1874 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



107 



As our honey sells well at good prices, we have de- 

 termined to feed sugar to our bees this fall. How 

 many barrels should you get to feed say 70 colonies? 

 James Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Much depends on the strength of your colo- 

 nies. We have never found any ground at 

 all for the assertion that two weak colonies 

 would consume less when united than either 

 of them separately, but on the contrary find 

 the amount of food consumed as with all oth- 

 er stock, depends upon the number to be fed. 

 We should estimate 25 lbs. of sugar, enough 

 for the strongest colony from Sept. until May ; 

 20 lbs., enough for all ordinary stocks, and 

 where the bees only cover three or four combs 

 on a frosty morning, perhaps It) lbs. would 

 suffice. Never err by giving too little, unless 

 you expect to feed early in tin- spring, and on 

 the other hand we should wish to give only 

 about enough on the average to last until 

 honey conn • in tie: I season, that it may not be 

 in the .v.,, in thee >mbs. Without seeing your 



To flate, I have 2500 lbs. of superior clover honey, my 

 hives are all tilled with nice worker comb and 8 are 

 double hives. I have only increased my stocks to 46, 

 but with the increase of comb, and condition of bees, 

 T consider my stocks at least worth $100.00 more than 

 in the spring. Mv honey, bottled and labeled, is sel- 

 ling rapidly "at the rate of 28 cts. per lb. clear of bot- 

 tles; at this rate my honey will turn me 8700.00 which 

 with the 8100.00 above makes me $800.00 clear profit 

 from 43 stands. 



My bees are rapidly filling np lor winter on Buck- 

 wheat honev. The old fogy bee-keepers pronounce 

 this the worst season they have ever known, they 

 have little or no honey. I think myself that we sel- 

 dom have poorer. The result of my summer's exper- 

 iment has astonished every one, myself included. 



That Novice may abundantly share the prosperity 



awl happiness he is causing hundreds to enjoy, is the 



sincere wish of his British cousin. G. C. MILLER. 



Mt. Hanley, X. S., Aug. 12th, 1874. 



More than once have we been tempted to feel 

 that our pay was but meager for the number 

 of hours we labor daily for the good of Bee 

 Culture, but friend M., you and others remind 

 us that our recompense is ample ; perhaps far 

 greater than we deserve. If it is not all in 

 dollars and cents 'tis in something far better, 

 the consciousness of having earned the good 

 will of our fellow laborers,. Will our bee-keep- 

 ing British cousins bear in mind that although 

 we may never have the pleasure of giving them 

 such a grasp of the hand as we might wish, yet 

 a warm place in our heart will always be re- 

 served for them. 



Supposing I succeed in getting Queens from those 

 eggs you are going to send me, how many bands will 

 they have ? or at least their progeny ? My drones are 

 all black of course. How many times will they have 

 to be crossed till there is no trace of the Italian left. 

 Novice why don't you tell us something about Egyp- 

 tian bees sometime in Gleanings ? 



I la MlCHENER, Low Banks, Ontario, Can. 



P. S.— There is something 1 wanted to tell you and 

 nearly forgot. I have ten Queen cells nearly ready to 

 cap from eggs from one ol Mr. McMurdo's Queens. 



If the dollar Queens are reared from import- 

 ed mothers, we think none of the bees will 

 ever show less than two yellow bands ; and 

 these two banded bees are very industrious 

 and quite pleasant to handle. However, if 

 Queens are" reared from this brood that produ- 

 ces the two banded bees, they are very nearly 

 black, and when mated with common drones, 

 their progeny is about as disagreeable as bees 

 can well be. and we can blame no one for ve- 

 hemently denouncing such hybrids. Friend 

 Muth of Cincinnati, has Egyptian bees. Will 

 he please tell us more about them. 



70 stocks we might guess that you would need 

 six or seven barrels of sugar, if all their stores 

 were removed in Sept. 



These remarks refer to in-door wintering; 

 we have had too little experience of late years 

 to decide how much more will be required for 

 out-door wintering, but perhaps a half more 

 would not be far out of the way. 



It is strange but 1 never can get a Queen that will 

 occupy more than 5 or (i frames with brood, and not 

 nearly all the comb in frames at that, some at top 

 and sides being tilled with honey and pollen. Am in- 

 clined to disbelieve reports of Queens tilling so many 

 frames as some say they do. 1 have Queens from 

 many breeders. J. A. Buchanan, Wintersville, I >. 



We partially agree with you friend B. A 

 Queen that occupies 7 L. frames we think very 

 fair ; 'tis true that by mixing the combs up 

 frequently, we may get some brood in 20 combs, 

 or even more. Is this good economy 'i Those 

 who are in doubt should make the experiment, 

 but please try it on a few hives first. 



Mr. ROOT :— 1 have thickened my syrup with starch 

 for more than 12 years to feed bees, 1 have not per- 

 ceived any bad effect from it, if some one would feed 

 a hive that way this fall and notice how it wintered. 1 

 would like to hear the result. I could not well feed 

 with and without, myself. J. Wixi-ield, Hubbard, O. 



Starch and sugar are regarded in Chemistry 

 as nearly identical, in fact starch is converted 

 into sugar by a chemical process with such 

 facility that the price of the two always re- 

 mains about the. same, and as the starch in our 

 food is quickly changed to sugar in the process 

 of digestion, may it not be the same with the 

 bees ? Still further is it not a fact that when 

 you feed starch with the sugar, in form of a 

 syrup, you find only the latter deposited in the 

 cells. We are inclined to think that even if 

 starch were taken with avidity, it would not 

 prove a substitute for pollen nor even for Rye 

 and Oat meal. 



I send for some fresh eggs. laid during the night, or 

 within 24 hours before sending. These eggs will 

 count with me. After they are grubs or larva; one or 

 two days old, 1 transfer them to Queen cells already 

 built in" Qneenless Nuclei, where they are brought up 

 Queens, and they will lie beauties. X have two such 

 now on hand, one laying, the other younger, lie- ides 

 one in the larvae state. I wish these eggs to be from 

 your imported Queen. 



Jonx L. Davis. Delhi, Mich. Aug. 7th, 1874. 



'Tis our opinion friend D. has hit on some- 

 thing really valuable. We at once removed 

 the larva 1 from three queen cells in our own 

 Apiary, and introduced others much younger 

 from the imported stock. They were all fed 

 and taken care of; we use a quill toothpick 

 for the operation; push it under the just 

 hatched worker larva- and remove it food and 

 all from the worker cell, and carefully put it 

 in the Queen cell, having previously "poked" 

 out the original occupant. If done carefully 

 we have no doubt of complete success, and a 

 stubborn colony can be allowed to go on with 

 as many of their own Queen cells as they choose 

 to build. We sent two pieces to friend I)., one 

 containing eggs as he requested and the other 

 larva' so small as to be just visible. He writes; 



The boxes \* ere on hand last night the 13th inst, and 

 tins 14th, t I'. M. there are 15 Queens started from the 

 comb with larvas ; itcame all right, the other came 

 with the same mail but '; of the eggs were jarred out 

 of the cells. Among the Queen cells spoken of above, 

 4 are in incipient natural Queen cells into which 1 

 transferred the larvas this morning, the bees seemed 

 pleased and arc already feeding them jelly. I <uii the 

 piece containing larvae into three pieces and put into 

 three hives and they have started 4. 5, and 6 cells res. 

 pectively already. Thanks for promptness. 



