DEVOTED TO BEES ATSI> HONEY, AND HOME INTERESTS. 



Vol. VIII. 



JULY 1, 1880. 



No. 7. 



A. I. ROOT, 



Publisher and Proprietor, \ 



Published Monthly. 



Medina, O. 



Established in 1873.{j^Z. t0fia ^ % mav 



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NOTES FROM THE BANNER APIARY. 



No. 8. 



FEEDING GRAPE SUGAR. 



YEAR or two ago, when the controversy in 

 regard to using- grape sugar (or "glucose," as 

 its enemies persisted in calling it) was at its 

 height, there appeared a few articles upon the sub- 

 ject that caused me to rise from my seat, and start 

 for my little book-case, where I keep my writing 

 materials; I had such an "itching," clear down to 

 my finger tips, to answer some "fiery tirade;" but 

 second, sober thoughts always came to my rescue, 

 and, after a little consideration, I always came 

 to the conclusion that, perhaps, I knew as lit- 

 tle about the subject, by actual experience, as the 

 writer in question, and I would better keep still. 

 As I have now, however, used a barrel of grape sug- 

 ar, I do know just a little about it, and it is with 

 pleasure that I step forward as its advocate. 



After the basswood honey harvest closed, the 

 young queens would not begin laying until they 

 were 12 or 15 days old, and, in order to induce them 

 to lay sooner, I began to think of feeding the bees 

 grape sugar. I hesitated several days before decid- 

 ing to try it, but I finally ordered a barrel of it. To 

 feed the sugar, I broke it up into half gallon fruit 

 jars. The jars were then filled with water and in- 

 verted upon a grooved board, as described in the A 

 BC. 



When I first began feeding the sugar, I had be- 

 tween 30 and 40 young queens that were old enough 

 to lay, some of them being 17 or 18 days old; queens 

 were hatching every day, and there was no place to 

 put them; orders were coming in every day, and 

 there were no laying queens with which to fill them; 

 but the grape sugar helped me out of all of these 

 troubles, for within three days after I began feeding 

 it, I filled orders for two dozen queens. 



I expected, of course, that feeding the sugar 

 would start the young queens to laying, but I had no 

 idea that it would put such life and animation into 

 every department of the apiary. The combs in 

 every hive filled up with brood in a manner that 

 was astonishing; about 00 frames of fdn., on which 

 the bees had quit working, and which I had stored 

 away for use another season, were drawn out into 

 nice combs and filled with brood; and I could open 



a hive without being troubled with robbers, as they 

 were all busy at the feeders. 



The feeding seemed to secure all of Ihe advantages 

 of a good yield of honey, except that it cost some- 

 thing, and there was no surplus honey. 



I tried to feed so little that none would be stored 

 in the combs, but, in preparing the bees for winter, 

 I found quite a number of combs that were "solid" 

 with grape sugar. Some of these combs were left in 

 the hives, and some were taken out, hung in empty 

 hives, and set out of doors where the bees could 

 "grub" away at the grape sugar whenever they 

 chose. Upon pleasant days they worked upon it 

 quite freely; and, by the time the weather was too 

 cold for them to fly, they had carried nearly all of it 

 away. In taking it out of new combs, they quite 

 frequently tore down the combs, or, at least, tore 

 down the side walls, and sometimes made holes clear 

 through the combs. Where they were too badly 

 "riddled," I cut out the damaged places, and filled 

 them with comb cut from some other frames. 

 Combs that had contained brood were seldom injur- 

 ed. Upon repacking the bees in the spring, I fre- 

 quently found combs that contained grape sugar. 

 These were hung in empty hives, and set out of doors, 

 and, by the 1st of June, all of the sugar was carried 

 away. 



I have never tried the grape-sugar candy, but in- 

 tend to do so the coming season. 



Whether it would pay any one who wished to run 

 his apiary for honey alone, to feed grape sugar, I 

 cannot say; but, if one wishes to rear bees or queens 

 for sale, it certainly pays. 



Although my bees wintered finely, I should con- 

 sider it very risky, if not impossible, to winter bees 

 upon grape sugar alone. 



A word in regard to spoiling the sale of your hon- 

 ey, by feeding grape sugar. Every neighbor and 

 visitor who comes here is shown the grape sugar, 

 and the manner of feeding it, and is told why it is 

 fed, and the impossibility of its getting into the sur- 

 plus honey, etc., etc., and, instead of losing the salo 

 of my honey, the demand for it is steadily increas- 

 ing. 



BEES VOIDING WATER WHILE UPON THE WING. 



When I was feeding grape-sugar syrup, last au- 

 tumn, by placing myself in such a position, in the 

 afternoon, that the bees passed between myself and 

 the sun, I could see almost every bee discharge a 



