1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



193 



taste. I have for twenty years held that glu- 

 cose syrups are destructive to health. I can 

 see nothing yet to make me think otherwise, 

 and chemically some of these syrups are quite 

 pure. The important question is their effect 

 on the animal or human organism. 



Denver, Colo., Jan. 23. T. Lytle. 



[I believed at the time, that A. I. R.'s state- 

 ment concerning beet and cane sugar was a 

 little too strong. Still, in defense of what Mr. 

 Rankin said, I would say this : That we have 

 fed our bees on beet sugar for the last ten 

 years, and our percentage of winter loss is as 

 low as or lower than that of any one else I 

 know of. It averages only between two and 

 three per cent, and in extremely hard winters 

 it may run up as high as ten or fifteen. Only 

 one winter in the last fifteen years, that I re- 

 member, did our loss reach the high figure 

 named. I have repeatedly tasted samples of 

 cane and beet sugar from the best factories ; 

 and had I not known that one was from one 

 source and the other from another, I should 

 have never suspected any difference ; and even 

 when the samples were mixed incognito I 

 could not tell which was which. Of course, 

 there might be a trace of sulphuric acid or 

 some other deleterious drugs But the proof 

 of the pudding is in the eating, or, rather, I 

 should say, beet sugar for a winter food^ — and 

 we have bought from factories everywhere 

 during the last ten or fifteen years— has given 

 us results that could scarcely be better. On 

 the other hand, befote beet sugar was on the 

 market, and we used exclusively cane, we had 

 some bad results in wintering. It would hardly 

 be fair to attribute these results to the sugar, 

 however, for at that time the art of wintering 

 had not been brought down to as fine a point 

 as now. — Ed.] 



QUESTIONS ON WINTERING, FROM A BEGIN- 

 NER. 



I am just getting a start with bees, and 

 should like to ask you a few questions con- 

 cerning their care, and especially wintering. 



1. Will bees winter all right here in West 

 Virginia on summer stands, with another hive 

 made just large enough to slip down over the 

 eight-frame Dovetailed hive, thus making a 

 wall of two inches all around, where the hives 

 are set on the ground as near as possible ? 



2. Would it be better to winter in the cellar, 

 where the mercury gives only 10° below zero 

 for two weeks or so ? During a whole winter 

 there will be a week of zero weather, and then 

 a month of open weather. Which would you 

 advise — wintering on summer stands with win- 

 tering-cases or in the cellar ? 



3. Will a colony of bees winter on 30 lbs. of 

 syrup made from granulated sugar ? 



4. Will the moth-worm destroy a strong 

 colony of bees in the movable frame hive if 

 they are not destroyed in some way, or will 

 the bees destroy them ? 



5. Will snow smother the bees if it falls 10 

 or 12 in. deep, and is not removed from the 

 entrance, and lies for ten days or two weeks ? 



WlLWAM D. KepharT. 

 Rohr, W. Va., Jan. 22. 



[1. Yes, bees ought to winter in your cli- 

 mate very nicely when they are in winter- 

 cases. 



2. No. I would not recommend cellar win- 

 tering in your locality. When there is any 

 considerable amount of open weather, the out- 

 door plan would prove the more satisfactory. 



3. Yes. 



4. In modern bee-keeping the moth-worm 

 is no more feared than the wolf in the great 

 centers of population. If the moth-worm 

 makes way with the bees, you may be sure the 

 owner either does not know very much about 

 his business, or at least neglects it. But Ital- 

 ian bees, no matter what their strength is, 

 will defend themselves against moths of any 

 kind. 



5. Not much danger of it. Unless the snow 

 heaps up five or six feet deep, there will be 

 very little danger of smothering. — Ed.] 



SPRAYING DURING BI,OOM, DESTRUCTIVE TO 

 BEES AS WELI< AS TO THE FRUIT. 



Mr. Editor : — You told us on page 103 

 about spraying fruit-trees while in bloom, and 

 the effects. Can you tell us in your next what 

 effect it had on the bees? C. M. Herbert. 



Salina, Utah, Feb. 7. 



[The experiment related in Gleanings was 

 not for the purpose of finding out whether the 

 spraying of fruit-trees during blooming-time 

 killed the bees, but to determine whether 

 spraying at such times was injurious to the 

 pollen and its development, and, in general, 

 to the setting of the fruit. The experiment 

 was conducted from the standpoint of the 

 fruit-grower, because it is universally conced- 

 ed, among all bee-keepers who are in position 

 to know, that spraying during the time of 

 bloom destroys bees by the thousands. Some- 

 times whole apiaries are so decimated that but 

 few colonies are left from which to make an 

 increase after the spraying season is over. 

 Many instances of this kind are on record. 

 Now, we know positively that spraying during 

 fruit-bloom is detrimental to both bee-life and 

 to the fruit-grower ; and as soon as fruit-grow- 

 ers themselves discover that they are losing 

 money, the practice will be discontinued. It 

 is now in order to educate the fruit-growers 

 by calling their attention to the facts. — Ed.] 



measuring bees' tongues. 



Friend Root : — In my "tin-can" article I 

 omitted to say that /get from >^ to l^c per 

 lb. above the barrel quotations for my honey. 

 In carrying the cans I place my hands under 

 either end of the case. This throws consider- 

 able of the weight directly upon the body, 

 which makes it a lighter job. 



I finished cellaring my bees Nov. 22 — 151. 



While measuring bees' tongues, why not 

 measure the tongue of the bumble-bee and 

 make comparisons, then there will be no 

 guesswork as to the necessary length. I will 

 send you some of my bees in the spring or be- 

 fore. Ei,iAS Fox. 



Hillsboro, Wis., Dec. 10. 



