Jan. 3, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Convention Proceedings. | 



Report of the Proceeding's of the 31st Annual 



Convention of the National Bee-Keepers' 



Association, held at Chicag"o, 111., 



Aug'. 28, 29 and 30, 1900. 



BV DR. A. B. MASON, SEC. 



(Continued from page 821.) 

 KBBDING BEES RIGHT OUTDOORS. 



Suppose your colonies were away from other bees, 

 wouldn't it be safe to feed right outdoors to them, and let 

 them carry it in ? 



Mr. Aikin — No. 



Mr. Fixter — I have fed by placing- the feeder on top of 

 the colony I wish to feed in the evening about sundown, and 

 by morning they would have it all taken down. Put in the 

 syrup lukewarm. 



Mr. Wood — I have had experience in feeding ; after the 

 bees are all thru breeding is the best time to feed ; then 

 feed all at once. If it is cool weather warm the food. Con- 

 fine the bees to the combs they can cover, don't let them 

 scatter, put the feed on top, and keep them warm. 



I-EEDING SUGAR SYRUP TO BEES. 



Mr. Moore — Is there any particular danger in feeding 

 granulated sugar from its solidifying in the combs ? How 

 can that be prevented ? 



Mr. Root — We never have any trouble, and our scheme 

 is always to feed syrup thin, about half sugar and half 

 water. If you make it a third water and two-thirds sugar 

 you are liable to have some sugar solidify ; you can avoid 

 it a good deal by putting in water or some sort of acid. I 

 think it is better to make it thin. 



Dr. Mason — By adding honey you never have that 

 granulation. 



Pres. Root — You want to make it thin ; make it about 

 half and half; if you make it thin enough it won't gran- 

 ulate. 



A Member — How early do you feed it ? 



Pres. Root — In September and October, in our locality, 

 when the days are warm. 



Dr. Mason — If you use that much water the bees will 

 have a great deal of work to do. 



Mr. Fixter — Take 15 pounds of syrup, by the time that 

 is in the cells, when you have two parts sugar and one 

 water, you have over 10 pounds of food left. 



Pres. Root — You have to figure according to that when 

 you feed that thin syrup. 



Mr. Fixter — I have tried that, and weighed the hives 

 before the bees were fed, and weighed them afterwards. 



Mr. Green — Don't you have trouble in feeding this thin 

 food rather slow ? 



Mr. Fixter — I askt Mr. Root in feeding this thin syrup 

 and feeding it rather slowly (as I supposed he would have 

 to), if he did not have trouble with getting the bees started 

 to brood-rearing. 



Mr. Root — Sometimes we feed 10 or IS pounds at a time. 

 The main idea in feeding thin syrup is to have the bees 

 convert that syrup into honey. 



Mr. Green — Sometimes it becomes necessary to feed 

 bees in rather cold weather, and at such a time we must 

 either mix it with honey, as has been suggested, or boil 

 with tartaric acid and feed it then at a proper consistency, 

 nearly the consistency of honey, and feed it rapidly. 



Dr. Mason — If I understand you correctly, I think I have 

 learned something, Mr. President. You say, " The main 

 idea in feeding thin syrup is to have the bees convert that 

 syrup into honey." By adding one-half water do the bees 

 make the sugar syrup into honey '! Is that so ? 

 Pres. Root — I want to ciualify that a little. 

 Dr. Mason — I guess you would better. 

 Pres. Root — In making it thin, one-half sugar and one- 

 half water, the bees have an opportunity to invert it. Prof. 

 Cook calls it " digebt." If you feed it too thick they won't 

 digest it and convert it into honey. 



Mr. Abbott — I want to offer my protest so that the 

 stenographer will be sure to get it, and the bee-keepers as- 



sembled will be sure to understand it ; that you can't feed 

 sugar-syrup of any kind, to any kind of bees, and have it 

 converted into honey [Applause], Prof. Cook to the con- 

 trary notwithstanding. 



Pres. Root— What I mean by that is, it is not the same 

 you get from flowers. What I mean by honey — real honey — 

 is nectar from flowers stored by the bees in the combs and 

 converted into honey ; but nectar in cane-syrup is a good 

 deal like we feed. What I am speaking of now is chemical 

 honey, and not commercial honey. 



Mr. Abbott — Either chemical or commercial honey. If 

 you feed them cane-syrup you reap cane-sugar when you 

 eat it. 



Pres. Root — It will be be inverted, tho. 



Mr. Abbott— No, it won't be inverted ; it will simply be 

 cane-sugar. 



Pres. Root— Where is Prof. Gillette ? 



Mr. Taylor — There seems to be quite an issue between 

 Mr. Cowan in his paper and Mr. Abbott. 



Pres. Root — Mr. Abbott speaks of chemical honey or 

 commercial honey. I don't care whether they have nectar 

 from flowers or sugar-cane ; if you give them time enough 

 they will convert it into honey. 



Mr. Moore — I will have to enter an emphatic protest 

 against the use of this term " chemical honey." You might 

 as well say " glucose honey ;" it is the same thing in the 

 eyes of the public. I have handled a family trade for 15 

 years, and I am red hot on the subject, and lots of people 

 have said to me, " Do you feed your bees sugar to make 

 honey?" I say even a bee doesn't make honey ; she gath- 

 ers honey from the flowers. You can't give it to people in 

 this scientific way ; if you do they won't understand it. I 

 tell them bee-keepers don't practice that sort of thing. 

 First, it doesn't pay us. I state here, you can take lots of 

 bees and produce honey cheaper than you can get it from 

 sugar-syrup and other things. I tell them more than that, 

 yon can't get your sugarsyrup into the combs ; if you got 

 it into the combs it wouldn't be honey — it would be sugar- 

 syrup in the combs; it wouldn't' pay. I am protesting 

 against using terms that are misleading to the people who 

 won't understand them. They are asking me these ques- 

 tions every day, and I must enforce my personality on that 

 party before I can get his confidence. For the benefit of 

 our pursuit, and for bee-keepers generally, I think we must 

 avoid the error of speaking in misleading terms, and thus 

 leading to misconceptions of our pursuit. [Applause.] 



Mr. White — When we talk about sugar-syrup let us talk 

 about it as only feeding to winter our bees ; that we never 

 sell any of it ; it is simply to live on ; it is just as good, I 

 believe, when it is "inverted," as you call it — I don't want 

 to know the term, anyhow — but it is just as good to winter 

 our bees. I believe we can winter the bees on it all right, 

 but let it go out that it is for feed and itof for family use. 



Pres. Root — If you feed the syrup too thick it will candy 

 and go back to sugar. If you make it thin enough the bees 

 will invert it. 



Dr. Mason — Don't use the word " honey " in that con- 

 nection. 



A Member — I always heat the syrup hot. I think that 

 is one reason why it does not candy in the comb. 



Mr. York — I want to emphasize what has been said 

 about feeding sugar, and saying what it is used for when 

 you feed it to bees. I am very careful what is said on this 

 subject in the American Bee Journal. I help my corres- 

 pondents to say what it is used for — to feed, and not to pro- 

 duce honey, but to keep the bees alive. I put it in that way. 

 Dr. Mason — This is really a serious matter; if it should 

 go out to the public that our honored president has been 

 advocating anything of that kind, it would be a great dam- 

 age to our fraternity here. I say we ought to keep this in- 

 side — not to say it at all in the first place. I am in dead 

 earnest about this. Mr. Moore knows what it means. If 

 our president goes out on the market and peddles it from 

 house to house he will find out he would better not say sugar- 

 syrup any more. 



Pres. Root — I concede the point Dr. Mason makes, and 

 the point of Mr. Moore and Mr. Abbott, and all these 

 others. I am willing to be corrected on that. I will, if you 

 prefer, use the word " inverted." 



Mr. York — We should always say that we feed the bees 

 for winter stores, or to keep them from starving. If the 

 general public only did know, it wouldn't do any harm. But 

 it is hard to get them to comprehend the matter correctly. 



Mrs. Dunne— I think in speaking of storing sugar for 

 winter use, we should confine ourselves to the bare fact. 



