268 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



they have already enough to carry them 

 through till the honey-flow?" 



" Enough "—there's the point ! If they have 

 just barely enough, the bees will scrimp and 

 economize in some way, to make their stores 

 last; and the only way for them, to economize 

 is to cut down brood-rearing — very poor econ- 

 omy for you, certainly. 



"But," you say, "if I feed the bees a little 

 every day, the hives will be crammed full of 

 syrup, and I shall be out of pocket to the ex- 

 tent of several barrels of sugar." 



What of it? You will be a gainer in the end 

 by having a large force of bees to gather the 

 honey if it does come; and then when that time 

 arrives, it will be shoved right into the supers, 

 because there will be no room for it in the 

 brood-nest. The honey from the fields will 

 bring a higher price, and you have made a first- 

 class trade — sugar for honey. More than all, 

 your brood-combs will be filled with the very 

 best of winter stores — much better than honey 

 stores, and much cheaper. And suppose you 

 are out of pocket several barrels of sugar. 

 Suppose you have fed 1000 lbs. of sugar syrup, 

 costing you, say, 4 cts. per lb. (when ripened), 

 and suppose you get in exchange 1000 lbs. of 

 honey. The latter ought to bring, if clover or 

 basswood, from 8 to 9 cts. Clearly, then, you 

 have made a profit of at least 4 cts. per lb. on 

 the syrup, or an aggregate of $40.00 on the 

 trade, because the honey would have taken the 

 place of the sugar syrup in the brood-nest. 

 l;As Mr. Boardman well says, the farmer 

 thinks nothing of feeding his stock, expecting 

 to get returns. He who would say he could not 

 afford to feed his hogs well because the grain 

 that he would feed them would cost money, 

 would be considered a fool indeed. 



In view of the poor honey years that bee- 

 keepers have been having of late, and in view 

 of the further fact that what little honey has 

 come in has just about filled the brood-nest, 

 and no more, leaving little if any surplus, it 

 would look as if Mr. l5oardman's idea of sub- 

 stituting syrup for honey, and pocJceting the big 

 difference in price between the syrup and 

 honey, was simply utilizing good business sense. 



One year when I called on Mr. Boardman, he 

 had quite a crop of honey. He had been feed- 

 ing, as I have above explained. His neighbors 

 round about him did not feed, and did not get 

 any surplus honey. " I firmly believe that many 

 of our bee-keeping friends can just as well be 

 getting a little surplus, and a little money for 

 it, as to be going ahead on the old plan of get- 

 ting no surplus, and nothing but bees in fair 

 condition for winter. But suppose a big honey- 

 flow does come, and you have followed Mr. 

 Boardman's method of feeding: your hives are 

 filled full of sugar stores, and capped over, and 

 just fairly boiling over with bees. It is perfect- 

 ly evident you are going to get a big crop of 



honey that year, and all of that honey will be 

 surplus. 



One of my warm friends in Canada has writ- 

 ten me, earnestly protesting against feeding 

 the bees as Mr. Boardman does, clear up to the 

 time when honey is coming in. He insists that, 

 as soon as bees begin to gather from natural 

 sources, they will crowd some of the sugar 

 syrup from the brood-nest up into the sections 

 or surplus combs. I have talked with Mr. 

 Boardman on this very point, and he is very 

 certain that, as he practices feeding, it is not 

 done. I have also talked with other prominent 

 bee-keepers, and written for the private opinion 

 of others. All seem to feel that there is but 

 little danger to be apprehended from that 

 source. But we will suppose that my Canadian 

 friend's point is well taken. To be on the safe 

 side, then, stop feeding within a week or two of 

 the expected honey-flow. If the stores in the 

 brood-nest are capped over, there certainly can 

 be no possible danger of the syrup's being car- 

 ried above. 



Taking the matter all in all, Mr. Boardman's 

 idea of feeding offers the best solution of the 

 problem as to what we are going to do with 

 short honey seasons — in short, what will enable 

 us to get all the honey tbere is in the field into 

 surplus without wasting any of it in brood- 

 rearing. 



BENTON'S BEE-BOOK— A 30,000 EDITION; HOW 

 TO GET A COPY. 



The following letter is just as hand, and will 

 contain, I am sure, very welcome news to those 

 who have been desirous of securing a copy of 

 that unique bee-book published by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



Dear Ernest:— 'WiU you kindly inform your readers 

 that Senator Burrows' concurrent resolution as 

 amended has passed both branches of Congress, and 

 is now in the hands of the printer? This provides 

 for tlie publication of 30,000 copies of " Bulletin No. 

 1, on the Honey-bee:" 1.5.000 of these will be distrib- 

 uted by Members of Congress, and 5000 by the De- 

 partment of Agriculture. This Department in- 

 forms me they have over 2000 applications on file 

 now ; and as soon as it Is known that another edition 

 is to be published they will be deluged with appli- 

 cations. Bee-keepers should apply to their Senators 

 and Members of Congress: and should their allot- 

 ment be e.xhausted their letters will be sent to the 

 Department. This is essential for two reasons— it 

 will relieve the Department of Agriculture for a 

 lime, and will impress upon Consress the magni- 

 tude of our industry, the appreciation of the bulle- 

 tin, and the appreciation of their efforts in behalf of 

 their constituency. Geo. E. Hilton. 



Fremont, Mich., Mar. 16. 



Congress has felt as it never did before the 

 influence of bee keepers all over our land; and 

 even if we get nothing more than this one 

 edition of the book, the effect will be such that 

 in the future our representatives in Congress 

 will know that we are not a mere handful; 

 and, as Mr. Hilton well says, it will impress 

 upon Congress the magnitude of our industry. 

 Personally I feel like throwing up my hat and 

 "hollering" "Hip, hip, hurrah for the bee- 

 keepers of the United States!" 



