THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



357 



proposed plans from time to time as ma- 

 ture consiileration ma\' suggest. 



Mr. Thompson is right in saying that 

 the proper time to write is when the sub- 

 ject is freshest, but I can not agree in 

 thinking that such writings will be read 

 with a keener zest because the reader has 

 lust passed through somewhat similar ex- 

 periences, than they will be if he is just 

 about to engage in the kind of work de- 

 scribed. If writers do not feel like hold- 

 ing their contributions until they are sea- 

 sonable, there is nothing to prevent edi- 

 tors from holding them. I would not 

 hold articles until the very moment that 

 the advice they contain is needed, but 

 publish them a month, or two, perhaps, 

 ahead of the season. This ought to give 

 ample time for digestion and mature con- 

 sideration. This much, however, I am 

 willing to admit, that during the winter 

 there is scarcely any work to be done 

 with the bees, and that there is less call 

 for adhering so closely to seasonability 

 as there is during the working months. 

 Another thing: When some subject has 

 been discussed until it is out of season I 

 would still finish up the discussion while 

 the matter is fresh in the minds of the 

 readers. 



I would not push this matter of season- 

 ability to extremes, but it does some- 

 times seem as though much of the mat- 

 ter in our journals is published just a lit- 

 tle too late to be of any use until another 

 year has rolled around — when much of it 

 is forgotten. 



GOOD STORES FOR WINTERING BEES. 



Hi>ne> Dew not Suitalile for use in a Norih- 

 em Climate. 



In a northern climate, where the bees 

 are confined to their hives for months, 

 the vital point in successful wintering is 

 that of proper food. The long confine- 

 ment overloads the intestines, anddvsen- 

 teay is the result. What is needed is a 

 food that will give the greatest amount 



of heat and sustenance with the least 

 amount of residue. Pure cane sugar 

 stands at the head. Next comes well 

 ripened honey. Honey de/r, with which 

 bees sometimes fill their combs, is very 

 low in the scale of winter-foods for bees. 

 It is true that bees have often been win- 

 tered successfully upon honey dew. A 

 warm, open winter, in which the bees 

 could enjoy a cleansing flight, would 

 probably enable bees to come through 

 the winter on almost any kind of stores 

 that were not absolutely unwholesome. 

 Bees wintered in a cellar would certainly 

 stand a better chance of wintering on 

 honey dew than they would in the open 

 air, if the winter was long and severe, as 

 there would be less consumption of stores. 

 Many bee-kespers have reported losses 

 from the attempt to winter bees upon 

 honey dew; but there has often been a 

 lack of conclusiveness from the fact 

 that all of their bees had the same 

 kind of stores — possibly some other factor 

 had an important bearing. The most 

 conclusive evidence that I have seen 

 against the use of honey dew is that giv- 

 en by Mr. Wm. McEvoy of Canada. In 

 the last issue uf the Canadian Bee Jour- 

 nal he contributes the following: — 



In August, 1SS4, the leaves on the bass- 

 woods, elms and hickorys in my locality 

 were covered with honey dew and the 

 bees filled ihe brood-chambers just as full 

 as they possibly could of the off-colored 

 stuff. I did not like to risk the winterii g 

 of all my bees on honey dew, when I had 

 plenty of sealed clover honey in the top 

 stories, wh:ch I had saved to winter them 

 on, but I thought I could safely do some 

 experimenting along this line and go 

 through the winter without any loss. I 

 had S5 colonies, and in the fall I took all 

 the combs out of 65 brood chambers and 

 placed from 5 to 6 coml)s of sealed clover 

 honey in each hive, and put a division 

 board on each side of these combs. I 

 then packed the colonies with forest 

 leaves. I then fitted up 15 colonies with 

 5 combs of sealed honey dew each, (which 

 I had taken from other colonies 1 and 

 after placing division t^oards on each side 

 of the combs I packed these colonies with 

 leaves also. I then fixed up the other 10 

 colonies with 3 sealed combs of clover in 

 the center, and a comb of hone^- dew at 



