DEVOTED TO BEEH AND HONEY, AND HOME INTERESTS. 



Vol. VIII. 



NOVEMBER 1, 1880. 



No. 11. 



A. I. ROOT, 



Publisher and Proprietor, \ 



Published Monthly. 



Medina, O. 



Established in 1873. 



fTKRMS: $1.00 Per Annum, in 



Advance; 2 Cities for $1.90; 3 

 [for $2.75; 5 for $4.00; 10 or 



more, 75c each. Single Number, 10c. 

 I Additions to clubs may be made at 

 [club rates. 



NOTES FROM THE BANNER APIARY. 



NO. 12. 



FEEDING HONEY IN THE OPEN AIR. 



HAVE always been told not to feed honey in the 

 open air, as it induces robbing 1 . If fed in its nat- 

 ural state, I have no doubt but that it would; but 

 if it is largely diluted with water it can be fed in the 

 open air, and it will cause no more robbing- than will 

 the feeding of grape sug-ar. We have had a continu- 

 ous yield of honey here this season, from early spring 

 until the frosts came. Some of the time the yield 

 was light, but I did not find it necessary to feed to 

 start the young queens to laying, until the latter 

 part of September. It was so late in the season that 

 I did not wish to go to the expense of buying a bar- 

 rel of grape sugar, and, as I had some buckwheat 

 honey on hand, I thought it would be the better way 

 if I could contrive some plan to feed it to the bees- 

 I did not wish to go to the botheror expense of using 

 any "patent, perforated, atmospheric feeders," and 

 so I concluded to try feeding the honey in the open 

 air. 



I k t honey run into a twe-quart fruit-can until it 

 stood about an inch and a half deep in the bottom of 

 the can. I then filled the can with warm water, gave 

 it a good shaking to dissolve the honey, and then in- 

 verted it upon a grooved board, the same as I did 

 when feeding the grape sugar. The bees "behaved" 

 themselves while taking this feed, and it had the 

 same effect in keeping up breeding and starting the 

 young queens to laying as did the gra pe sugar, while 

 the cost was not much, if any, more. I have also 

 tried the grape-sugar candy, and it seems to metobe 

 much the best manner of feediDg grape sugar. 



FIX DP YOUR BEES FOR WINTER. 



If your bees are not prepared for winter, don't wait 

 another day. If you have colonies that are weak, 

 either in bees or stores, unite them. Don't have any 

 weak colonies. If you have to put all of your bees in- 

 to one hive. If you can't get bees enough to till one 

 hive, then contract 1 he space in the hive by means 

 of chaff cushions. Make the bees fill— yes, crowd— 

 the space they occupy. Give them plenty of honey, 

 then protect them with chaff, sawdust, or something 

 of the kind. I know this advice sounds a little "old," 

 but there are so many of you who neglect these 

 things, t hat T hope you will excuse me for calling 



your attention to them again. In whatever manner 

 you do prepare your bees for winter, do the work 

 tJioroughly ; don't leave any cracks and crevices for 

 the hVat to escape. 



I have now kept bees four years, and during all 

 this time I have lost only two colonies; and my 

 swarms, each fall, are made up by uniting nuclei the 

 last of October; which plan— uniting nuclei so late— 

 seems to be quite apt to lead to trouble in wintering 

 —at least, I think it is the reason. It is because I 

 never leave a swarm in the fall until it is prepared 

 for winter just exactly as I think it ought to be. How 

 many of 'you have your bees prepared for winter 

 now. just exactly as you think they ought to be? 

 Hold up your hands. W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich. 



Very good, friend II. I would suggest 

 that those who do not hold up their hands 



had better come to think of it, you told 



them what they were to do, so I have noth- 

 ing to add. Oh, yes! my hand is up, only 

 that the bees are not all yet united. We are 

 keeping some queens for the brothers who 

 always want one just the last thing ; and, by 

 the way, we are going to try again selling 

 queens all winter to those who care to pay 

 winter prices. Last winter we sent them out 

 successfully during every month. 



A VISIT TO MEDINA. 



fT was our fortune, in the good providence of 

 God, to bo brought within forty miles of the 

 above-named place. Being so near, nothing 

 was more natural thun that we should feel an in- 

 tense desire to see Mr. A. I. Root's establishment 

 and apiary, of which every reader of Gleanings 

 has heard so much. We at once determined to grat- 

 ify ourselves, and see the elephant— &t least so far as 

 bee-fixings are concerned. Taking the morning 

 train on the 2sth ult., we were soon landed opposite 

 the brick establishment. Wending our way across 

 the railroad and through the masons and carpen- 

 ters engaged in the erection of the addition to the 

 main building, we soon made the acquaintance of 

 Mr. Gray,— the foreman, and next, that of Mr. Root 

 himself— all as busy as bees in running the institu- 

 tion. But who do you think put in his appearance 

 almost at the same instant? It was none other than 

 the celebrated apiarian D. A. Jones, of Bceton, Can- 



