Bees

FACTS ON HONEY BEES

Beekeeping can be a hobby, a sideline operation or a full-time vocation. Keeping bees is a hobby practiced by hundreds of people in Alberta and millions around the world. Beekeeping is a relatively inexpensive hobby that provides a sweet bonus each year. This fact sheet is primarily a guide for someone who comes in contact with bees somewhat later in life.

There are two considerations to weigh before committing yourself to beekeeping: the sting and the back.

If you keep bees you will be stung by them and probably some of your family will get stung over time. For most people a bee sting hurts, and a brief period of discomfort follows. For others (about 0.4 per cent of the population) there is a danger of death from anaphylactic shock brought on by the bee sting. Frequently there are indications that a person is becoming highly allergic to bee stings, but occasionally the problem occurs unannounced. (Swelling at the site of the sting is normal; hives over the body, itching in areas of the body remote from the sting and shortness of breath are abnormal and cause for concern.)

You do not have to be physically strong to keep bees, but it is helpful to have someone to help with the heavy lifting. If the stings can be endured and the lifting accommodated then by all means go ahead and become a beekeeper.

Gaining knowledge

Reading is a good way to learn about beekeeping. However, no written material can prepare you for the assault on your senses when you first open a hive and all those insects are so close to you. If possible, contact an experienced beekeeper and trade your free labour for a chance to accompany him or her as the hives are worked. Learn how to open a hive and remove frames.

Become familiar with the differences between queens, workers and drones. Observe closely what normal brood looks like, the difference between brood and honey capping and how honey shines in the cell compared to pollen.

Springtime
Whether bees come from packages or have been kept over the winter, the beekeeper does basically the same things. The bee colony is inspected to ensure that the queen is present and laying eggs, that there is no sign of disease and that the colony has sufficient stores to last until the first nectar and pollen becomes available from willow bushes. The colony is given preventative medication to ensure that diseases do not become established. The colony should be inspected and medicated every two weeks. When the bees in the hive cover seven of the frames in the top super then a new super should be added. Medication should stop by June 10 to ensure that none of the medication ends up in the honey crop.

Summer
As July approaches it is time to put an extra super of white frames on the colony to hold the honey. Bees need this extra room or they cease working well and may even swarm. Continue to monitor the hives and add another super on top as the five centre frames fill with honey. When all the frames in a super are filled with honey and one-half of the cells are capped with wax, the super and frames may be removed from the hive and the honey extracted. Normally honey flows in Alberta slow down in August and the amount of space given to the bees can be reduced somewhat. After the first killing frost all the supers above the second can be removed and extracted.

Fall
Once the honey supers have been removed, the bees in the colony can be killed if you plan to buy package bees in the spring. If you wish to winter your bees then the colony should be examined to ensure the queen is still viable and that no disease has developed. Medicate the colony at this time. The colony must be fed sugar and water to ensure that it will have enough food to survive the winter. This feeding is best done before the end of September. The total weight of two supers, lid, bottom, honey, pollen and bees should be at feast 125 pounds. Towards the end of October the bee colony can be moved indoors for winter or wrapped to protect the bees from the elements.

Winter
If the bees are outside there is little that can be done to assist them. They will survive even if they are completely covered by snow for a while. If the bees are indoors ensure that the temperature stays low and constant (about 5°C) and ventilation is maintained. It is normal for bees to leave the hive during the winter and die.

Costs

Every hobby requires an outlay of funds. In beekeeping the expenses can be divided into four categories: expenditures to protect you as you work the bees; money for bees and the hives for them to live in; cash for extracting equipment, so the honey may be harvested; and something to protect the bees over the winter.

In choosing a section in which to keep bees on an extensive scale it is essential that the resources of the country be known. Beekeeping is more or less profitable in almost all parts of the United States, but it is not profitable to practice extensive bee keeping in localities where the plants do not yield nectar in large quantities. A man who desires to make honey production his business may find that it does not pay to increase the apiaries in his present location. It may be better to move to another part of the country where nectar is more abundant.

The location of the hives is a matter of considerable importance. As a rule it is better for hives to face away from the prevailing wind and to be protected from high winds. In the North, a south slope is desirable. It is advisable for hives to be so placed that the sun will strike them early in the morning, so that the bees become active early in the day, and thus gain an advantage by getting the first supply of nectar. It is also advantageous to have the hives shaded during the hottest part of the day, so that the bees will not hang-out in front of the hive instead of working. They should be so placed that the bees will not prove a nuisance to passers-by or disturb live stock. This latter precaution may save the bee keeper considerable trouble, for bees sometimes prove dangerous, especially to horses. Bees are also sometimes annoying in the early spring, for on their first flights they sometimes spot clothes hung out to dry. This may be remedied by having the apiary some distance from the clothes-drying yard, or by removing the bees from the cellars on days when no clothes are to be hung out.

The plot on which the hives are placed should be kept free from weeds, especially in front of the entrances. The grass may be cut with a lawn mower, but it will often be found more convenient and as efficient to pasture one or more head of sheep in the apiary enclosure.

The hives should be far enough apart to permit of free manipulation. If hives are too close together there is danger of bees entering the wrong hive on returning, especially in the spring.

These conditions, which may be considered as ideal, need not all be followed. When necessary, bees may be kept on housetops, in the back part of city lots, in the woods, or in many other places where the ideal conditions are not found. As a matter of fact, few apiaries are perfectly located; nevertheless, the location should be carefully planned, especially when a large number of colonies are kept primarily for profit.

As a rule, it is not considered best to keep more than 100 colonies in one apiary, and apiaries should be at least 2 miles apart. There are so many factors to be considered, however, that no general rule can be laid down. The only way to learn how many colonies any given locality will sustain is to study the honey flora and the record of that place until the bee keeper can decide for himself the best number to be kept and where they shall be placed.

The experience of a relatively small number of good bee keepers in keeping unusually large apiaries indicates that the capabilities of the average locality are usually underestimated. The determination of the size of extensive apiaries is worthy of considerable study, for it is obviously desirable to keep bees in as few places as possible, to save time in going to them and also expense in duplicated apparatus. To the majority of bee keepers this problem is not important, for most persons keep but a small number of colonies. This is perhaps a misfortune to the industry as a whole, for with fewer apiaries of larger size under the management of careful, trained bee keepers the honey production of the country would be marvellously increased. For this reason, professional bee keepers are not favourably inclined to the making of thousands of amateurs, who often spoil the location for the honey producer and more often spoil his market by the injudicious selling of honey for less than it is worth or by putting an inferior article on the market.

Out apiaries, or those located away from the main apiary, should be so located that transportation will be as easy as possible. The primary consideration, however, must be the available nectar supply and the number of colonies of bees already near enough to draw on the resources. The out apiary should also be near to some friendly person, so that it may be protected against depredation and so that the owner may be notified if anything goes wrong. It is especially desirable to have it in the partial care of some person who can hive swarms or do other similar things that may arise in an emergency. The terms under which the apiary is placed on land belonging to some one else is a matter for mutual agreement. There is no general usage in this regard.

The successful manipulation of bees depends entirely on a knowledge of their habits. This is not generally recognized, and most of the literature on practical bee keeping consists of sets of rules to guide manipulations. This is too true of the present paper, but is due to a desire to make the bulletin short and concise. While this method usually answers, it is nevertheless faulty, in that, without a knowledge of fundamental principles of behaviour, the bee keeper is unable to recognize the seemingly abnormal phases of activity, and does not know what to do under such circumstances. Rules must, of course, be based on the usual behaviour. By years of association the bee keeper almost unconsciously acquires a wide knowledge of bee behaviour, and consequently is better able to solve the problems which constantly arise. However, it would save an infinite number of mistakes and would add greatly to the interest of the work if more time were expended on a study of behaviour; then the knowledge gained could be applied to practical manipulation.

A colony of bees consists normally of one queen bee, the mother of the colony, and thousands of sexually undeveloped females called workers, which normally lay no eggs, but build the comb, gather the stores, keep the hive clean, feed the young, and do the other work of the hive. During part of the year there are also present some hundreds of males or drones (often removed or restricted in numbers by the bee keeper), whose only service is to mate with young queens. These three types are easily recognized, even by a novice. In nature the colony lives in a hollow tree or other cavity, but under manipulation thrives in the artificial hives provided. The combs which form their abode are composed of wax secreted by the workers. The hexagonal cells of the two vertical layers constituting each comb have inter-placed ends on a common septum. In the cells of these combs are reared the developing bees, and honey and pollen for food are also stored here.

The cells built naturally are not all of the same size, those used in rearing worker bees being about one-fifth of an inch across, and those used in rearing drones and in storing honey about one-fourth of an inch across. The upper cells in natural combs are more irregular, and generally curve upward at the outer end. They are used chiefly for the storage of honey. Under manipulation the size of the cells is controlled by the bee keeper by the use of comb foundation—sheets of pure beeswax on which are impressed the bases of cells and on which the bees build the side walls.

In the North, when the activity of the spring begins, the normal colony consists of the queen and some thousands of workers. As the outside temperature raises, the queen begins to lay eggs in the worker cells. These in time develop into white larvae, which grow to fill the cells. They are then capped over and transform first into pups and then into adult worker bees. As the weather grows warmer, and the colony increases in size by the emergence of the young bees, the quantity of brood is increased. The workers continue to bring in pollen, nectar to be made into honey, and water for brood rearing. When the hive is nearly filled with bees and stores, or when a heavy honey flow is on, the queen begins to lay eggs in the larger cells, and these develop into drones or males.

Continued increase of the colony would result in the formation of enormous colonies, and unless some division takes place no increase in the number of colonies will result. Finally, however, the workers begin to build queen cells. These are larger than any other cells in the hive and hang on the comb vertically. In size and shape they may be likened to a peanut, and are also rough on the outside.

In preparing for swarming the queen sometimes lays eggs in partly constructed queen cells, but when a colony becomes queen less the cells are built around female larvae. The larvae in these cells receive special food, and when they have grown to full size they, too, are sealed up, and the colony is then ready for swarming.

The issuing of the first swarm from a colony consists of the departure of the original queen with part of the workers. They leave behind the honey stores, except such as they can carry in their honey stomachs, the brood, some workers, drones, several queen cells, from which will later emerge young queens, but no adult queen. By this interesting process the original colony is divided into two.

The swarm finds a new location in some place, such as a hollow tree, or, if cared for by the bee keeper, in a hive. The workers build new combs, the queen begins laying, and in a short time the swarm Colony.

The colony on the old stand (parent colony) is increased by the bees emerging from the brood. After a time (usually about seven or eight days) the queens in their cells are ready to emerge. If the colony is only moderately strong the first queen a to emerge is allowed by the workers to tear down the other queen cells and kill the queens not yet emerged, but if a "second swarm" is to be given off the queen cells are protected.

If the weather permits, when from 5 to 8 days old, the young queen flies from the hive to mate with a drone. Mating usually occurs but once during the life of the queen and always takes place on the wing. In mating she receives enough spermatozoa (male sex cells) to last throughout her life. She returns to the hive after mating, and in about two days begins egg laying. The queen never leaves the hive except at mating time or with a swarm, and her sole duty in the colony is to lay eggs to keep up the population.

When the flowers which furnish most nectar are in bloom, the bees usually gather more honey than they need for their own use, and this the bee keeper can safely remove. They continue the collection of honey and other activities until cold weather comes on in the fall, when brood rearing ceases; they then become relatively quiet, remaining in the hive all winter, except for short flights on warm days. When the main honey flow is over, the drones are usually driven from the hive. By that time the virgin queens have been mated and drones are of no further use. They are not usually stung to death, but are merely carried or driven from the hive by the workers and starve. A colony of bees which for any reason is without a queen does not expel the drones.

Many abnormal conditions may arise in the activity of a colony, and it is therefore necessary for the bee keeper to understand most of these, so that when they occur he may overcome them. If a virgin queen is prevented from mating she generally dies, but occasionally begins to lay eggs after about four weeks. In this event, however, all of the eggs which develop become males. Such a queen is commonly called a "drone layer."

If the virgin queen is lost while on her flight, or the colony at any other time is left queen less without means of rearing additional queens, it sometimes happens that some of the workers begin to lay eggs. These eggs also develop only into drones.

It also happens at times that when a queen becomes old her supply of spermatozoa is exhausted, at which time her eggs also develop only into drones. These facts are the basis of the theory that the drone of the bee is developed from an unfertilized egg or is parthenogenetic. A full discussion of this point is impossible in this place.

The work of the hive is very nicely apportioned among the inmates, so that there is little lost effort. As has been stated, the rearing of young is accomplished by having one individual to lay eggs and numerous others (immature females or workers) to care for the larvae. In like manner all work of the colony is apportioned. In general, it may be stated that all inside work-wax building, care of brood, and cleaning is done by the younger workers, those less than 17 days old, while the outside work of collecting pollen and nectar to be made into honey is done by the older workers. This plan may be changed by special conditions. For example, if the colony has been queen less for a time and a queen is then given, old workers may begin the inside work of feeding larvae, and these may also secrete wax. Or, if the old workers are all removed, the younger bees may begin outside work. As a rule, however, the general plan of division of labour according to age is probably followed rather closely.

Bees should be handled so that they will be little disturbed in their work. As much as possible, stings should be avoided during manipulation. This is true, not so much because they are painful to the operator, but because the odor of poison which gets into the air irritates the other bees and makes them more difficult to manage. For this reason it is most advisable to wear a black veil over a wide-brimmed hat and to have a good smoker. Gloves, however, are usually more an inconvenience than otherwise. Gauntlets or rubber bands around the cuffs keep the bees from crawling up the sleeve. It is best to avoid black clothing, since that colour seems to excite bees; a black felt hat is especially to be avoided.

Superfluous quick movements tend to irritate the bees. The hive should not be jarred or disturbed any more than necessary. Rapid movements are objectionable, because with their peculiar eye structure bees probably perceive motion more readily than they do objects. Persons not accustomed to bees, on approaching a hive, often strike at bees which fly toward them or make some quick movement of the head or hand to avoid the sting which they fear is to follow. This should not be done, for the rapid movement, even if not toward the bee, is far more likely to be followed by a sting than remaining quiet.

The best time to handle bees is during the middle of warm days, particularly during a honey flow. Never handle bees at night or on cold, wet days unless absolutely necessary. The work of a beginner may be made much easier and more pleasant by keeping gentle bees. Caucasians, Carniolans, Banats, and some strains of Italians ordinarily do not sting much unless unusually provoked or except in bad weather. Common black bees or crosses of blacks with other races are more irritable. It may be well worth while for the beginner to procure gentle bees while gaining experience in manipulation. Later on, this is less important, for the bee keeper learns to handle bees with little inconvenience to himself or to the bees. Various remedies for bee stings have been advocated, but they are all useless. The puncture made by the sting is so small that it closes when the sting is removed and liquids can not be expected to enter. The best thing to do when stung is to remove the sting as soon as possible without squeezing the poison sac, which is usually attached. This can be done by scraping it out with a knife or finger nail. After this is done the injured spot should be let alone and not rubbed with any liniment. The intense itching will soon disappear; any irritation only serves to increase the after swelling.

Before opening a hive the smoker should be lighted and the veil put on. A few puffs of smoke directed into the entrance will cause the bees to fill themselves with honey and will drive back the guards. The hive cover should be raised gently, if necessary being pried loose with a screwdriver or special hive tool. When slightly raised, a little more smoke should be blown in vigorously on the tops of the frames, or if a mat covering for the frames is used, the cover should be entirely removed and one corner of the mat lifted to admit smoke. It is not desirable to use any more smoke than just enough to subdue the bees and keep them down on the frames. If at any time during manipulation they become excited, more smoke may be necessary. Do not stand in front of the entrance, but at one side or the back.

After the frames are exposed they may be loosened by prying gently with the hive tool and crowded together a little so as to give room for the removal of one frame. In cool weather the propolis (bee glue) may be brittle. Care should be exercised not to loosen this propolis with a jar. The first frame removed can be leaned against the hive, so that there will be more room inside for handling the others. During all manipulations bees must not be mashed or crowded, for it irritates the colony greatly and may make it necessary to discontinue operations. Undue crowding may also crush the queen. If bees crawl on the hands, they may be gently brushed off or thrown off.

In examining a frame hold it over the hive if possible, so that any bees or queen which fall may drop into it. Freshly gathered honey also often drops from the frame, and if it falls in the hive the bees can quickly clean it up, whereas if it drops outside it is untidy and may cause robbing. If a frame is temporarily leaned against the hive, it should be placed in a nearly upright position to prevent breakage and leaking of honey. The frame on which the queen is located should not be placed on the ground, for fear she may crawl away and be lost. It is best to lean the frame on the side of the hive away from the operator, so that bees will not crawl up his legs.

In handling frames the comb should always be held in a vertical position, especially if it contains much honey. When a frame is lifted from the hive by the top bar, the comb is vertical with one side toward the operator. To examine the reverse side, raise one end of the top bar until it is perpendicular, turn the frame on the top bar as an axis until the reverse side is in view, and then lower to a horizontal position with the top bar below. In this way there is no extra strain on the comb and the bees are not irritated. This care is not so necessary with wired combs, but it is a good habit to form in handling frames.

It is desirable to have combs composed entirely of worker cells in order to reduce the amount of drone brood. The use of full sheets of foundation will bring this about and is also of value in making the combs straight, so that bees are not mashed in removing the frame. It is extremely difficult to remove combs built crosswise in the hive, and this should never be allowed to occur. Such a hive is even worse than a plain box hive. Superfluous inside fixtures should be avoided, as they tend only to impede manipulation. The hive should also be placed so that the entrance is perfectly horizontal and a little lower than the back of the hive. The frames will then hang in a vertical position, and the outer ones will not be fastened by the bees to the hive body if properly spaced at the top.

In placing frames in the hive great care should be exercised that they are properly spaced. Some frames are self-spacing, having projections on the side, so that when placed as close as possible they are the correct distance apart. These are good for beginners or persons who do not judge distances well and are preferred by many professional bee keepers. If unspaced ed frames are used, the brood frames should be 1 s inches from centre to centre. A little practice will usually enable anyone to space quickly and accurately. Careful spacing is necessary to prevent the building of combs of irregular thickness and to retard the building of pieces of comb from one frame to another.

A beginner in bee keeping should by all means, if possible, visit some experienced bee keeper to get suggestions in handling bees. More can be learned in a short visit than in a considerably longer time in reading directions, and numerous short cuts which are acquired by experience will well repay the trouble or expense of such a visit. Not all professional bee keepers manipulate in the very best way, but later personal experience will correct any erroneous information. Above all, personal experimentation and a study of bee activity are absolute necessities in the practical handling of bees.

In increasing the apiary it is sometimes best to buy colonies in box hives on account of their smaller cost and to transfer them to hives with movable frames. This should be done as soon as possible, for box-hive colonies are of small value as producers. The best time to transfer is in the spring (during fruit bloom in the North) when the amount of honey and the population of the colony are at a minimum.

Transferring should not be delayed until spring merely because that season is best for the work. It may be done at any time during the active season, but, whenever possible, during a honey flow, to prevent robbing. If necessary, it may be done in a tent such as is often used in manipulating colonies. By choosing a time of the day when the largest number of bees are in the field the work will be lessened.

Plan 1.—The box hive should be moved a few feet from its stand and in its place should be put a hive with movable frames containing full sheets of foundation. The box hive should be turned upside down and a small, empty box inverted over it. By drumming continuously on the box hive with sticks for a considerable time the bees will be made to desert their combs and go to the upper box, and when most of them are clustered above, the bees may be dumped in front of the entrance of the hive which is to house them. The queen will usually be seen as the bees enter the hive, but, in case she has not left the old combs, more drumming will induce her to do so. It is necessary that the queen be in the hive before this manipulation is finished. The old box hive containing brood may now be placed right side up in a new location and in 21 days all of the worker brood will have emerged and probably some new queens will have been reared. These bees may then be drummed out and united with their former hive mates by vigorously smoking the colony and the drummed bees and allowing the latter to enter the hive through a perforated zinc to keep out the young queens. The comb in the box hive may then be melted up and any honey which it may contain used as the bee keeper sees fit. By this method good straight combs are obtained. If little honey is being gathered, the colony in the hive must be provided with food.

Plan 2.—If, on the other hand, the operator desires to save the combs of the box hive, the bees may be drummed into a box and the brood combs and other fairly good combs cut to fit frames and tied in place or held with rubber bands, strings, or strips of wood until the bees can repair the damage and fill up the breaks. These frames can then be hung in a hive on the old stand and the bees allowed to go in. The cutting of combs containing brood with more or less bees on them is a disagreeable job, and, since the combs so obtained are usually of little value in an apiary, the first method is recommended.

Plan 3.—Another good plan is to wait until the colony swarms and then move the box hive to one side. A movable frame hive is now placed in the former location of the box hive and the swarm is hived in it. In this way all returning field bees are forced to join the swarm. In 21 days all of the worker brood in the box hive will have emerged. These young bees may then be united with the bees in the frame hive and the box hive destroyed.

Colonies often take up their abode in walls of houses and it is often necessary to remove them to prevent damage from melting combs. If the cavity in which the combs are built can be reached, the method of procedure is like that of transferring, except that drumming is impractical and the bees must simply be subdued with smoke and the combs cut out with the bees on them.

Another method which is often better is to place a bee escape over the entrance to the cavity, so that the bees can come out, but can not return. A cone of wire cloth about 8 inches high with a hole at the apex just large enough for one bee to pass will serve as a bee escape, or regular bee escapes such as are sold by dealers may be used. A hive which they can enter is then placed beside the entrance. The queen is not obtained in this way and, of course, goes right on laying eggs, but as the colony is rapidly reduced in size the amount of brood decreases. As brood emerges, the younger bees leave the cavity and join the bees in the hive, until finally the queen is left practically alone. A new queen should be given to the bees in the hive as soon as possible, and in a short time they are fully established in their new quarters. After about four weeks, when all or nearly all of the brood in the cavity has emerged, the bee escape should be removed and as large a hole made at the entrance of the cavity as possible. The bees will then go in and rob out the honey and carry it to the hive, leaving only empty combs. The empty combs will probably do no damage, as moths usually soon destroy them and they may be left in the cavity and the old entrance carefully closed to prevent another swarm from taking up quarters there.

In transferring bees from a hollow tree the method will depend on the accessibility of the cavity. Usually it is difficult to drum out the bees and the combs can be cut out after subduing the colony with smoke.

Frequently colonies become queen less when it is not practicable to give them a new queen, and the best practice under such conditions is to unite the queen less bees to a normal colony. If any colonies are weak in the fall, even if they have a queen, safe wintering is better insured if two or more weak colonies are united, keeping the best queen. Under various other conditions which may arise the bee keeper may find it desirable to unite bees from different colonies. Some fundamental facts in bee behaviour must be thoroughly understood to make this a success.

Every colony of bees has a distinctive colony odor and by this means bees recognize the entering of their hive by bees from other colonies and usually resent it. If, however, a bee comes heavily laden from the field and flies directly into the wrong hive without hesitation it is rarely molested. In uniting colonies, the separate colony odors must be hidden, and this is done by smoking each colony vigorously. It may at times be desirable to use tobacco smoke, which not only covers the colony odor but stupefies the bees somewhat. Care should be taken not to use too much tobacco, as it will completely overcome the bees. The queen to be saved should be caged for a day or two to prevent the strange bees from killing her in the first excitement.

Another fact which must be considered is that the bees of a colony carefully mark the location of their own hive and remember that location for some time after they are removed. If, therefore, two colonies in the apiary which are not close together are to be united, they should be moved gradually nearer, not more than a foot at a time, until they are side by side, so that the bees will not return to their original locations and be lost. As the hives are moved gradually the slight changes are noted and no such loss occurs. As a further precaution, a board should be placed in front of the entrance in a slanting position, or brush and weeds may be thrown down so that when the bees fly out they recognize the fact that there has been a change and accustom themselves to the new place. If uniting can be done during a honey flow, there is less danger of loss of bees by fighting, or if done in cool weather, when the bees are not actively rearing brood, the colony odors are diminished and the danger is reduced.

It is an easy matter to unite two or more weak swarms to make one strong one, for during swarming the bees have lost their memory of the old location, are full of honey, and are easily placed wherever the bee keeper wishes. They may simply be thrown together in front of a hive. Swarms may also be given to a newly established colony with little difficulty.

When there is no honey flow bees are inclined to rob other colonies, and every precaution must be taken to prevent this. Feeding often attracts other bees, and, if there are indications of robbing, the syrup or honey should be given late in the day. As soon as robbing begins, manipulation of colonies should be discontinued, the hives closed, and, if necessary, the entrances contracted as far as the weather will permit. If brush is thrown in front of the entrance, robbers are less likely to attempt entering. At all times honey which has been removed from the hives should be kept where no bees can get at it, so as not to incite robbing.

During spring manipulations, in preparing bees for winter, and at other times it may be necessary to feed bees for stimulation or to provide stores. Honey from an unknown source should never be used, for fear of introducing disease, and syrup made of granulated sugar is cheapest and best for this purpose. The cheaper grades of sugar or molasses should never be used for winter stores. The proportion of sugar to water depends on the season and the purpose of the feeding. For stimulation a proportion of one-fourth to one-third sugar by volume is enough, and for fall feeding, especially if rather late, a solution containing as much sugar as it will hold when cold is best. There seems to be little advantage in boiling the syrup. Tartaric acid in small quantity may be added for the purpose of changing part of the cane sugar to invert sugar, thus retarding granulation. The medication of syrup as a preventive or cure of brood disease is often practiced, but it has not been shown that such a procedure is of any value. If honey is fed, it should be diluted somewhat, the amount of dilution depending on the season. If robbing is likely to occur, feeding should be done in the evening.

Numerous feeders are on the market, adapted for different purposes and methods of manipulation. A simple feeder can be made of a tin pan filled with excelsior or shavings. This is filled with syrup and placed on top of the frames in a super or hive body. It is advisable to lean pieces of wood on the pan as runways for the bees, and to attract them first to the syrup, either by mixing in a little honey or by spilling a little syrup over the frames and sticks.

It may be stated positively that it does not pay financially, or in any other way, to feed sugar syrup to be stored in sections and sold as comb honey. Of course, such things have been tried, but the consumption of sugar during the storing makes the cost greater than the value of pure floral honey.

After the main honey flow is over the management must depend on what may be expected later in the season from minor honey flows. If no crop is to be expected, the colony may well be kept only moderately strong, so that there will not be so many consumers in the hive.

In localities where winters are severe and breeding is suspended for several months great care should be taken that brood rearing is rather active during the late summer, so that the colony may go into winter with plenty of young bees. In case any queens show lack of vitality they should be replaced early, so that the bees will not become queen less during the winter.

The important considerations in wintering are plenty of young bees, a good queen, plenty of stores of good quality, sound hives, and proper protection from cold and dampness.

If, as cold weather approaches, the bees do not have stores enough, they must be fed. Every colony should have from 25 to 40 pounds, depending on the length of winter and the methods of wintering. It is better to have too much honey than not enough, for what is left is good next season. If feeding is practiced, honey may be used, but syrup made of granulated sugar is just as good and is perfectly safe. If honey is purchased for feeding, great care should be taken that it comes from a healthy apiary, otherwise the apiary may be ruined by disease. Never feed honey bought on the open market. The bees should be provided with stores early enough so that it will not be necessary to feed or to open the colonies after cold weather comes on. Honeydew honey should not be left in the hives, as it produces "dysentery." Some honeys are also not ideal for winter stores. Those which show a high percentage of gums (most tree honeys) are not so desirable, but will usually cause no trouble.

In wintering out of doors the amount of protection depends on the severity of the winter. In the South no packing is necessary, and even in very cold climates good colonies with plenty of stores can often pass the winter with little protection, but packing and protection make it necessary for the bees to generate less heat, and consequently they consume less stores and their vitality is not reduced° Dampness is probably harder for bees to withstand than cold, and when it is considered that bees give off considerable moisture, precautions should be taken that as it condenses it does not get on the cluster. An opening at the top would allow the moisture to pass out, but it would also waste heat, so it is better to put a mat of burlap or other absorbent material on top of the frames. The hive may also be packed in chaff, leaves, or other similar dry material to diminish the loss of heat. Some hives are made with double walls, the space being filled with chaff; these are good for outdoor wintering. The hive entrance should be lower than any other part of the hive, so that any condensed moisture may run out. The hives should be sound and the covers tight and waterproof.

Entrances should be contracted in cold weather not only to keep out cold wind, but to prevent mice from entering. There should always be enough room, however, for bees to pass in and out if warmer weather permits a flight.

In the hands of experienced bee keepers cellar wintering is very successful, but this method requires careful study. The cellar must be dry and so protected that the temperature never varies more than from 40 to 45° F.; 43° F. seems to be the optimum temperature. The ventilation must be good or the bees become fretful. Light should not be admitted to the cellar, and consequently some means of indirect ventilation is necessary.

Cellar wintering requires the consumption of less honey to maintain the proper temperature in the cluster and is therefore economical. Bees so wintered do not have an opportunity for a cleansing flight, often for several months, but the low consumption makes this less necessary. Some bee keepers advocate carrying the colonies out a few times on warm days, but it is not fully established whether this is entirely beneficial and it is usually not practiced.

The time for putting colonies in the cellar is a point of dispute, and practice in this regard varies considerably. They should certainly be put in before the weather becomes severe and as soon as they have ceased brood rearing. The time chosen may be at night when they are all in the hive, or on some chilly day.

The hives may be piled one on top of the other, the lower tier raised a little from the floor. The entrances should not be contracted unless the colony is comparatively weak. It is usually not considered good policy to close the entrances with ordinary wire cloth, as the dead bees which accumulate more or less on the bottom boards may cut off ventilation, and the entrance should be free so that these may be cleaned out.

It is, however, good policy to cover the entrance with wire cloth having three meshes to the inch to keep out mice.

The time of removing bees from the cellar is less easily determined than that of putting them in. The colonies may be removed early and wrapped in black tar paper or left unfit the weather is settled. If the weather is very warm and the bees become fretful, the cellar must either be cooled or the bees removed. Some bee keepers prefer to remove bees at night, so that they can recover from the excitement and fly from the hive normally in the morning. One of the chief difficulties is to prevent the bees from getting into the wrong hives after their first flights. They often "drift" badly with the wind, and sometimes an outside row will become abnormally strong, leaving other colonies weak.

The night before the bees are removed from the cellar it is good practice to leave the cellar doors and windows wide open.

EQUIPMENT

Personal equipment
The minimum personal equipment that is needed includes a veil, hive tool and bee smoker. The bee veil keeps bees away from your head. It is disconcerting to have bees crawling on your face or in your hair. As well, stings on the head are especially painful. A special hat may be purchased to hold the veil but you may already own a suitable wide brimmed hat. A baseball cap will not do.

The bee smoker allows the beekeeper to keep the bees from becoming agitated. A gentle puff of smoke usually calms the bees and permits the beekeeper to continue working in peace. The hive tool is specially designed to assist the beekeeper in manipulating the frames in the supers. Bees are less likely to become disturbed if the proper tools are used.

A bee suit and bee gloves are desirable accessories that can be added later. The bee suit is designed with no opening to the interior. When outfitted with a bee suit, a pair of suitable high top boots, bee gloves, veil and a good hat, a beekeeper is well protected from bee stings during normal beekeeping operations. Occasionally, when provoked, bees may penetrate the join between the suit and the veil or sting right through the cloth of the bee suit. Working the bees with your bare hands improves your feel for what you are doing and leads to less jarring of the hive and calmer bees. Sometimes, however, the work must be done quickly at which time gloves are good to have.

Beehives
A standard beehive has a bottom board and a hive cover with five supers in between. Each super contains nine or 10 frames of comb in which the bees rear their young and store honey and pollen. Normally the bottom two supers are brood supers used for rearing the young and storing honey and pollen for short-term and winter use. The top three supers are used to hold the honey crop. Special "shallow" supers can reduce the weights that must be lifted.

A beehive may be built from new components, but installing bees into such a hive stresses them and usually reduces the honey crop. It is better to purchase a hive that has already had bees in it for a year or more. If you are inexperienced or unsure, ask a beekeeper for advice and help to inspect a potential purchase. Buy standard sized equipment that has been properly constructed and well maintained.

HONEY, a most assimilable carbohydrate compound, is a singularly acceptable, practical and most effective aliment to generate heat, create and replace energy, and furthermore, to form certain tissues. Honey, besides, supplies the organism with substances for the formation of enzymes and other biological ferments to promote oxidation. It has distinct germicidal properties and in this respect greatly differs from milk which is an exceptionally good breeding-ground for bacteria. Honey is a most valuable food, which today is not sufficiently appreciated. Its frequent if not daily use is vitally important.

The universal and natural craving for sweets of some kind proves best that there is a true need for them in the human system. Children, who expend lots of energy, have a real "passion" for sweets. This is really instinct. Proteins will replace and build tissues but it is the function and assignment of carbohydrates to create and replace heat and energy, and to provide what we call Honey, which contains two invert sugars, laevulose and dextrose, has many advantages as a food substance. While cane-sugar and starches, as already intimated, must undergo during digestion a process of inversion which changes them into grape and fruit-sugars, in honey this is already accomplished because it has been pre-digested by the bees, inverted and concentrated. This saves the stomach additional labour. For a healthy human body, which is capable of digesting sugar, the actuality that honey is an already pre-digested sugar has less importance, but in a case of weak digestion, especially in those who lack invertase and amylase and depend on monosaccarides, it is a different matter and deserves consideration.

The consummation of this predigest act is accomplished by the enzymes invertase, amylase and catalase, which are produced by the worker bee in such large quantities that they can be found in every part of their bodies. However, there is plenty of it left in honey for our benefit. The remarkable convertive power of these enzymes can be pif oven by a simple experiment. If we add one or two tablespoonful of raw honey to a pint of concentrated solution of sucrose, the mixture will soon be changed into invert sugar. The addition of boiled honey, in which the enzymes have been destroyed, will not accomplish such a change.

The frequent Biblical references to milk and honey demonstrate the importance of these two oldest aliments. Neither, how-ever, is a complete food nor a proper nutriment alone for a long period of time. They are effective only to supplement deficiencies of other food substances.

Milk has many drawbacks. As mentioned, it is an excellent breeding medium for bacteria. The inhabitants of the East quickly sour the milk of cows, goats, sheep, mares and camels and prepare curds and cheese from it, because in warm climates milk cannot be preserved otherwise. Honey, on the other hand, requires little attention and does not deteriorate even in the tropics. Honey has often been given reference over milk. It is not surprising that Van Helmont gave milk the epithet, "brute's food" and suggested bread, boiled in ber and honey, as a substitute. Liebig also recommended a substitute for milk. Honey has many advantages as a staple article of diet to secure optimum nutrition.

An essential in honey production is to have the hive overflowing with bees at the beginning of the honey flow, so that the field force will be large enough to gather more honey than the bees need for their own use. To accomplish this, the bee keeper must see to it that brood rearing is heavy some time before the harvest, and he must know accurately when the honey flows come, so that he may time his manipulations properly. Brood rearing during the honey flow usually produces bees which consume stores, while brood reared before the flow furnishes the surplus gatherers. The best methods of procedure may be illustrated by giving as an example the conditions in the white-clover region.

In the spring the bees gather pollen and nectar from various early flowers, and often a considerable quantity from fruit bloom and dandelions. During this time brood rearing is stimulated by the new honey, but afterwards there is usually a period of drought when brood rearing, is normally diminished or not still more increased as it should be. This condition continues until the white-clover flow comes on, usually with a rush, when brood rearing is again augmented. If such a condition exists, the bee keeper should keep brood rearing at a 'maximum by stimulative feeding during the drought. When white clover comes in bloom he may even find it desirable to prevent brood rearing to turn the attention of his bees to gathering.

A worker bee emerges from its cell 21 days after the egg is laid, and it usually begins field work in from 14 to 17 days later. It is evident, therefore, that an egg must be laid five weeks before the honey flow to produce a gatherer. Since the flow continues for some time and since bees often go to the field earlier than 14 days, egg laying should be pushed up to within two or three weeks of the opening of the honey flow. In addition to stimulative feeding, the care of the colony described under the heading of "Spring management" (p. 26) will increase brood production.

The obtaining of honey from bees is generally the primary object of their culture. Bees gather nectar to make into honey for their own use as food, but generally store more than they need, and this surplus the bee keeper takes away. By managing colonies early in the spring as previously described the surplus may be considerably increased. The secret of maximum crops is to "Keep all colonies strong."

Honey is gathered in the form of nectar secreted by various flowers, is transformed by the bees, and stored in the comb. Bees also often gather a sweet liquid called "honeydew," produced by various scale insects and plant-lice, but the honeydew honey made from it is quite unlike floral honey in flavour and composition and should not be sold for honey. It is usually unpalatable and should never be used as winter food for bees, since it usually causes dysentery. When nectar or honeydew has been thickened by evaporation and otherwise changed, the honey is sealed in the cells with tapings of beeswax.

It is not profitable to cultivate any plant solely for the nectar which it will produce, but various plants, such as clovers, alfalfa, and buckwheat, are valuable for other purposes and are at the same time excellent honey plants; their cultivation is therefore a benefit to the bee keeper. It is often profitable to sow some plant on waste land; sweet clovers are often used in this way. The majority of honey-producing plants are wild, and the bee keeper must largely accept the locality as he finds it and manage his apiary so as to get the largest possible amount of the available nectar. Since bees often fly as far as 2 or 3 miles to obtain nectar, it is obvious that the bee keeper can rarely influence the nectar supply appreciably. Before deciding what kind of honey to produce the bee keeper should have a clear knowledge of the honey resources of his locality and of the demands of the market in which he will sell his crop.

If the bulk of the honey is dark, or if the main honey flows are slow and protracted, it will not pay to produce comb honey, since the production of fancy comb honey depends on a rapid flow. The best localities for comb-honey production are in the northern part of the United States east of the Mississippi River, where white clover is a rapid and abundant yielder. Other parts of the United States where similar conditions of rapidity of flow exist are also good. Unless these favourable conditions are present it is better to produce extracted honey.

Extracted honey is honey which has been removed by means of centrifugal force from the combs in which the bees stored it. While it is possible to adulterate extracted honey by the addition of cheap syrups, this is rarely done, perhaps largely on account of the possibility of detection. It may be said to the credit of bee keepers as a class that they have always opposed adulteration of honey.

In providing combs for the storage of honey to be extracted the usual practice is to add to the top of the brood chamber one or more hive bodies just like the one in which brood is reared, and fill these with frames. If preferred, shallower frames with bodies of proper size may be used, but most honey extractors are made for full-size frames. The surplus bodies should be put on in plenty of time to prevent the crowding of the brood chamber, and also to act as a preventive of swarming.

Honey for extracting should not be removed until it is well ripened and a large percentage of it capped. It is best, however, to remove the crop from each honey flow before another heavy producing plant comes into bloom, so that the different grades of honey may be kept separate. It is better to extract while honey is still coming in, so that the bees will not be apt to rob. The extracting should be done in a building, preferably one provided with wire cloth at the windows.

The frames containing honey to be extracted are removed from the hive, the cappings cut off with a sharp, warm knife (fig. 21) made specially for this purpose, and the frames are then put into the baskets of the honey extractor (fig. 22). By revolving these rapidly the honey thrown out of one side. The basket is then reversed and the honey from the other side is removed. The combs can then be returned to the bees to be refilled, or if the honey flow is over, they can be returned to the bees to be cleaned and then removed and stored until needed again. This method is much to be preferred to mashing the comb and straining out the honey, as was formerly done.

In large apiaries special boxes to receive cappings, capping melters to render the cappings directly into wax, and power-driven extractors are often used. These will be found listed in supply catalogues.

The extracted honey is then strained and run into vessels. It is advisable not to put it in bottles at once, but to let it settle in open vessels for a time, so that it can be skimmed. Most honeys will granulate and become quite hard if exposed to changes of temperature, and to liquefy granulated extracted honey it should be heated in a water bath. Never heat honey directly over a stove or flame, as the flavour is thereby injured. The honey should never be heated higher than 160° F. unless it is necessary to sterilize it because of contami. nation by disease.

Extracted honey is put up in bottles or small tin cans for the retail trade, and in 5-gallon square tin cans or barrels for the wholesale market. Great care must be exercised if barrels are used, as honey will absorb moisture from the wood, if any is present, and cause leakage. The tin package is much to be preferred in most cases. In bottling honey for retail trade, it will well repay the bee keeper or bottler to go to considerable expense and trouble to make an attractive package, as the increased price received will more than compensate for the increased labour and expense. Honey should be heated to 160° F. and kept there for a time before bottling, and the bottle should be filled as full as possible and sealed hermetically.

Granulated honey.—Some honeys, such as alfalfa, granulate quickly after being extracted. Such honeys are sometimes allowed to granulate in large cans and the semisolid mass is then cut into 1-pound bricks like a butter print and wrapped in paraffin paper. It may be put into paraffined receptacles before granulation, if desired. There is always a ready market for granulated honey, since many people prefer it to the liquid honey.

Comb honey is honey as stored in the comb by the bees, the size and shape being determined by the small wooden sections provided by the bee keeper. Instead of having comb in large frames in which to store surplus honey, the bees are compelled to build comb in the sections and to store honey there. A full section weighs about 1 pound; larger ones are rarely used. By the use of modern sections and foundation the comb honey now produced is a truly beautiful, very uniform product, so uniform in fact that it is often charged that it must be artificially manufactured. The purchaser of a section of comb honey may be absolutely certain, however, that he is obtaining a product of the bees, for never has anyone been able to imitate the bees' work successfully. To show their confidence in the purity of comb honey, the National Bee Keepers' Association offers $1,000 for a single pound of artificial comb filled with an artificially prepared syrup, which is at all difficult of detection.

There are several different styles of sections now in use, the usual sizes being 4 1/4 inches square and 4 by 5 inches. There are also two methods of spacing, so that there will be room for the passage of bees from the brood chamber into the sections and from one super of sections to another. This is done either by cutting "bee ways" in the sections and using plain flat separators or by using "no bee-way" or plain sections and using " fences "—separators with cleats fastened on each side, to provide the bee space. To describe all the different "supers" or bodies for holding sections would be impossible in a bulletin of this size, and the reader must be referred to catalogues of dealers in bee keeping supplies. Instead of using regular comb-honey supers, some bee keepers use wide frames to hold two tiers of sections. It is better, however, to have the supers smaller, so that the bees may be crowded more to produce full sections. To overcome this difficulty, shallow wide frames holding one tier of sections may be used. The majority of bee keepers find it advisable to use special comb-honey supers.

In producing comb honey it is even more necessary to know the plants which produce surplus honey, and just when they come in bloom, than it is in extracted honey production. The colony should be so manipulated that the maximum field force is ready for the beginning of the flow. This requires care in spring management, and, above all, the prevention of swarming. Supers should be put on just before the heavy flow begins. A good indication of the need of supers is the whitening of the brood combs at the top. If the bees are in two hive-bodies they should generally be reduced to one, and the frames should be filled with brood and honey so that as the new crop comes in the bees will carry it immediately to the sections above. If large hives are used for the brood chamber it is often advisable to remove some of the frames and use a division board to crowd the bees above. To prevent the queen from going into the sections to lay, a sheet of perforated zinc (fig. 23) may be put between the brood chamber and the super.

It is often difficult to get bees to begin work in the small sections, but this should be brought about as soon as possible to prevent loss of honey. If there are at hand some sections which have been partly drawn the previous year, these may be put in the super with the new sections as "bait." Another good plan is to put a shallow extracting frame on either side of the sections. If a few colonies in the apiary that are strong enough to go above refuse to do so, lift supers from some colonies that have started to work above and give them to the slow Colonies. The super should generally be shaded somewhat to keep it from getting too hot. Artificial swarming will quickly force bees into the supers.

To produce the finest quality of comb honey full sheets of foundation should be used in the sections. Some bee keepers use nearly a full sheet hung from the top of the section and a narrow bottom starter. The use of foundation of worker-cell size is much preferred.

When one super becomes half full or more and there are indications that there will be honey enough to fill others, the first one should be raised and an empty one put on the hive under it. This tiering up can be continued as long as necessary, but it is advisable to remove filled sections as soon as possible after they are nicely capped, for they soon become discoloured and less attractive. Honey removed immediately after capping finds a better market, but if left on the hive even until the end of the summer the quality of the honey is improved. A careful watch must be kept on the honey flow, so as to give the bees only enough sections to store the crop. If this is not done a lot of unfinished sections will be left at the end of the flow. Honeys from different sources should not be mixed in the sections, as it usually gives the comb a bad appearance

To remove bees from sections, the super may be put over a bee escape so that the bees can pass down but can not return, or the supers may be removed and covered with a wire - cloth - cone bee escape.

After sections are removed the wood should be scraped free of propolis (bee glue) and then packed in shipping cases (fig: 24) for the market. Shipping cases to hold 12, 24, or 48 sections, in which the various styles of sections fit exactly, are manufactured by dealers in supplies. In shipping these cases, several of them should be put in a box or crate packed in straw and paper and handles provided to reduce the chances of breakage. When loaded in a freight car the combs should be parallel with the length of the car.

In preparing comb honey for market it should be carefully graded so that the sections in each shipping case are as uniform as possible. No thing will more likely cause wholesale purchasers to cut the price than to find the first row of sections in a case fancy and those behind of inferior grade. Grading rules have been adopted by various bee keepers' associations or drawn up by honey dealers. The following sets of rules are in general use:

No. 1 White.—Sections to be well filled and evenly capped, except the outside row, next to the wood; honey white or slightly amber, comb and cappings white, and not projecting beyond the wood; wood to be well cleaned; cases of separatored honey to average 21 pounds net per case of 24 sections; no section in this grade to weigh less than 13 1/2 ounces. Cases of half-separatored honey to average not less than 22 pounds net per case of 24 sections. Cases of unseparatored honey to average not less than 23 pounds net per case of 24 sections.

No. 1 Light Amber.—Sections to be well filled and evenly capped, except the outside row next to the wood; honey white or light amber; comb and cappings from white to off colour, but not dark; comb not projecting beyond the wood; wood to be well cleaned. Cases of separatored honey to average 21 pounds net per case of 24 sections; no section in this grade to weigh less than 13 1/2 ounces. Cases of half-separatored honey to average not less than 22 pounds net per case of 24 sections. Cases of unseparatored honey to average not less than 23 pounds net per case of 24 sections.

No. 2.—This includes all white honey, and amber honey not included in the above grades; sections to be fairly well filled and capped, no more than 25 uncapped cells, exclusive of outside row, permitted in this grade; wood to be well cleaned; no section in this grade to weigh less than 12 ounces. Cases of separatored honey to average not less than 19 pounds net. Cases of half-separatored honey to average not less than 20 pounds net per case of 24 sections. Cases of unseparatored honey to average not less than 21 pounds net per case of 24 sections.

There are two infectious diseases of the bees which cause great losses to the bee keeping industry of the United States. These are known as American foul brood and European foul brood. Both of these diseases destroy colonies by killing the brood, so that there are not enough young bees emerging to take the place of the old adult bees as these die from natural causes. The adult bees are not attacked by either disease. In the hands of careful bee keepers both diseases may be controlled, and this requires careful study and constant watching. In view of the fact that these diseases are now widely distributed throughout the United States, every bee keeper should read the available literature on the subject, so that if disease enters his apiary he may be able to recognize it before it gets a start. The symptoms and the treatment recommended by this department are given in another publication which will be sent free on request.

It is difficult for a bee keeper to keep his apiary free from disease if others about him have diseased colonies which are not properly treated. The only way to keep disease under control is for the bee keepers in the neighborhood to cooperate in doing everything possible to stamp out disease as soon as it appears in a single colony. The progressive bee keeper who learns of disease in his neighborhood should see to it that the other bee keepers around him are supplied with literature describing symptoms and treatment, and should also try to induce them to unite in eradicating the malady. Since it is so often impossible to get all of the bee keepers in a community to treat infected colonies properly and promptly, it is desirable that the States pass laws providing for the inspection of apiaries and granting to the inspector the power to compel negligent bee keepers to treat diseased colonies so that the property of others may not be endangered and destroyed. This has been done in a number of States, but there are still some where the need is great and in which no such provision has been made. When no inspection is provided, bee keepers should unite in asking for such protection, so that the danger to the industry may be lessened.

In case there is an inspector for the State or county, he should be notified as soon as disease is suspected in the neighborhood. Some bee keepers hesitate to report disease through fear that the inspector will destroy their bees or because they feel that it is a disgrace to have disease in the apiary. There is no disgrace in having colonies become diseased; the discredit is in not treating them promptly. The inspectors are usually, if not universally, good practical bee keepers who from a wide experience are able to tell what should be done in individual cases to give the best results with the least cost in material and labour. They do not destroy colonies needlessly, and, in fact, they all advocate and teach treatment.

The brood diseases are frequently introduced into a locality by the shipping in of diseased colonies; or, more often, the bees get honey from infected colonies which is fed to them, or which they rob, from discarded honey cans. It is decidedly dangerous to purchase honey on the market, with no knowledge of its source, to be used in feeding bees. Many outbreaks of disease can be traced to this practice (see "Feeding," p. 26). It is difficult to prevent bees from getting contaminated honey accidentally. If colonies are purchased, great care should be taken that there is no disease present. Whenever possible, colonies should be purchased near at home, unless disease is already present in the neighborhood.

There are other diseased conditions of the brood, known to bee keepers as "pickle brood," but these can usually be distinguished from the two diseases previously mentioned. The so-called "pickle brood" is not contagious and no treatment is necessary. Bees also suffer from "dysentery," which is discussed in the earlier part of this bulletin, and from the so-called "paralysis," a disease of adult bees. No treatment for the latter disease can as yet be recommended as reliable. The sprinkling of powdered sulphur on the top bars of frames or at the entrance is sometimes claimed to be effective, but under what circumstances it is beneficial is unknown.

A number of insects, birds, and mammals must be classed as enemies of bees, but of these the two wax moths, and ants, are the only ones of importance. There are two species of moth, the larger wax moth (Galleria mellonella L.), and the lesser wax moth (Achroia grisella Fab.), the larvt of which destroy combs by burrowing through them.' Reports are frequently received in the department that the larvae of these moths (usually the larger species) are destroying colonies of bees. It may be stated positively that moths do not destroy strong, healthy colonies in good hives, and if it is supposed that they are causing damage the bee keeper should carefully study his colonies to see what other trouble has weakened them enough for the moths to enter. Queenlessness, lack of stores, or some such trouble may be the condition favourable to the entrance of the pest, but a careful examination should be made of the brood to see whether there is any evidence of disease. This is the most frequent cause of the cases of moth depredation reported to this department. Black bees are less capable of driving moth larvae out, but, even with these bees, strong colonies rarely allow them to remain. The observance of the golden rule of bee keeping, "Keep all colonies strong," will solve the moth question unless disease appears.

Moth larvae often destroy combs stored outside the hive. To prevent this the combs may be fumigated with sulphur fumes or bisulphid of carbon in tiers of hives or in tight rooms. If bisulphid of carbon is used, great care should be taken not to bring it near a flame, as it is highly inflammable. Combs should be stored in a dry, well-ventilated, light room.

In the warmer parts of the country ants are often a serious pest. They may enter the hive for protection against changes of temperature, or to prey on the honey stores or the brood. The usual method of keeping them out is to put the hive on a stand, the legs of which rest in vessels containing water or creosote. Another method is to wrap a tape soaked in corrosive sublimate around the bottom board.

BEEKEEPING

FACTS ON HONEY BEES