Hungry April
April in some respects is a hungry as well as a thirsty month. The most common, and fatal, omission of amateur bee-keepers is the starva- tion of the swarms in early spring. The bees are abroad and active, but even where sallows and such are planted fbr them close to the hives, they have trouble to collect enough food for breeding purposes, and, like hibernated animals, they seem to need extra supplies. This year flowers are few, and not only because spring is late. With me every flower-head on the laurustinus, which normally would be now fully open, was killed by the frost, though for the rest the bush was not damaged. The flowers of the horizontal cotoneaster, in which hive- bees particularly delight, have not yet begun to appear even in bud. There is a hungry interval between the fading of the crocus and the opening, say, of the pear blossom, which promises to be abundant. So let the bees have a good supply of artificial food as well as water if- no pond or stream is near by. Happily, authority has been generous with supplies of bee-sugar.
Previous page
