September 23. 1873. 1 JOURNAL OF HOBTICOLTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



245 



which is the best way to give it. It is no light matter for me to 

 reply to these private letters, and it is no light matter to Snd 

 stamps to carry the information sought. As The Journ.il of 

 HoRTicuTUBE is read by some, if not all, of the parties who write 

 to me, I will in this letter dwell on the question of autumn- feed- 

 ing. First, the best kind of artificial food for bees ; secondly, the 

 quantity needed; and thirdly, the time and manner of giving it. 



The best kind of artificial food for bees is syrup made of the 

 best sugar .ind pure water, mixed at the rate of 1 lb. of sugar to 

 one pint of water, and boiled for about half a minute. When I 

 say best sugar I mean loaf or soft sugar refined, now sold for id. 

 per pound. Brown raw sugar contains, I daresay, more sac- 

 charine matter than refined sugar, but it is more relaxing : 

 hence I use and recommend the whiter sugars for winter food 

 for bees. Many bee-keepers use a syrup tliicker and sweeter 

 than that which I have here recommended. They use 2 lbs. of 

 sugar with one pint of water. Mixed at this rate it is quite as 

 thick in substance as real honey ; it is much thicker and sweeter 

 than the sweet juice which bees find in and gather from flowers. 

 This statement must be made plain and intelligible to the reader 

 by amplification. All honey proper and genuine has been 

 swallowed and disgorged twice by bees. On being swallowed 

 the second time it undergoes a chemical change — a sweetening 

 and thickening process. Thus it is made into honey proper. 



A valued and old correspondent of this Journal, I mean 

 "B. it W.," when he reviewed the "Handy Book of Bees," 

 hinted that my statements might be the outcome of mere fancy. 

 On reading his review it did appear strange to me that a bee- 

 keeper of his experience did not imow these things — things that 

 have both been seen and handled hundreds of times during 

 the last half century. For instance, this year I placed a large 

 hive full of empty combs, with a strong swarm in it, near a four- 

 acre field of horse beans. From the bean flowers this swarm 

 gathered nearly 20-lb. weight in three days. On the evening of 

 the third day the bees were driven into an empty hive and the 

 honey taken ; no, it was not yet honey, for it had not been re- 

 swallowed. It was nearly as thin as water, bright, sparkling, 

 and as genuine as any ever collected by bees, but not yet changed 

 or made into honey. About 15 lbs. of this syrup was put into 

 a jar, and kept till my wife told me it was becoming sour. 

 Then it was given to a hive on which I had a super, and doubt- 

 less the bees in that hive converted it into as good honey as 

 ever was eaten. Honey merely collected into hives and not re- 

 swallowed does not keep or crystallise, it moulds like badly- 

 preserved fruit. 



The syrup made of sugar and water at the rate mentioned in 

 this letter is equal for subsistence to the natural juice collected 

 by bees, and is also swallowed and disgorged twice before it is 

 stored-up in the combs. 



How much should be given depends on the condition of the 

 hive and the number of bees in it. It takes 1-5 lbs. of food 

 stored-up) to keep my strong large hives from September till 

 March. Much less will serve small hives during the same space 

 of time. Much better it is to give a couple of pounds more 

 than enough than an ounce too little. 



Now I come to notice the best time when autumn-feeding 

 should take place. The sooner it is done tlie better. To have 

 to feed bees late in autumn and in winter is an indication of 

 great ignorance or inattention, if it could couveniently be done 

 earlier. Feeding in cold weather is objectionable, for it may 

 set the bees breeding at an unseasonable time, and thus expose 

 them and their brood to the chilling effect of frosty weather. 

 It may be laid down as a rule, that all feeding should be com- 



Eleted in September. If hives are waak in bees, and the owner 

 as no surplus stock wherewith to enrich them, he may com- 

 mence early in September, or even in August, to feed, and 

 continue for three or four weeks to do so, and thus secure a 

 hatch of brood; but this is not "advanced bee-management." 

 If the hives have bees enough, it is good management and good 

 policy to give all the food necessary as speedily as possible, and 

 let the bees settle down into the quietness of winter life. 



There are hundreds of ways of administering food to bees, 

 and it often happens that everybody thinks his own way is the 

 best. The inverted bottle with a rag on its mouth is certainly 

 the worst I know for autumn, because it does not let hands 

 enough get to work. No system, however, will I condemn, but 

 say that the easiest and speediest appears to me the most desir- 

 able. I use large tin dishes and garden saucers for hives that 

 are not filled with combs. These dishes hold about 1 lbs. of 

 syrup, on which are laid a few chips of wood or chopped straw. 

 A strong hive empties the dishes in a few hours. When the 

 hive is filled with combs I frequently pour the Uquid over bees 

 and combs, about 2 lbs. at a dose, and three doses a-day, thus 

 giving G lbs. in twenty-four hours. Sometimes I raise these 

 inll hives off the board by ekes, thus making room for a large 

 dishful of syrup on the board. An inverted empty hive, with 

 the food placed in the bottom of it, and the hive to be fed 

 placed on it, are sometimes used. Thus I give i lbs. up to 8 lbs. 

 m one feed to a hive. 



Other contrivances for feeding at the tops and sides of hives 



are used by bee-keepers ; they are excellent. As feeding gene- 

 rally attracts robbers, it is better to feed at sunset, and thus 

 avoid fighting. 



Bees that are kept on sugar during the winter are generally 

 very healthy, and therefor^ if hives are well fed now we may 

 expect to have strong healthy stocks next spring. I want to 

 help everybody I can, and trust that the discouragement of a 

 bad season will not make any of my readers bankrupt in bee- 

 keeping. Let them be kind to their bees. The sun is behiad 

 the clouds, and may come out next year, filling our hearts with 

 gladness, and our supers and jars with honey and honeycomb. 

 — A. Pettigrew, Sah\ CItcshire. 



BEES ON A TEEE. 



About three weeks ago it was discovered that a large colony 

 of bees had made a settlement on and under the branch of an 

 apple tree in a small orchard close to the house. The appear- 

 ance is singular. At the top, on the branch, a flat surface of 

 comb, which a plate could hardly cover ; the cells are empty — 

 not a bee to be seen about that p.irt. Beneath the branch, and 

 with some protection from its foliage, there is a pendent mass, 

 about a foot across, encrusted with bees. What they are working 

 at cannot be seen. The mass increases daily in size; it hangs 

 7 or 8 feet from the ground, and begins to weigh down the 

 branch it adheres to. The bees are very small and dark. They 

 must have been some time at work before they were perceived, 

 as their structure was so tar advanced. I should like to know 

 whether what I have tried to describe is an uncommon thing, 

 and it it would be better to take them ; and if so, how ? We 

 are averse to destruction, as, of course, we are told that, being 

 new settlers ourselves, the bees are giving us a welcome. — 

 J. M. C. 



[It is not of vei-y common occurrence for bees in this country 

 to construct so much comb on the branches of trees, or to con- 

 tinue ahve so long. The bees are a stray swarm. The upper 

 piece of comb was probably at first built upright, and fell over, 

 being then attached to the branch where the side came in 

 contact. I should advise "J. M. C." to try to secure the bees 

 and unite them to some other stock. Blow a little smoke on 

 the surface of the bees and comb, and particularly on the top of 

 the latter near the bough. Hold the comb with one hand, and 

 pass a knife through it from side to side at the top. Having 

 previously inverted a hive on a table underneath, quickly lower 

 the comb and attached bees into it; place a floor-board on the 

 hive, and turn the latter over to its proper position. Or, at 

 once, brush or shake off the bees into the empty hive, and put it 

 resting on the branch to which they were previously hanging. 

 No doubt all the bees would soon collect within the hive. I 

 should much doubt the bees being sufficiently populous or well- 

 provisioned to survive the winter if not united to some other 

 colony.] 



[The above was mia-sent to a contemporary, and published in 

 its columns last week. — Eds.] 



BEES SUFFEBING FEOM DAMP— HONEY 

 HARVEST IN WEST NORFOLK. 



I HAT.-E two straw hives, the supers of which, one of wood the 

 other of glass, are partially filled with comb now deserted by 

 the bees. In both cases the comb is worked-up thickly from 

 the stock hive. Will there be any objection to leaving them on 

 during the winter ? I should not ask this question if the stock 

 hives were of wood, as the rising vapours would certainly 

 damage the comb. I may observe, that an old cottager, a neigh- 

 bour of mine, put a straw super upon a hive last year at my 

 suggestion, and, at his own, left it on all the winter. The con- 

 sequence this year is some of the finest and purest honey in the 

 comb I have ever seen. He has also had a good swarm from this 

 hive. 



Here, in West Norfolk, we can bear rain better than your 

 apiarian correspondents in more favoured and favourite counties, 

 but we want more warm weather than has fallen to our lot this 

 year. 



I started with six hives, and my bees have produced 42 lbs. of 

 honey in the comb, most of it free from brood, and about 62 lbs. 

 of run honey. I have also two additional stock hives, besides 

 having (I grieve to say), sacrificed a strong "turn-out" to an 

 experiment. Of my present eight stocks, six are strong and 

 heavy, whilst the other two will require a little feeding. — E . H. E. 



[We see no great objection to the supers remaining on in the 

 case of your straw hives, but if you have a dry place in which to 



Sut them, why run the risk of their suffering from possible 

 amp or other damage ? — Eds.] 



OATMEAL-AND-WATEE DEINK. 



You briefly noticed a short time since this admirable diink, 

 rightly observing that, although it might be new to our American 



