THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



other effect than to teach all who read this 

 to go slowly and carefully in experimenting 

 with new things, and rely upon their own 

 powers instead of the powers of others, I 

 shall be well paid for writing it. 



Now to the subject: Some years ago I 

 thought that " stimulative " feeding to se- 

 cure a large honey crop was the thing of the 

 future, and so set apart two rows of hives 

 which contained colonies of bees as nearly 

 alike as possible. When brood-rearing had 

 commenced nicely I put feeders in all the 

 hives in one of the rows, while the others 

 were not fed at all, except to see that all had 

 honey enough to last them at least two 

 weeks, which was done by setting in frames 

 of sealed honey when they did not have that 

 amount on hand. The row having the 

 feeders was fed whenever there was a day 

 the bees could not go into the fields or when 

 nothing was to be obtained from the flowers. 

 At the end of two weeks I was so infatuated 

 over the appearance of those being fed that 

 I had hard work to restrain myself from 

 putting feeders into each hive in the apiary, 

 and thus spoil all the experiment, as others 

 have done. When I saw the brood and 

 lengthening cells along the top bars to the 

 frames, it did not seem possible that these 

 colonies would not so far outstrip those not 

 fed that I would make a great loss by not 

 feeding the others. Skipping over all that 

 intervened, I found that when the end of 

 the season came I did not have enough extra 

 honey from tliat row of colonies fed, above 

 what the other row had done, to more than 

 half pay for the sugar used, while all the 

 extra work done must either count against 

 the fuyi had in the experiment, or go with 

 the half of the sugar which had been thrown 

 away. 



The trouble seemed to be that the fed bees 

 wore out faster than those not fed, so that 

 when the honey harvest arrived I had very 

 few more laborers in the fed hives than 

 were in the others. Also the fed bees did 

 not work with the same energy on the flowers 

 when they came, and no feed was given, as 

 did those not fed. 



Since then I have tried nearly the same 

 thing again, but in this case it was tried with 

 the end in view spoken of by Bro. H. on page 

 217, where he says "I have known a cool, 

 rainy spell to come on after fruit bloom, 

 and last for two weeks. Breeding ceased 

 almost entirely." This I had noticed often 



in this locality, and I had resolved that if 

 such an appearance ever came again I would 

 try feeding to see if this brood rearing could 

 not be kept up, for the brood now being 

 reared was to be the workers in the harvest. 

 Such a time came and I placed feeders in 

 twelve colonies and set apart twelve others 

 as nearly alike them as possible, allowing 

 the latter twelve to have their own way. 

 The former twelve were fed every night at 

 about sunset, feeding them from one to two 

 pounds of thin syrup each night. It kept 

 cold and rainy for twenty days, there being 

 frosts or freezing nights quite often during 

 the time, and much to my surprise, I found 

 at the end of the cold spell that there was 

 no brood, except eggs and a little unhatched 

 sealed brood, in any of the hives, and not 

 enough of the latter in the hives fed to any- 

 where near pay for the trouble of feeding. 

 Those who read the bee papers in 1878 will 

 remember of my giving this experiment 

 about that time. 



From these and other experiments I have 

 been satisfied with seeing that all colonies 

 had at least two weeks of honey ahead in 

 their hives, and have concluded thkt with 

 me the spring feeding of colonies every day 

 does not pay. If I do not have the combs 

 of honey to supply this two weeks of honey, 

 I fill combs with syrup as I have described 

 in the bee papers of the past. 



Another item I wish to speak of before 

 closing, and that is, how to feed, when we 

 are obliged to do so in the fall. I see the 

 editor favors feeding a large quantity at 

 once so that two feeds will give plenty of 

 stores for all winter. I used to favor the 

 same thing, but after watcliing carefully, I 

 find that when thus done the stores are 

 scattered all through the hive and not nearly 

 as well sealed as when fed slower. For this 

 reason I now feed about five pounds. daily, 

 and in this way have the syrup stored close 

 around the cluster and all capped over 

 nicely when done. I do not think it matters 

 much what feeder is used, and have no doubt 

 that the Heddon feeder is one of the best. 

 I have used what is termed a division-board 

 feeder, the same holding five pounds when 

 filled, this being so arranged that it would 

 contract the hive when necessary, could be 

 left in the hive when not in use, and in 

 feeding nothing but the cover to the hive 

 need.be disturbed. 



BOKODINO, N. Y., 



Aug. 26, 1892. 



