^HXtt'S'' 



18 To 



Or how to Realize the Most Money with the Smallest Expenditure of Capita' 

 and Labor in the Care of Bees, Rationally Considered. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY. 



Vol. I. 



MEDINA, O., SEPT. 1, 1873. 



No. 0. 



STARTING AN APIARY. 



No. :». 



J^ S we ure admonished to "in times of 

 £<=^i peace prepare for war," so we say 

 during this month prepare for winter. Jt 

 is our sincere wish that each one of our 

 readers carry safely through the coming 

 winter every colony they undertake to, 

 and further more we are persuaded it can 

 be done if the directions we propose giv- 

 ing are carefully followed. 



If directions given last mouth were at- 

 tended to in regard to having all queens 

 prolific ones, we are all right on one of 

 the great essentials. Do not undertake 

 to winter any colony whose queen produ- 

 ces but a small patch of eggs and brood, 

 for she will probably be only an expense 

 if her colony does not fail outright in the 

 spring; we want none but those that will 

 go through safely and surely. Of course 

 in "taking the measure" of a queen plenty 

 of food must be on hand. 



Having made up your mind what colo- 

 nies are to be wintered, satisfy yourself 

 by careful inspection that thev have good, 

 entire combs, and, if you nave surplus 

 frames of comb, choose none but the 

 best worker combs; be especially care- 

 ful that none are left in the center of the 

 colony built half way down, for many a 

 hive of bees have starved thus in severe 

 weather because they were unable to get 

 over to the remainder of their stores; if 

 such combs must be used, place them On 

 the outside as they would be built by nat- 

 ural swarms. Unless you can permit all 

 I He pollen to remain in the hives, gathered 

 during the fall, make arrangements to I 

 give it back to them early in the spring. 

 Considerable has been said about giving 

 them for winter, one less comb, iluifmore 

 room may be allowed for the bees and 

 that they may thus cluster more compact- 

 ly. As we have had no experience in the 

 matter, we cannot advise, but think with 

 very strong colonies it could do no harm 

 at all events. We have never known a 

 hive toofull uf honey to winter, for in 



our locality they always consume enough 

 from the central combs to have plenty Of 

 clustering room before very cold weather. 

 We unhesitatingly advise all to extract 

 all of the honey before giving them their 

 winter supplies ; our reasons' arc briefly : 

 First and foremost, the great "bee mala- 

 dy of late seems to be much on (lie in- 

 crease, and localities where bees ] l;t , I for 

 years died only from starvation, have sud- 

 denly been visited to such an extent that 

 almost none were left : you may have al- 

 ways found your bees healthy, and yet the 

 coming winter may take all.' A list of re- 

 ports seem to point out that neither honey 

 dew. late pasturage, nor any other partic- 

 ular yield is the source ot the mischief. 

 Those who so confidently relied on sealed 

 combs of clover honey gathered in June, 

 seem to have had, many times, the very 

 worst form of the disease. Secondly we 

 are happy to add, that in a "dollars and 

 cents view, sugar is enough cheaper to 

 abundantly pay for the exchange ; for the 

 honey remaining now in the hives is gen- 

 erally the very thickest and best, and with 

 us sells at 15c. by the quantity, and re- 

 tails at 20c. We presume A. coffee sugar 

 can be purchased anywhere in the United 

 States almost as low as we get it, viz: 

 lie. by the barrel, and this will make the 

 cost of thick syrup, fully as thick as hon- 

 ey, only a little less than 9c. per pound. 

 Allowing one-fourth of this syrup to be 

 consumed by the bees in eliminating the 

 wax to cap it over, and we have total < n.st 

 of sealed syrup ll-le. If the honey sells 

 for 16c, there still remains I'c. to pav 

 for labor of extracting and feeding. If 

 supplied wbh plenty of feeders, we could 

 prepaw the syrup and give twenty colo- 

 nies 25 pounds each and do the work easi- 

 ly in one day, and $20 or over the amount 

 saved in giving them syrup instead of 

 honey, we think very good pay for aday > 

 work. 



llo\V To MAKE THIS SI Kir. 



•lust ill this way: Borrow your wife's 

 wash boiler, and with it her advice ;llll | 

 assistance; put it on the stove (the boil- 

 er, 1 pour in water, and put in sugar unti/ 

 a sample of the syrup, when cold i.. 



