1S79 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



87 



STARTERS, GIUPK SUGAR, CHEAP 

 HONEY FOR FEEDING, ETC. 



&fp]|HlS cold snap will try "every man's work, what 

 J J(|| sort it is," in regard to preparing bees for win- 

 "j ter; 22° below zero yesterday morning, and lei 

 this morning! and this so soon after the cold spell 

 of last month! It will thin out the bees all over the 

 country. 



The past honey season has been only fair with us, 

 not quite so {rood as 1877. The hives extracted from 

 averaged 80D lbs. against 2:20 lbs. in 1877, while in 

 cnnib honey, the yield was better than in unv pre- 

 vious year, which was due to the use of fdn. in sec- 

 tion frames, you will probably say; but such is not 

 the case, for I am opposed to the use of "raw" fdn. 

 in boxes. The way I use it is this: I fasten it in L. 

 frames, and hang them in the upper story until the 

 fdn. is worked out and filled with honey; if capped, 

 all the better; then I extract the honey and cut up 

 the comb for starters. I have never seen the plan 

 recommended by any one, iu the journals. Try it, 

 bee-keeper, and your customers will not complain 

 of a hard center in your comb honey. 



The honey market has been rather slow with us. 

 this winter, still, by hard work, we have succeeded 

 in marketing-, up to .Ian. 1st, :S,761 lbs. of the 7,001) lbs. 

 taken last season, from 59 stands. 



And now, friend Novice, I must say a few words 

 about this glucose and grape sug-ar busmess; not 

 that I intend to pitch into vou in the way others 

 have done, but merely to offer a few friendly criti- 

 cisms. In the first place, we are satisfied— yes, sure 



-that you will, before long, quit the use of the stuff, 

 quit advising- others to feed it, and quit dealing in 

 it. You profess to be working for the good of bee- 

 keepers. Now. while a few may lie benefited by the 

 use of it, as a cheap feed on which to winter their 

 bees, arc not the many injured? Let it once be 

 known that bee men all over the country are feed- 

 ing anything but pure honey, and it will be harder 

 than ever to convince those who would buy, that 

 what vim are trying- to sell them is pure honov. 

 Whatever you can get bees to take as food, they will 

 also store in the surplus boxes or comb, when they 

 need the room below for brood. 



On page 365, in speaking of glucose, you say, "The 

 fact that it is more expensive than grape sugar is 

 the reason we do not use it." Then you would not 

 hesitate in using- and recommending it to others, if 

 money could be saved by so doing! 



There is another way of working for the interests 

 of bee-keepers, and that is, buy of those who have it 

 for sale, dark honey, such as will not bring much in 

 our city markets, and sell to those who need it to 

 feed. Poplar and dark fall honey can now be bought 

 very low, and you could thus open a market for a 

 large amount of it ; thereby benefiting bee-keepers 

 instead of the manufacturers of grape sugar. 



On page 366, Nov. Gleanings, you say that as 

 soon as those imported queens arrive, you will get 

 them to laying, if possible, by feeding. Now as that 

 is the natural season of rest, both for queens and 

 bees, will it not injure them and probably shorten 

 their lives, to thus feed them up? Experienced bee- 

 keepers will agree that by feeding a colony early in 

 winter, to such an extent as to induce brood raising, 

 more old bees are lost than young ones raised; and 

 if the workers are injured, why not the queen also? 



With the best wishes for the success of all your 

 enterprises which tend to the welfare of honey pro- 

 ducers, dealers, and consumers, I am yours truly, 



Jonas Scholl. 



Lyons Station, Ind.. Jan. 4, 1879. 



Thanks, friend S., for your friendly criti- 

 cism. If I get your idea, in regard to fdn., 

 you think the hase is thinned out more ef- 

 fectually 4n the brood combs than in the sec- 

 tions. From the observations I have made, 

 I think the difference must he very slight. 

 While the fdn. is thinned out in the great 

 majority of instances in the section boxes, 

 there are cases where it is left too thick to 

 be desirable, and I have found just as thick 

 bases in combs that were built in the brood 

 frame, as in the section boxes. Your re- 

 marks iu regard to grape suujar, like those of 

 the great part of those who have objected to 

 it, would seem to imply that you have never 



used it. Is this fair? From its hitter taste, 

 I do not think it could ever be used to adul- 

 terate honey without utterly ruining it for 

 table use, aside from its inveterate propen- 

 sity to solidify, even in slightly cool weath- 

 er. If you will make some experiments with 

 it, I think you will be satisfied that it is next 

 to impossible for it to get into the surplus 

 boxes. I beg pardon for so much repetition. 



Again ; I do not know, my friend, but that 

 I shall accuse you of accepting too much 

 theory, without verifying it by practice. I 

 have fed colonies late in the fall for the last 

 ."> years, and have never injured one by so 

 doing. I fed a single colony a barrel of sug- 

 ar, so late as to get drones reared and flying 

 in Oct. and Nov., yet they wintered beauti- 

 fully. Last season. I fed honey to 2 colonies 

 to get them to rill out sections in Oct. and 

 Nov., and although they reared brood clear 

 into winter, they came out my very best in 

 the spring. The colonies that I fed to get 

 the imported queens to laying, are stroii"- 

 and thrifty, and I have no fear that they will 

 be injured. Still further; by the use of the 

 flour candy in frames. I had stocks in the 

 chaff hives rearing brood almost, if not quite, 

 every month last winter, and they came out 

 running over with bees. Folks who write 

 hooks often draw wrong conclusions, and it 

 is your business and mine, and, I hope, the 

 business of our ABC class, to sift these 

 things most thoroughly, by practical work 

 with the bees themselves. 



Your idea in regard to using cheap honey 

 is a most excellent one, and I have already 

 put it into practice to some extent, but the 

 cheap honey is making my bees, to-day, soil 

 their hives sadly, while those fed on grape 

 sugar are clean, dry, and healthy. Thanks 

 for your kind wishes. 



%he "UvcMevu" 



[This department is to be kept for the benefit of 

 those who are dissatisflod; and when anything is 

 amiss, I hope you will "talk right out." As a rule 

 we will omit names and addresses, to avoid being 

 too personal.] 



viP SENT 25 cts. to you, some three weeks ago, for 

 }|| the A B C o f Bee Culture, Part 1st, and I have 

 t?j not received the book, or even an answer to my 

 letter. I hope you will forward it by return mail, 

 for I do not like that way of doing business. I will 

 await vour reply. John Nickle. 



Creemore, Ont., Can., Nov. 11, 1878. 



I do not like that way of doing business 

 either, my friend, and if I succeed in cipher- 

 ing out any way of answering letters I do 

 not get, I assure you I will do it with alacri- 

 ty. Your letter was probably among the mis- 

 sing ones mentioned last month, and your A 

 B C was sent the minute we found that you 

 had sent an order If you do not get an ans- 

 wer in in days after you send us an order, 

 send a postal ; but please do not accuse your 

 friend of willful neglect, until you are sure 

 they are to blame. 



There is no use in my truing to "keep cool" (though 

 the weather is such that it would appear an easy 

 thing to do) any longer! I must growl, long and 

 fiercely, or "bust!" My friend, phase tell me what (8 

 the matter with our uncle "Samivel's" mails? Not 



