THE CALENDAR.

IN writing the first edition of this work, it was our intention to add a Calendar of operations to it; but we found that there was writing enough in the manuscript to fill the pages without it. In this edition one or two unimportant chapters have been left out, and all unnecessary illustrations, so that the work could be improved without increasing its size. Indeed, the Calendar itself will be confined to narrow limits. Since the publication of our first edition a few years ago, a considerable advance has been made in apiarian science by a widespread section of intelligent readers. The progress made in practical beekeeping of late is so perceptible, that we cherish the hope that we may have the happiness of knowing that thousands of the rural population derive a substantial income from this source. From all parts of the country we are receiving most gratifying reports-reports of successful management, and honey-harvests greater than were ever dreamed of a few years ago.

January.-If bees have food enough in their hives now, the less they are disturbed, indeed the quieter they sit amongst their combs, the better. Though all healthy

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hives are benefited by the bees taking an occasional airing in mild weather during the winter months, the inmates of healthy hives sit more closely and quietly together than those of unhealthy ones. On turning up a hive infected with foul brood, we invariably find the bees sitting very loosely in it, and that they begin to spread themselves over the combs rapidly.

Sometimes bees, in coming out for an airing, take so much honey that they cannot fly. They become benumbed outside, and cannot return to their hives. This is very evident when a great number of hives are standing near each other, and especially when the bees are living on heather-honey. The ground amongst the hives becomes. thickly strewed with chilled bees. When this happens the bees should be swept together, gathered into small supers or boxes, and well warmed before a fire or in a half-cooled oven. The heat soon restores them, and when let go, enables them to return to their hives.

Though September is the best month for feeding bees for winter, some bee-keepers fail to give enough then, and continue to feed afterwards for months. This late feeding cannot be too strongly condemned. There is often great difficulty experienced in getting bees to take food during cold weather. If necessary (from past forgetfulness) to feed bees in January, let the food when given be warm, say 100°, or blood-heat. If the bees will not take it, let them be brought into a warm room or hothouse, and there fed with warm food, keeping them in their hives while indoors.

The smallest door possible affords bees in straw hives ventilation enough, but those in wooden hives are benefited by ventilating-holes in them. Such holes help to let the moisture escape, which otherwise would condense on their sides and rot the combs. Their crown-holes should be left open, but covered with wire to keep

mice out. If wooden hives have no crown-holes, one or two dozen of small holes bored through their sides and crowns with gimlets or small brace-bits will tend to rid them of moisture.

It has been said by some one that bees die in a temperature of 34°-that is to say, when the mercury falls to within 2° of the freezing-point inside a hive, bees cannot live. I have not yet put this to the test of experiment; but if it is a fact, the importance of covering hives well in winter cannot be too strongly insisted on.

Cottagers who make their own hives should get them ready during the long evenings of winter; and amateurs, too, should prepare beforehand for an increase of swarms.

The

February. This month is one, generally speaking, of inactivity amongst bees. As the days lengthen, the hopes and enthusiasm of bee-keepers are awakened, and some preparations are made for future events. seasons from 1870 to 1873 inclusive were unfavourable ones for honey-gathering. 1874, though not one of the best seasons for bees, was very favourable in the months of June and July, enabling good swarms to rise in weight to 100 lb. each. In the north of Scotland some rose to 120 lb. and upwards.

When the weather is mild, queens generally begin to lay this month in the south, early in February; in the north, not till the end of the month. In this neighbourhood, which is about half-way between London and Edinburgh, I once saw young bees on the wing on the 15th of February. The queens that year commenced to lay in January. About four years ago we had a very late spring. The first batch of brood that year was not hatched till the middle of April. An open early spring and a warm early locality are advantageous to bees, for their lives are of short duration,- nine months — but

many of them do not live so long. If a hatch of brood be not obtained in March to fill up the ranks thinned by death, many hives become so weak in bees that these have a hard struggle to live. In a cold spring and late locality, I think it is desirable to stimulate bees by artificial feeding, and thus cause them to breed earlier than they otherwise would do; but great care is necessary in this work. Better be a little late in beginning it than too early; and when once begun, continue feeding till the bees can work out of doors. It should be borne in mind that spring feeding is merely to stimulate and keep alive. Half a pound of sugar and half a pint of water, boiled, will make four or six doses for a good hive during this month. As a rule, March is soon enough to begin feeding bees.

This month all the boards of hives should be well scraped or cleaned. If the bee-master wishes to change the position of his hives, he may venture to do it this month, for bees come out but seldom now; and when they do come out, it is for a winter dance and purposes of cleanliness, and they never then go far from home. In times of honey-gathering, bees leave their hives and go straight to field or orchards, and may not discover that the position of their hives has been altered (if altered it has been) till they return to the old stand. In summer, hives should be removed from one part of a garden to another by short stages-say one or two yards every day. This month they may be removed from one side of a garden to another without much risk. When this is done, all the hives should go at once; for naturally some bees would return to the old place, and if they found a hive near it, they would seek a home there instead of going to their new position.

March. By examining hives at the commencement of

this month, we ascertain how they have kept their bees in winter. By gently lifting them off their boards, and turning them up, we may see in what condition they are, without the use of smoke. In cold weather they now sit quietly amongst their combs; and if a hive contain four or five seams of bees-that is to say, four or five lots of bees-about the size or breadth of a tea-cup saucer, or crown of a man's hat, and each lot separated by a comb from the next lot, the hive is (all else being well) in firstrate condition, and will probably be ready for swarming early in May. If a smaller hive have three such seams of bees at the beginning of this month, it will in an ordinary season be ready to swarm some time in May. The seams of bees in weak hives are often reduced to three, and these not much larger in a frosty morning than a gentleman's watch. Such weak stocks often go spark out, not for want of food, but for want of bees. When two hives standing together have only two seams of bees each early in this month, they should be united at the earliest opportunity, for one good hive is better than two weak ones. By examining hives frequently, their state may be well understood. When bees are moving about, the smoke should be used before hives are turned up.

Bees commence to breed in February and March; and when they do begin, they may be seen seeking for water. And in about ten days after they begin, patches of sealed brood may be found in hives-the strong hives with larger patches, and more of them, than the weak hives. A hive containing five seams of bees will have three patches of brood to begin with; and those of three seams only, one patch of brood. Here we have evidence of the value of strong stocks. While these early patches of brood are being hatched, the weather gradually becomes warmer, and bees cover more comb. The patches become larger day by day, and other combs are embraced, and