fail, 
and what seems a mania for swarming may take possession of many 
stocks which must in some degree be deferred to, since in such 
cases absolute repression will often produce a listless inactivity more 
to be feared than a certain amount of weakening through division. 
A reference to his calendar will enable the bee-keeper to make 
due provision for the opening of the Clover season in strong stocks 
already, if possible, entered their supers. Attention to ventilation, 
doorway and storage room in advance of immediate requirements, 
will often carry him through the best part of it without much 
trouble, and a warning look at the date when the harvest closes will 
enable him by gradually diminishing the amount of super accom¬ 
modation to insure that few if any unfinished sections will be left 
on hand. 
The advent of the Heather season frequently finds stocks in a 
condition poorly fitted to take advantage of its extreme richness. 
Under ordinary management they are weakened by previous swarm¬ 
ing, so that only the first swarms are usually in a position to yield 
any great surplus. Frequently also there is a spell of cold and wet 
weather after the Clover season which puts a stop to brood-rearing, 
leaving so many empty cells in the brood nest that the bulk of the 
Heather honey is stored there, rendering it difficult of appropriation 
and of less value. A knowledge of these things will guard the bee¬ 
keeper who hopes for Heather honey against the evils hinted at. 
He will take care to maintain his stocks in full strength right into 
August, and will take special precautions against having the central 
combs cleared of brood then. These remarks scarcely apply to 
purely highland districts, for there the conditions are naturally 
more favourable. Swarming is much later, and so also is the Clover 
harvest. Indeed the latter generally continues some time after the 
Heather is in bloom. Naturally, therefore, stocks in such districts 
are in a better position for taking advantage of this harvest than 
those in the low country, unless unlimited swarming has been 
allowed. 
It may even be found profitable to take special measures to secure 
a surplus from sources even later than the Heather. In some parts 
of England, but more especially in Ireland, there are large quan¬ 
tities of Ivy which produce honey freely even in December. The 
general weakness of stocks and the usual approach of cold weather 
have, however, hitherto prevented more than a mere sample of this 
very peculiar but beautiful honey from being obtained. 
The bee-keepers’ calendar suggested should contain a record of 
the average dates at which stocks are found to be naturally at their 
weakest and strongest, when they, both with and without stimula¬ 
tion, usually commence breeding in the spring, or cease in the 
autumn, when natural swarming begins and ends, &c. Were these 
particulars entered after their dates in parallel columns with those 
regarding the pollen and honey-producing plants, and the beginning 
and ending of the various honey harvests, a valuable guide as to 
necessary management would always be at hand. To frame such 
a calendar here would be extremely difficult, taking into consi¬ 
deration the variety of circumstances belonging to each district in 
these islands, varying as it does so much in latitude and altitude as 
well as in the nature of its honey-producing flora.— William Raitt, 
Blairgowrie. 
(To be continued.) 
THE STEWARTON HIVE. 
I with others would feel much obliged if some of your bee-keeping 
correspondents would favour us with a drawing of the straw Stew- 
arton hive spoken so much of lately Jin your valuable paper, and 
also details as to its management, and where it can be obtained.— 
Fredk. Bull. 
The wmodcut (fig. 104) may help your correspondent and others to 
form an idea of a straw Stewarton hive. The top roll of the hive is in 
wood, and the straw is sewed to it. The bars are let into the wood 
and level with the top of it. The interstices between the bars are 
filled with slides, which are moveable and run in grooves. Our inten¬ 
tion is to dispense with the slides and use moveable straw lids instead, 
as the bees are apt to cement the slides to the bars. The lids will be 
easily lifted off and on the hives when supers are used. The supers 
will be made of wood 4 inches deep, and of course same width as the 
hives, and with bars across them 2 inches wide for honeycomb. In 
supering the lid will be simply lifted from the top of the hive to the 
top of the super. The hive is 15 inches wide and 13 deep.—A. P. 
