1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



391 



built, and allowed the bees to carry back into 

 the sections the honey they contained. But 

 there is so much upon the unfavorable side of 

 this question that I am not prepared to recom- 

 mend this kind of feeding as very practical, and 

 I think it would be most likely to prove unprof- 

 itable. By way of experiment upon a small 

 scale, it is well enough. Very much is to be 

 learned tjy such experiments. I could give fig- 

 ures upon this kind of feeding, that would show 

 a profit very clearly; but in giving them, many 

 of the unfavorable details would be left out, lost 

 sight of. It involves a great amount of work 

 and care, from beginning to end, and I have 

 nearly always failed in the most important 

 part— that of getting a choice finished product. 

 Unless the sections are unsealed before they are 

 put on they will be finished with a rough and 

 patchy look, and will be, according to my expe- 

 rience, more or less stained with propolis, which 

 gives them an untidy appearance. 



WHAT TO DO WITH UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 



The best and most profitable way for the av- 

 erage bee-keeper to dispose of unfinished sec- 

 tions, I am convinced. Is to extract all that will 

 not sell as second grade for as much as extract- 

 ed honey will bring, and use them for bait sec- 

 tions the nextseason. There is a value in these 

 nice white combs for this purpose, that is not 

 appreciated by very many. 



SUGAR HONEY. 



There have been a good many suspicious 

 hints dropped in the past few years about su- 

 gar honey. Cheap sugar has been the tempter. 

 But nothing has materialized from these sug- 

 gestions but talk, so far as I know. I am going 

 to consider only the practical phase of this 

 question, and leave the scientific part to the 

 scientist. So far as feeding sugar to be stored 

 in the sections is concerned, it is sufficient to 

 know that there is no inducement for such a 

 practice. Until bee-keepers have the courage 

 to feed sugar for stores in the brood-chamber to 

 the full extent necessary for that purpose, there 

 is no use in wasting our valuable time discuss- 

 ing the very remote possibilities of sugar hon- 

 ey. It would seem like very poor economy to 

 fill the brood -combs with the choicest honey 

 from the flowers, and the sections with sugar, 

 even if it were practical, when just the opposite 

 is desirable, and much easier to accomplish. It 

 would be somewhat like the economy in dairy- 

 ing, of feeding the cream to the calves and pigs, 

 and saving the skimmed milk for use. 



MAKING NEW COLONIES; NATURAL COMBS VS. 

 FOUNDATION. 



After the honey season is over, and that mys- 

 terious impulse to swarm is abated, new colo- 

 nies may be made and built up from sugar feed. 

 Natural combs built at this time will be almost 

 entirely free from drone comb, and will com- 

 pare favorably in perfection with combs drawn 

 from foundation. There is a large force of 

 workers lying idle; and the busy season being 



over makes it somewhat of a temptation to do 

 such work at this season. I have thought it 

 just as well to wear these bees out as to let 

 them live in idleness and die of old age, provid- 

 ed, of course, there was any profit in it. I have 

 a good many of these natural combs in use now 

 that I have built in this way in the last few 

 years, and they give very good satisfaction. I 

 reasoned that, with the prevailing low price of 

 sugar, and the high price of wax, together with 

 the late succession of poor seasons, bee-keepers 

 ought to be able to become producers of wax by 

 raising natural combs, instead of consumers by 

 using foundation. I do not really think there 

 is much money in it. I only hope it may help 

 in the sharp struggle for survival, especially in 

 poor localities. 



This work gives an excellent opportunity for 

 superseding the old queen — a very profitable 

 work. In any of these operations desci'ibed, if 

 no increase is wanted the bees may be united 

 back upon the most desirable combs. I have no 

 doubt that new combs are best for building up 

 in spring, but old ones may be better for win- 

 tering outdoors. 



East Townsend, O. 



WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD BEE? 



NINE POINTS CONSIDERED IN THE ORDER OF 

 THEIR IMPORTANCE. 



By S. E. Miller. 



What are the essential qualities in a colony 

 of bees? Perhaps it would be hard for all bee- 

 keepers to agree on this subject; but I have 

 given some thought to it lately, and after think- 

 ing the matter over I would place the points 

 about as follows: 



1. Prolificness of the queen. 



2. Honey-gathering qualities of the workers. 



3. Hardiness in wintering. 



4. Disposition of workers — gentleness, etc. 



5. Non-swarming. 



6. Comb-building. 



7. Longevity of queen and workers. 



8. Size of workers. 



9. Color. 



Probably no one will agree with me in the 

 exact order I have placed the points of excel- 

 lence, and probably no two bee-keepers would 

 agree exactly. I am not speaking of the man- 

 ner in which a colony would be judged at a 

 fair; for at a fair they might be judged very 

 unfairly; for at best it is little more than guess- 

 work. The judge, in all likelihood, has no 

 knowledge of the working qualities of the col- 

 ony, so that size and color would be apt to guide 

 him mainly in rendering his decision. 



But what I am speaking of is the colony of 

 bees that will earn dollars and cents for their 

 keeper. And now let me explain why I have 

 placed the points of superiority as shown above. 

 Let us consider the first point. There, I be- 



