1874 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



55 



How are the hives prepared and what kind? Lang- 

 Btroth if we remember. 



In preparing for wintering, I aim to have 

 empty comb near the center, for the bees to 

 cluster in, with their stores at the sides and 

 back end of the hive. When handling the 

 combs in the fall, I generally cut holes in them, 

 about one third of the way down from the top, 

 for winter passages. I take the honey boards 

 off, put on bee quilts, and contract the entran- 

 ces to one half inch, or less, but leave them 

 otherwise unobstructed. The caps are left off, 

 and hives piled up four or five deep, as the legs 

 on the sides of them just fit where caps rest, 

 when on. I use Langstroth's hive. 



You of course have tried "sugar diet," what differ- 

 ence do you find in the appearance of such colonies 

 if any ? 



I have some 15 or 18 colonies to which I fed 

 sugar syrup. One of them had I think, more 

 dead bees on the bottom board than any other 

 stock, except those extra strong ones transferr- 

 ed from the double width hives. In other res- 

 pects I could see no difference between those 

 wintered on syrup, and those having natural 

 stores. Many of them did not have much, if 

 any more than a spoonful of dead bees in their 

 hives, when taken out of winter quarters. 



They are breeding fast now, the weakest 

 having brood in all stages, from eggs to young 

 bees hatching out. 



I neglected to state in the proper place, that 

 although those extra stocks are still in good 

 condition, they are no better than many oth- 

 ers that contained not more than half as many 

 bees in the fall. 



We are called to lament the loss of one col- 

 ony, since putting them on the summer stand. 

 During the cold weather that occurred last 

 week, a medium sized stock starved, although 

 they had two frames of sealed honey. They 

 had clustered at the south side of the hive, 

 which stood facing east, and the honey being 

 at the north side, the cold north wind pre- 

 vented their reaching it, and so they, perished. 

 "'Twas a sad case," but one for which winter- 

 ing is not responsible. 



And how about the pollen f Your bees certainly 

 had pollen in the combs as they could not — Halloo ! 

 The chair is empty, (is it any wonder ?) and our friend 

 is gone; but we'll" make him tell next month, see if 

 we don't. 



SUGAR SYRUP VERSUS HONEY, 

 FOR WINTERING. 



FROM P. H. ELWOOD, STARKVILLE, X. T. 



fN A. B. J. for Dec, Vol. IX, Mr. Quinby 

 _, writes : 



" Novice, and other writers, claim that syrup 

 of sugar is a preventive, and will save the bees 

 from dysentery. I wish there was nothing to 

 disprove it. Mr. Elwood, of Herkimer Co., in 

 this State, fed several stocks that were desti- 

 tute, one year ago, with that alone. They 

 were badly affected with that disease, just the 

 Same as those having their own honey, and ex- 

 posed to the cold the same. I fed a colony 

 with loaf 3ugar, that, when exposed as others 

 were, was affected the same." 



Now, without in the least disputing the 

 great value of Mr. Q's articles on wintering, 

 we would ask him to reconsider the matter 

 after reading the following. Has he not been 

 too hasty in pronouncing sugar stores no better 

 for wintering. 



FRIEND NOVICE :— Your request for further par- 

 ticulars of the sugar fed bees, is at hand. 



At the suggestion of Capt. Hetherington, in the fall 

 of '72. we extracted all the honey from our thirty-five 

 colonies and fed each thirty lbs. of sugar syrup, made 

 from twenty lbs. of A coffee sugar. 3 small quantity 

 of cream of tartar was added, but this is probably un- 

 necessary. As there was a delay in 'getting sugar 

 they were not fed until Oct., and consequently aid 

 not get all of the syrup sealed. This feature we deem- 

 ed unfavorable, but hoping that it might cause no 

 trouble, we packed chaff on four sides and to; is, and 

 left them on summer stands. Result as Mr. Quinby 

 stated— "badly affected with dysentery.'' Some dy- 

 ing, and nearly all weak. The "unsealed syrup gath- 

 ered considerable moisture, so much in the flrsl 

 swarms that died, as to bulge out beyond the surface 

 of the comb. To vaporize this extra quantity of wat- 

 er, a large amount of heat would be consumed, more 

 probably, than the bees could generate. 



We can throw no light on the statement that our 

 sugar fed bees wintered no better than those with 

 natural stores, excepttosay that Mr. Quinby evident- 

 ly misunderstood us on this point. We had no bees 

 with natural food, and there are none such in our 

 held, packed as we have described. Compared with 

 natural stores in a well kept cellar, (Quinby & Root's 

 for example) honey comes out far ahead. Compared 

 with the ordinary cellar within range of our bees, 

 sugar was more than four hundred per cent ahead. 

 Compared with hives as much in the sim as possible 

 (a la Novice, when not in frost proof repository) or 

 made the Nuclei of snow banks (a la Prof. Cook, Gal- 

 lup, Doolittle and others) sugar came out more than 

 10,000 per cent ahead, and you may add as many ci- 

 phers as you please, for there was hot a single swarm 

 left within the range of our bees. And this in a sec- 

 tion where hundreds went into winter quarters. 

 Over two thirds of ours were saved, and that with a 

 good deal of bad management in the spring, for the 

 writer is a novice of but a year's experience. 



I think (partner out, here, although lie may. agree) 

 that sugar is as good ior wintering as the best honey, 

 perhaps better where bees are long confined, as it is" a 

 more concentrated food. If this be so, Gallup thinks 

 the Creator has made a mistake in providing for bees. 

 I think that honey is perfectly adapted to the re- 

 quirements of bees in latitudes where they are in- 

 digenous, but when carried to Siberian winters may 

 they not require a more concentrated diet? Does 

 Gallup leave his domestic animals to the food provi- 

 der by nature for the winter months, or does he sow 

 and gather, and thus improve on the processes of 

 nature ? 



I think it better to feed more slowly than you rec- 

 ommend; four pounds per day, for fifteen days even 

 where no brood is raised, being better than thirty 

 pounds in one day. . -. 



We started the present winter with 194 swarms. 

 Put 100 into a modified Hibbard clamp, large enough 

 to go inside and see how they get along, the remain- 

 der on summer stands. ., ,, 



We are wintering 50 swarms , on sugar the. present 

 winter, most of them fed in Sept. A part out doors, 

 those are all alive. Can't report those inside yet, hav- 

 en't had an extended experience, but, so far have 

 observed nothing but that ■harmonizes 'with the 

 Quinby theory, that cold usually kills the bees. ' 



We are using Quinby's hive, which I think is not 

 only the best frame hive for out-door wintering, but 

 best for in-dooi\also, the best for extracted h»iney,.the 

 best for box honey, the best , for convenience in ma- 

 nipulating, killing as few bees as any, and finally can 

 be built, if you are satisfied with a cheap hive, cheap- 

 er than the cheapest Simplicity hive. All of which is 

 respectfully submitted, especially the last. 



DEPOSITORY OF ....;.:, 

 BIiAfiHND BOMHSE p 



Or Letters From those wlio li:tve ma.ae Bee 

 Cult ure a. Failu re. . 



MR. Gleanings:— We have only 2-2 colonies left out 

 of our 57, and almost every day is cold, and t.o-day 'tis 

 both cold and wet. Shall we buy some more'? If not. 

 what shall we do ? Despondently, Novice: 



Don't buy any bees, so long as you have a 

 dozen left. Summer wili come, bye and bye, 

 and then you can show us how fast you can 

 build up. That you cannot winter bees, is 

 very evident, and unless you can show us that 

 you can- summer them, we shall have to con- 

 clude you are no bee-keeper at all. 



