clLH KtL±.l'h lis ' RK VIE W. 



103 



just as legitimate to send out circulars 

 as it is to advertise in tlie columns of jour- 

 nals and newspapers. Tne point is just 

 here: we as publishers should be very care- 

 ful not to allow swindlers the use of our col- 

 nmus, and the same care ought to be exer- 

 cised in selling the names of bee-keepers, 

 but to decline to soil a list of names of bee- 

 keepers to honest dealers would be fully as 

 illogical as to refuse honest dealers the use 

 our advertising columns for fear that rogues 

 might creep in. Sanford ct Co., of New 

 York, recently exposed by the American Bee 

 Journal, tried last fall to buy a list of names 

 of me, but failed, as they could give no sat- 

 isfactory reference. I have never know- 

 ingly sold a list of names to a dishoneSt 

 man, and never shall, but I shall probably 

 continue to sell names and advertising 

 space to honest men as long as they wish 

 to buy. 



Spring Feeding not Profitable. 



I must confess that I have never fed bees 

 in the spring for the sake of the stimulation, 

 nor for the sake of getting the 

 combs tilled with feed so that the 

 first honey gathered must go into the sec- 

 tions, but I know that many have reported 

 success in tliat direction: notably, Mr. H. 

 R. Buardman whose success and methods 

 were reported in Gleanings and copied into 

 the Review last spring. The Review most 

 earnestly wishes to get at the exact 

 truth, and for this reason the following 

 from F. A. Salisbury and printed 

 in Gleanings is given place as something 

 on the other side of the (juestion. 



" Wanting to secure a large crop of honey 

 in the year 18'.«; we concluded to try the 

 Boardman plan of feeding, and beaan feed- 

 ing May 1, continuing till about .Tune 2.")th, 

 feeding about 1 lb. of syrup per day to each 

 of fi^ colonies. Syrup wms made in the ex- 

 tractor by the process given in the A. I. 

 Root Co.'s catalog: the same amount of 

 f ugar and water by mea-^ure or weight: it 

 does not make any difference in this regard, 

 as sugar and water, hulk for bulk, weigh 

 nearly the same. After --s rup was made it 

 took about ;iO minutes to till all the feeders. 

 This is made possihje by liaving bees in the 

 house-apiary with feeders made in the bot- 

 tom boards. There is no coming in con- 

 tact with bees, and no occasion to use a 

 smoker. The next morning, when about to 

 feed, a glance along the -helves would show 

 which feeders needed replenishing, the 

 feeders being 1-lb Muth lM>ney-jars. Some 

 colonies would empty the feeders in two or 



three hours. As we said before, we kept 

 this feeding up nearly two months, feeding 

 during that time over four barrels of sugar. 

 Cost of sugar about ^U5. 



A short distance from us is an apiary of 

 about 100 colonies. These bees were not 

 fed during this time. Ours were fed daily. 

 One would expect to see our r>8 colonies in- 

 crease in strength, and swarm early; but the 

 truth is, ours were later in swarming, and 

 weaker in bees, by the the time basswood 

 opened. Now I don't know why ours should 

 be so backward, seeing they had over four 

 barrels of sugar fed them, unless we fed 

 so fast that all the available room in the 

 brood-chamber was tilled with syrup which 

 prevented them from breeding. Last year, 

 when reading friend Elwood's results 

 of his feeding, I said he was wrong; 

 but nowl atiree with him that it does not 

 pay to feed bees. Our crop of honey was 

 about two-thirds of the average of others 

 near here and with the cost of sugar and 

 work taken out it left us about even. I shall 

 feed no more sugar to stimulate. The only 

 time I see that sugar feeding can be made 

 profitable is in the fall when stocks are 

 short of stores, when enough be fed to carry 

 them through until honey comes again. 



Possibly if we had fed all the fonr barrels 

 of sugar during the week just before bass- 

 wood opened we should have had a different 

 showing; but I do not think enough more 

 honey would have been gathered to pay for 

 the sugar and cost of feeding. 



There is one thing I have noticed in mak- 

 ing syrup by the cold-water extractor pro- 

 cess; and that is, it does not granulate either 

 in or out of the comb. We have about 10 

 lbs. of syrup made last -June that has stood 

 iti the house-apiary from tliat time till now. 

 • )f course, during the summer it evaporated 

 down to a thick syrup, and now is clear as 

 crystal, and thick, \vi(h no granulation. 

 Syrup made by boiling will granulate more 

 or less. 



Syracuse, N. Y. Feb. 5). 



The editor of Gleanings comments as 

 follows: 



[ Two years ago when I visited Boardman 

 he was the o"Iy one around who secured any 

 honey, and he attributed it to the fact he 

 fed them up to the honey- flow tilling the 

 brood combs, so that the first and all the 

 honey hud to go into the supers. This seem- 

 ed to be a big thing, and I ca 't quite give up 

 thrtt it is yet. However, one of our neigh- 

 bors, M. G. Chase, of Whittlesey, ()., has 

 tried the plan and succeeded no better than 

 you : at all events, he thinks he can't afford 

 to do it again. 



Ijet's have more reports from those who 

 tried the j)lan, for many did try it. If near- 

 ly all made it a failure then we must give up. 



Regarding the cold process of making 

 syrup, Mr. Salisbury is the man who gave 

 us the plan. This is surely a success. Our 

 bees have had this syrnp for two winters, 

 and they never wintered better. To go back 

 to the old mussy way would be like going 

 back to box hives. A Mr. Laing, of Ontario, 

 who visited us recently, said this idea alone 



