May 6, 1886 ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
367 
possible. It will, however, be advantageous to say a few 
words upon the subject, and to consider the best way to treat 
a stock in a common skep with which the majority of bee¬ 
keepers are launched into apiculture. 
A man who begins his bee-keeping life with a good know¬ 
ledge of bees and their practical management gained from 
careful reading of standard works on the subject, which are 
now not few in number, has indeed a great advantage over 
another who has to learn by experience what he would in a 
far shorter time have picked up from a book written by a 
practical man, who writes solely for the benefit of bee-keepers 
and is uninfluenced by any other consideration which may 
induce him to recommend appliances which have not been 
really proved to be of value and efficacy. Let every man be 
content to leave his bees in the skep, at any rate until a time 
has arrived when he can transfer them with absolute safety 
to the hive which he has provided as he thinks for their better 
accommodation. This time is twenty-one days after swarm¬ 
ing, when the combs will contain no worker eggs or brood, 
although there may be some few drones still unhatched, but 
they, however, may be sacrificed, if necessary, without 
remorse, and even with advantage. The man who allows 
his bees to be transferred in spring from a straw skep to a 
bar-frame hive has yet to learn from bitter experience that 
it is safer to travel slowly yet safely than to hurry unwisely 
over roads of which he knows nothing, and on which he will 
be sure to find many obstacles to bar his—as he hoped— 
rapid progress, and to allow his rival who took the slower 
but safer road to pass him and gain the goal they both strive 
in different ways to attain. 
THE POSITION OF THE APIARY. 
One of the most troublesome details in connection with 
the commencement of bee-keeping is the choice of a position 
for the apiary. It is difficult because so many things have 
to be taken into careful consideration, and for the fact that it is 
most difficult, and at certain times of the year almost impos¬ 
sible, to move a stock of bees a less distance than two miles 
without the certainty of losing many bees, which, not marking 
their new situation, fly back to the old position and, becoming 
exhausted, die there. There are, no doubt, some positions 
more favourable than others, but it is essential that there be 
no likelihood of being compelled to move the apiary from the 
spot on which it is first located. There is no position that 
seems more suitable than one having a south east aspect for 
the bees ; these obtain the early rays of the sun, which are so 
useful as an incitement to early labours, and yet the cutting 
sast wind is to some extent kept out of the hive. A hedge 
■or wall at the back of the hives is also another very useful 
adjunct, and should in every case be obtained if possible ; and 
if no wall or hedge is to be had it is well to erect either some 
temporary defence against the northern winds, or to plant 
"trees which will year by year afford a more complete and 
perfect shelter. In front of the hives no trees or bushes 
should be allowed to grow, and no herbage to rise higher than 
the floorboard, for by branches of trees and bushes many 
bees are in high winds dashed to the ground and are unable 
to rise again. If, then, the hedge behind the clear space in 
front and a south-easterly aspect can be had, an almost perfect 
.situation is formed for the apiary; but it is not by any means 
necessary to insist upon having any particular location, as 
even in the very worst positions the bees will so far over¬ 
come their unfavourable circumstances as to make perhaps 
b>ut little real difference perceivable. 
RACES OF BEES. 
There are, again, few bee-keepers who are able to with¬ 
stand the temptation to invest in some new variety of bee 
which will work wonders and astonish the old-fashioned bee¬ 
keepers who retain the blacks, which are now as a matter of 
fact rapidly becoming extinct, owing to the number of foreign 
varieties which are being introduced into apiaries in all parts 
-of the kingdom. It is no doubt very beneficial for bee¬ 
keepers who desire to experiment to try many varieties of , 
bees and to give their experience to the world, but for a 
practical man who desires to make money by his bees it is 
far from wise to import a foreign race until he is perfectly 
satisfied that he will get something superior to what he 
possessed before. The foreign varieties are often better¬ 
looking than the native or the crossed varieties, but good 
looks are not what we want at all. We want extra work, more 
honey at less expenditure of time and money, and any bee 
which will give us this result will be warmly welcomed. The 
Ligurian bee is supposed to have these most desirable qualities, 
and there are other varieties of which the “ Lanarkshire 
Bee-keeper,” than whom there is no safer-guide or greater 
authority on bees, has given some good accounts, but at 
present I see nothing in any variety so far superior to what 
we already possess in the common bee to enable me with 
confidence to recommend bee-keepers to take it into their 
apiaries. The common variety does so well that it will be 
difficult for any other variety to eclipse it, although it is 
quite possible that a careful cross between some two varieties 
may give a bee superior to any one of the pure races ; but in 
all crosses there seems to be one great disadvantage in the 
increased tendency to use their stings, which seems to be 
developed in the progeny of hybrid queens. It is, however, 
necessary to say a few words on the other side, for I quite 
agree with a passage in some bee book which complains that 
a fair trial is not given to the foreign bee in many apiaries. 
Great expectations are raised, but the new queen is imported, 
perhaps to fill the place of a queen deceased in a poor colony, 
and is expected to restore to prosperity a hive which was 
worthless from the commencement. Another great fault in 
connection with foreign bees is that many bee-keepers divide 
them so unmercifully that the wonder is, not they do not 
collect a large surplus of honey, but that they contrive to 
exist at all. Disease does indeed often ensue, and then the 
race is condemned as worthless. Fair trial must be given 
to all, and until such trial has been made no condemnation 
can be fairly uttered. If tli9 Ligurian bee or the Syrian bee 
can surpass the common bee in the hands of an ordinary 
bee-master, and has no defect which will depreciate this 
valuable characteristic, then practical men will readily adopt 
the change, and those who introduced the variety at expense 
and no doubt some loss to themselves will have earned the 
thanks of all bee-keepers.— Felix. 
THE SEASON AND THE BEES. 
Winter still lingers with us, and on the last day of April the 
thermometer stood at 25°, on the day before snow fell for some time. 
There has not been more than six days free from frost this year, and 
on three days only have the bees carried natural pollen briskly. 
Monday, April 26th, was a fine day with a temperature of 65°. On 
that day five miles from my home 1 saw wreaths of snow and Crocuses 
in full bloom. 
Vegetation as well as bees are as a rule fully a month later than 
the average, but at the last a good change has favoured agriculturists 
and gardeners, and although rather late if heat comes plants will 
grow fast. Bees that have been well provided with stores and other¬ 
wise well cared for at the end of the season are well advanced, it is 
those only that have been neglected in some shape or other that are 
behind. My own stocks are mostly in an advanced state, the crossed 
Cyprians again taking the lead, but both pure and crossed Carniolians as 
well as crossed Syrians are not far behind. In fact, several nuclei of 
crossed Carniolians which occupied but one comb beginning of August, 
and having their hive extended to twelve large frames, stood so all 
winter and spring, are making more rapid progress in proportion to the 
number of bees than hives that had a full complement of bees at the 
end of the season. How is this? Simply be cause I provided the bees 
with plenty of honey and pollen, the industrious little insects did 
their best, and by molesting them no further I did the next best. I 
have often heard of the evil of pollen-bound hives which occur only 
when a hive is queenless during favourable weather for collecting pollen, 
but singular to say I never saw nor knew a hive suffer from being 
pollen-bound, if at the proper season—viz., in autumn. On the other 
hand, such hives with me were, as a rule, the best by spring. In 
every hive that I possess I can recognise bees that were working in 
July last year. This is by no means uncommon. The only thing 
uncommon about it is many bee-keepers fail to preserve the adult 
