THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



267 



weather, there being no possible danger 

 from robbers as the honey is directly over 

 the cluster and there is no scent outside of 

 the hive to guide them. 



For stimulating brood rearing it is perfec- 

 tion itself, as the flow can be regulated to 

 any desired amount just enough to keep the 

 queen laying until the principal harvest is 

 ready. I have practiced stimulating for 

 some years, and it has paid me well. 



New Yobk Mills, N. Y., Sep. 10, 1892. 



When and How Feeding may be Made Very 

 Profitable. 



E. L. TAYLOK. 



T HAVE long been 

 1 interested in the 

 matter of feeding, 

 and it is still a sub- 

 lect of growing in- 

 terest to me. I have 

 never fed bees in the 

 spring except in 

 cases of necessity, 

 but the results of 

 this necessary feed- 

 ing has given me an 

 increasing tendency 

 in the direction I see 

 the editor is taking. In the leanest of the 

 late lean years every colony that cast a 

 swarm as soon as the first opening of the 

 white clover has given me more than an 

 average amount of surplus comb honey, and 

 by that I mean more than an average in 

 good seasons. Now it has come to be a 

 fond dream of mine that all reasonably 

 good colonies having good queens can be 

 brought to the swarming point by that time. 

 Unlike Dr. Miller I want my bees to swarm, 

 and especially if I can get them to swarm 

 before the tenth of June. With me such 

 colonies surpass in amount of surplus those 

 of equal strength that fail to cast swarms. 

 Then surely the additional swarm is worth 

 something, or at least one may destroy the 

 bees and have their winter stores extra, 

 besides with comparatively little trouble one 

 may obtain a good supply of fine young 

 queens, a point I believe too much neglected. 

 All my experience shows that to feed pretty 

 liberally during May and June, when there 

 is dearth or bad weather, would be profit- 



able, and that it would cause early swarming 

 is shown by the fact that during fruit bloom 

 many colonies are often found making 

 preparations to swarm by the building of 

 queen cells, which are torn down when the 

 fruit bloom passes, and swarming is de- 

 layed a month or more. Food given in a 

 feeder is as effective in the building up of a 

 colony as is nectar gathered from the blos- 

 soms. Then, if fed at the proper season it 

 can never be wasted, the bees never throw it 

 out of doors. I said such feeding would be 

 profitable, — ^it would be doubly profitable. 

 Every one who has tried feeding during 

 warm weather when little or no nectar is 

 found outside, has noticed how it incites the 

 bees to the search for pollen, and it may 

 easily be seen that for every pound of syrup 

 fed, an extra pound of pollen would be gath- 

 ered, which I suppose would be equal in 

 value as food to the syrup. 



Now, with regard to feeding in the fall, of 

 course all will agree that in case of necessity 

 it must be resorted to if the bees have not 

 suificient stores for winter, but as I had occa- 

 sion to say elsewhere, "I am using words 

 critically when I say sufiicient is not 

 enough." Bees always do better when they 

 have a superabundance. There will not be 

 serious disagreement on this point, but on 

 another I fear I may not be considered 

 orthodox, and that is feeding in the fall to 

 produce brood-rearing. I have never been 

 able to accept the theory that late hatched 

 bees do not winter well. One season, on 

 account of very bad weather in August that 

 was fast putting a stop to all brood rearing, 

 I began to feed, and it seemed to work so 

 well that I kept it up into October and with 

 some colonies till the first of November, 

 and brood rearing was kept up to a consider- 

 able extent while feeding lasted. The result 

 was that they wintered excellently and were 

 in perfect condition at the opening of spring, 

 and the way they built up was a wonder. 

 Such perfect combs of brood I never saw 

 elsewhere at the same time of year. 



Yes, I am in favor of feeding. It is indis- 

 pensable if the bees lack a plenty of stores, 

 and also I believe profitable and very satis- 

 factory in September, May and June when- 

 ever there is little or no nectar to be gathered. 

 Of the two I think September feeding is the 

 more important on account of the inclina- 

 tion of the bees to cease brood rearing at 

 that season, while in the spring if they have 

 abundance of stores their natural desire to 



