The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1897-04-16
Bee Culture.

| can be made to swarm two or three
weeks earlier than they will if left to
! themselves. If bees have wintered
we'll, it is truly wonderful how strong
IN numbers they can be made very
early In the spring. Such colonies as
these are always the profitable ones,
| and every colony should ne brought
up in such manner to the highest
state of perfection. This requires but
little labor and expense and is work
done at the right time. A little feed
ing is all that is necessary to secure
this. It matters not the amount of
honey a colony has, it will not answer
this purpose. Feeding, and feeding
alone, will give them such renewed
energy, and it must be done at inter
walls and not all at one time. The
nearer we can initiate a natural flow
of honey as gathered from flowers the
better results obtained. If the weather
will permit, the feeding should be
done daily, and small portion at
time is all that is necessary. We
should be very careful not to overfeed
on this occasion, for by so doing combs
may be filled so as to limit the queen
for laying space. A half pint of syrup
| daily for the strongest colonies is suf-
ficient and thin syrup made from a
good grade of sugar will answer.
Spreading the brood is also practical,
giving good results in increase. This
is done by parting the brood combs
and inserting frame of empty comb
between them. The queen will read
| lily occupy them and fill them with
eggs if the colony is strong enough to
take care of them. Spreading the
brood thus requires great care that it
may not be overdone, for by so doing
it may prove fatal to the colony. The
bruod must not be spread beyond the
strength of the colony. This may be
gauged by the size of the colony when
contracted during cool days.
Working bees at home are the rank
and file of the hive; the architects,
the builders, the preparers of building
material, the purveyors, the inspector
of nuisances, the scavengers, the
seutinels and the defenders. Each
and every bee when at home has to
fill these and many other duties some
time during their indoor life, from the
day she escapes from the chrysalis till
she goes out to procure home supplies.
The working female is Jealous for the
good of the community, defender of
public rights, laborious, industrious,
patient, ingenious, skillful; necessarily
engaged in the nurture of the young,
in collecting honey and pollen, in
celebrating wax in constructing cells
and the like. Abroad they are the
foragers, collecting pollen to supply
the juveniles at home with bee bread,
honey for winter stores and propolis to
glue up the cracks, and cementing for
eign intruding substan ces that are too
cumberson to be removed bodily or too
tenacious to be removed piecemeal
Abroad they are one of the great ferti-
lizers of the vegetable world. They
are our forest makers, our orchardists,
our florists. As forest makers, they
perpetuate the species of trees and
plants upon which they work. As
fruit producers, they are constantly
improving their flavor and their color,
their flavor and their season. AS
florists, they are ever varying our
flowers, in shape, in perfume, in color,
in tint, in streak and in freckle. They
are constantly reproducing old colors
and fashionable combinations thereof
and suffusing them with the most at
tractive shades to please the searcher
for novelties in the floral world.-Pa-
cifc Farmer.