1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



489 



WHAT SHALL, WE FEED FOR WINTER? 



Will you please tell me what you would feed bees 

 that have got just about half honey enough to carry 

 them through the winter. Whatever I feed I have 

 got to buy. I believe I have all of your works on 

 bees, but do not exactly understand just what you 

 have positively decided on. I enclose a postal card, 

 and you will only need to say a few words. If you 

 will do me that favor, you will much oblige me.— I 

 have about 700 swarms of bees with about half 

 enough honey to winter on. I. S. Crowfoot. 



Hartford, Wis., Sept. 14, 1880. 



If I had 700 colonies with half enough 

 stores for winter, I would supply the defi- 

 ciency with frames of candy made of coffee 

 A and best grape sugar in about equal pro- 

 portions. If it is less trouble to you to feed 

 it in the form of syrup, make the syrup as 

 described in A B G under feeding,— how to 

 make the syrup. If you have large feed- 

 ers, something like the tea-kettle feeders; 

 you can have two barrels made into syrup 

 and over the hives in about a half-day. If 

 you feed them enough of this to last them 

 until March or April, it will be just as well 

 to give them grape sugar alone after that. 

 I am taking it for granted that your colonies 

 are all strong ; weak colonies or nuclei may 

 not be able to get up sufficient animal heat 

 to melt the frames of sugar, so they can work 

 it up. They may die with this feed, but 

 they may also die with natural stores, as 

 past reports fully demonstrate ; but I think, 

 if properly done, such stores are just as safe 

 for winter as natural stores. I have made 

 no mention of flour in the candy, for I have 

 taken it for granted that the 700 colonies are 

 all strong enough, and brood rearing is not 

 particularly desired. Very likely the grape 

 sugar that is made now would be safe of 

 itself, but, to be sure of being on the safe 

 side, I would use half coffee A, as above. 



DO BEES "STEAL EGGS" FROM OTHER HIVES? 



A little experience I had in queen rearing may 

 look as though bees do steal eggs from other hives 

 sometimes. I had a good nucleus which had been 

 without fresh brood for nearly two weeks, when I 

 took them a queen cell, and found that they had 

 two acorn cups with an egg in each. Before 1 

 I thought, I spoiled them, or I would have left them 

 to see what would have come of them. I could not 

 find another egg in the hive. I gave them the queen 

 cell, and it came out in a day or two all right. 



SPURIOUS QUEENS. 



Now one other thing about queens "as ain't" 

 queens at all: I have found two or three this season, 

 all pretty much alike, little, black, shiny fellows— 

 and the bees acting around them just as they do 

 with a queen. I found one tc-day in a nucleus, 

 where I hatched a fine, yellow queen about three 

 days ago, and could not find her to-day, though I 

 looked carefully two times. The bees stood in a 

 circle round this would-be queen, and crawled over 

 her. I picked her up to see if she would try to sting, 

 but she did not, till I mashed her head. There are 

 no eggs in the hive. I guess they must be very aged 

 bees, and the bees act so out of respect to them. 



V. \V. Keeney. 



Shirland, 111., July 9, 1880. 



I should be inclined to think the eggs 

 were the work of a fertile worker, friend K., 



but it is certainly a little strange that they 

 should be found in a queen cell, and no 

 where else. — I have often, of late, had to 

 hunt out these small shiny queens, before I 

 could get a queen safely introduced to a col- 

 ony which had been a long time queenless. 



HOARHOUND HONEY. 



I've got my foot in it now, sure. You know I 

 stated (see Gleanings, July No., p. 331-2) that hoar- 

 hound honey was bitter. Well, I only stated what I 

 knew to be a fact, for I had tasted it more than 

 once, and I supposed everybody who had ever tasted 

 of honey from the honrhound plant knew that the 

 honey partakes largely of the flavor of the plant. 

 Well, to-day, here comes a letter from friend E. W. 

 Morse, of San Diego, Cal., requesting me to give 

 any facts to show that the quality of honey from 

 hoarhound is bitter; for, he says, "It is quite a 

 mooted question with some of us apiarists whether 

 the honey is bitter or not." 



In the summer of '74, I was in Missouri, and trans- 

 ferred a swarm of bees for a friend, and the honey 

 we took from that stand was about as bitter as the 

 average hoarhound candy we buy. When we looked 

 for the cause we very soon found it; for the bees 

 were in a lot that was covered thick with hoarhound. 

 This was while the hoarhound was in the hight of 

 its glory, and there was little else for the bees to 

 get, while it was so near that the bees did not have 

 to fly far with it. I leave it for scientists to judge 

 what chemical effect, if any, a longer flight of the 

 bee with the honey in its sack, or the age of the 

 honey after it is stored in the hive would 

 have upon the flavor of the honey. But there is no 

 accounting for taste anyhow; for, although I say 

 that I know that hoarhound honey is bitter to my 

 taste, others, no doubt, would eat the same honey 

 and never detect any bitter twang to it. I must 

 confess that I rather like it although it is bitter, and 

 if the quantity produced is sufficient to pay for 

 raising the plants, there is no doubt but that it will 

 sell. Jacob Copeland. 



Allendale, 111., July 20, 1880. 



I am sure, friend C, I would much rather 

 have it bitter, at least as bitter as hoarhound 

 candy, for then we can advertise the honey 

 as a medicine. Mr. Gray saw bees swarm- 

 ing on the plant on Catawba Island, in great 

 numbers, and perhaps we might get some of 

 the honey by sending there for it. We have 

 a small patch of Hoarhound on our grounds, 

 and it seemed to be fully as good as catnip. 

 Since you suggest it, I feel very much in- 

 clined to have a nice field of it, and plant a 

 few colonies of bees there just on purpose to 

 store hoarhound honey for medical purpos- 

 es. If anybody can furnish me some honey 

 with the flavor of hoarhound candy, I hope 

 they will send me a sample with price. I 

 will pay double price for it to start with. 



FUEL FOR SMOKERS, ETC. 



Tell those who want wood for their smokers and 

 don't know where to get it, just to take their ax and 

 go to the woods, and knock a hickory stump to 

 pieces, and they will find just as good as there is. 



In '78, from two skips and a nucleus to start with, 

 I made 300 lbs. of honey; last year, from 13 skips, I 

 made only 100 lbs. ; and this year from 12, I don't be- 

 lieve it will be as much. H. P. Demokest. 



Warwick, N. Y., June 19, 1880. 



