120 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



queen given a better chance to go ahead 

 with her egg-laying. 



I would much prefer empty combs on 

 the outside of the brood nest in the 

 spring with a good feeder on the hive, to 

 several solid slabs of honey in the brood 

 nest. 



Bees will not use up sealed stores for 

 brood rearing to any extent, and the pres- 

 ence of this surplus honey in the hives 

 is no indication of prosperity. It is rather 

 the reverse. 



The finest combs of brood that I ever 

 saw were in empty combs given to fill 

 out. In them the queen could lay un- 

 hampered by honey and they were filled 

 right out with brood, all nearly of the 

 same age. Such a condition is not pos- 

 sible in combs that are partly filled with 

 honey when the queen commences to 

 lay in them. 



Few people realize how a good strong 

 colony of bees will boom ahead under the 

 stimulus of regular feeding in the spring, 

 and at this time sugar syrup regularly 

 fed is of ten times the value of capped 

 honey to the bees. 



I expect that it is possible, sometime 

 between the end of winter, and the open- 

 ing of the main harvest, to have too 

 much spaled honey in the brood nest, but 

 in all my years of bee keeping, I have 

 never seen such a condition; while I have 

 seen many, many instances where there 

 was a decided loss from a lack of sealed 

 stores. Possibly, my system of manage- 

 ment may have had something to do 

 with it. At the end of winter, that is, 

 very early in the spring, nothing is gained, 

 and much may be lost, by the develop- 

 ment of large quantities of brood. Brood 

 rearing uses large quantities of stores, 

 and. as the season advances, more and 

 more honey is used for brood rearing, 

 thus continually giving added room. I 

 don't dispute that there might be too 

 much sealed honey in a hive to allow for 

 the development of the greatest quantity 

 of brood; and, in such a case, I should, 

 of course, advise its removal, but I think 

 that the reverse is true ten times where 

 this happens once. I remember when 

 visiting Mr. J. P. Moore, the veteran 

 queen breeder of Kentucky, and he told 

 me that they usually had a good flow of 

 honey in the fall from asters, and he 



usually saved about two full combs of 

 this honey for each colony to use in the 

 spring to stimulate brood rearing. In 

 April or May these two combs were 

 given, one at each side of the brood nest, 

 next the side of the hive: "and. I tell you, 

 you just ought to see how those colonies 

 will shell out the bees," was his com- 

 ment. This has been my experience. 

 Mr. Townsend says: "never let the bees 

 feel the want of stores." I know, of 

 course, that Mr. Adams does not advise 

 that, but I believe that where one man 

 has too many sealed stores in his hivas 

 in the spring, ten men don't have enough. 

 I will admit, though, that this is no 

 excuse for the tenth man. 



I expect that the regular feeding of 

 a syrup is more stimulating than the 

 presence of sealed stores in the hive, 

 but I doubt if it is much greater than 

 would be the uncapping of some of the 

 sealed stores already in the hive. I have 

 several hundred of the Alexander feeders, 

 quite a lot of the Heddon feeders, some 

 Miller feeders, and have used them more 

 or less for several years, and probably 

 will continue to use them. I certainly 

 will if 1 find it necessary, but if 1 always 

 had an abundance of sealed stores, I 

 would never use feeders. As I have 

 just said, if stimulation is needed, it can 

 be secured by uncapping the honey. 



SAVING WEAK COLONIES. 



A Sure Plan, and Probably as Good 

 as Any. 



There is seldom an apiary in the spring 

 that does not contain at least a few weak 

 colonies. What shall be done with them? 

 Shall they be united, or strengthened 

 from other colonies, or left to paddle 

 their own canoe, as best they can? The 

 Alexander plan is that of setting the 

 weak colony over a populous one. If the 

 weak colony is to be strengthened by 

 drawing upon the resources of the strong, 

 I am rather inclined to think I 



