THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



129 



When Sugar Stores are Best— Crystallization ; 

 How to Avoid it and its III Effects. 



F. A. GEMMILL.* 



( ) M E of your 

 > readers may re- 

 nicDiber that I re- 

 p Mted, in the Oct., 

 I^'.H, Review, the 

 t,'i auulation of sugar 

 syrup fed to thirteen 

 L'oloiiies. You asked 



nie to report in re- 



/ ^^^ uard to how they 

 wintered. The time 

 has now come when 

 I can make the re- 

 port, accompanied by additional facts show- 

 ing that there are different grades of what 

 is generally sold as granulated sugar ; also 

 that late fall stores are not a safe winter 

 food in this locality. 



It may not be out of place to mention that 

 the stores that I desired to remove were 

 gathered late in a locality abounding in 

 goldeurod, boneset, asters, etc. From what I 

 can learn, the locality resembles in this re- 

 spect the one in which Byron Walker has lost 

 so many bees. 



In place of the stores, thirteen colonies 

 were given dry, clean combs, five to each 

 colony, and then fed sugar syrup. Shortly 

 after feeding I discovered that the sugar had 

 granulated ; scarcely any remaining in the 

 liquid state. At this juncture I asked your 

 advice, as I saw that I could not carry out 

 my original purpose, viz., that of wintering 

 part of the bees on full sugar stores and part 

 on fail honey, all of the bees having assisted 



* Francis A. GemmiU is a Scotch Canadian by 

 birth ; now 46 years old. At the age of 17 he be- 

 came an enthusiast in apiculture, getting his 

 first Italian queen of Father Langstroth in 1864. 

 He also had one of the movable comb, observa- 

 tory hives, of the L, pattern, made at the same 

 time, and it still remains in his apiary. Al- 

 though not at any time what is now considered 

 an extensive apiarist, his colonies never exceed 

 ing 75 in number, he has, nevertheless, kept pace 

 with the times, and, for several years past, has 

 taken an active part in the pursuit. He has been 

 President of several county associations, as well 

 as filling the office of Vice President of the Ont. 

 B. K. A. for two years in succession, and was 

 promoted to the Presidential chair of the latter 

 at the meeting held in London, Jan. last. He 

 also took a prominpnt part in securing the 

 passage of the foul Jiniod act now in existence in 

 Canada; and, more latterly tlie law prohibiting 

 the spraying of fruit trees while in bloom. In 

 his younger days he served a term in his father's 

 printing office ; later he followed the occupation 

 of druggist for ten years ; but for a number of 

 years past he has occupied a position in the 

 civil service of Canada. 



in gathering the fall crop. You, no doubt, 

 recollect that I suggested closing all upward 

 ventilation and giving a large entrance in 

 order to retain, if possible, sufficient mois- 

 ture to enable the bees to utilize the crystall- 

 ized stores. You reported a similar experi- 

 ment on a larger scale that proved disastrous 

 to the bees, accordingly I took your advice 

 and gave eacli colony two combs of fall 

 honey, that had been removed ; I having no 

 other to give them. 



It is with satisfaction that I report the suc- 

 cessful wintering of the colonies having both 

 sugar (crystallized) and fall honey for stores, 

 while a like number of colonies, consider- 

 ably stronger in numbers, but having only 

 honey (fall gathered) for winter stores 

 came through in anything but a satisfactory 

 condition. 



This proves conclusively that fall honey 

 alone is not a safe winter food in this vicin- 

 ity, but that a mixture of sugar, even 

 though crystallized, and such honey, makes 

 a safe winter food. I may add that this con- 

 clusion is not based upon this single experi- 

 ment, but upon experiments extending over 

 several years, the only difference being that 

 in former years the syrup was fed in addi- 

 tion to the stores already in the hives, and 

 the bees allowed to mix things to suit them- 

 selves. 



Before leaving this part of my subject, I 

 would say that I have had no difficulty in 

 wintering bees on natural stores, in an- 

 other locality where no honey is gathered 

 after basswood ; and this, notwithstanding 

 the fact that but little brood is raised in the 

 fall. But it must be remembered that the 

 bees do not exhaust their vitality in brood 

 rearing or in gathering late honey. 



Although fall honey is usually looked up- 

 on with favor, the following spring after 

 discloses this result: such flows are over- 

 stimulating and contain a superabundance 

 of pollen, causing the bees to endeavor to re- 

 place the old, worn out bees by raising young 

 ones so late in the season that sufficient cleans- 

 ing flights are not assured to put their young 

 bees in the right condition for settling down 

 into a good, quiet, winter's nap. Colonies 

 with even a liberal amount of such stores 

 never seem to know when to settle down in- 

 to anything like repose, whether wintered in 

 doors or out, and spring usually finds them 

 mere nuclei, if they survive at all. 



Like Mr. Heddon, I have concluded that 

 there is a difference even in granulated sugar. 



