932 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



" But would it not be better to winter 

 them all in the cellar? As thej' consume so 

 much less honc^', would it not be a great 

 saving- in stoj-es? " 



"It is true that there would be a consid- 

 erable saving in stores, other things being 

 equal: but some winters are favorable for 

 cellar wintering, while others are much 

 better suited to outdoor wintering-; and so a 

 combination of the two methods is the saf- 

 est plan." 



" Would not location make a difference in 

 this matter of wintering? " 



*' Possibly. But these rules will hold 

 g-ood wherever it is at all desirable to win- 

 ter in the cellar." 



" Do 3'ou prefer permanently packed hives 

 or winter cases? " 



" You will notice that most of my bees are 

 in Heddon hives, and therefore can not well 

 be permanently packed. For this and oth- 

 er reasons I prefer some kind of outside 

 case for each hive wintered outdoors, with 

 2 inches of packing on the sides, and 5 or 6 

 inches on the top of the hive. The cover 

 can be left on, or the hive may be covered 

 with pieces of heavy cloth or carpet, with a 

 good tight cover over the whole case. I 

 know of nothing better for this purpose than 

 the winter case made by the Root Co." 



" But what are these boxes with slat par- 

 titions — something new? " 



" Oh, no! on the contrary, they are older 

 than the movable-frame hive. Those are 

 Quinby feeders. I got the idea from an il- 

 lustration in Quinby's Mysteries of Bee- 

 keeping Explained, published in 1858. I 

 do not know whether they are mentioned in 

 the revised edition or not. You will notice 

 it is a bottom feeder, and was made for 

 feeding bees in box hives. The hive rests 

 square on the feeder, which is 2 inches 

 deep, the same width as the hive, and 3 

 inches longer. This space is at the back 

 of the hive, and is to fill the feeder. It is 

 covered with a little board. The feed Hows 

 through a wire screen into 10 or 12 little 

 troughs, or partitions, H wide by 2 inches 

 deep the length of the hive, excepting abotit 

 an inch in front for the bees to come up. 

 The inside of the feeder is lined with tin to 

 keep it from leaking. There is no feeder 

 illustrated in any of the catalogs that can 

 approach this one. It is especially adapt- 

 ed to feeding back." 



"What about those other feeders with 

 the glass jar? " 



" (^h! that is my own invention. Like 

 the other it is a bottom feeder, and it is at 

 the back end of the hive. It is on the ' at- 

 mospheric ' principle. The feed flows 

 through a hole in the top of the inverted 

 glass jar through a wire screen into a 

 trough which extends the width of the hive. 

 The bees have access to the feeder by re- 

 moving the cleat from the back end of the 

 bottom-board. The trough is always full. 

 As long as there is any in the jar, the bees 

 can not pass beyond the trough, and are 

 not in the least disturbed in removing and 

 refilling the feeder; and the feed is in a lit- 



tle trough right under their noses, and will 

 be taken up very rapidly. I mention these 

 two feeders at length because thej'^ have 

 been the means of solving the problem of 

 feeding back and reducing it to a science. 

 No top feeder is of any account for feeding 

 back. You may paste that in your hat." 



" Do you find it profitable to feed bnck 

 extracted honey to have it stored in the 

 sections? " 



"Yes, with the right kind of hive and 

 appliances, and considering the dift'erence 

 in price, as well as the greater demand for 

 comb honey, I find it very profitable. Note 

 what E. R. Root says on page 828, about 

 the demand for comb and extracted honey. 

 I had noticed that, and had about conclud- 

 ed to produce comb honey next year." 



"What do you think of Mr. Doolittle's 

 experience in feeding back, as given in the 

 Aug. 1st Gleaxixgs? " 



" I am not at all surprised at the results 

 of his experiments. I have had about the 

 same experience, and so will any one else 

 who tries to feed back with a frame as deep 

 as the one he uses. However, I consider his 

 frame about as well adapted to feeding 

 back as it is to producing comb honey when 

 gathered from the fields." 



" Then you consider that a hive that is 

 well suited to the production of comb honey 

 is just as well suited to feeding back? " 



"Yes, that is my experience exactly. 

 Mr. Doolittle fed his bees 50 lbs. of honey, 

 and they only just got to building comb 

 nicely, and then thej' struck and refused to 

 do any thing, after which he gave up the 

 whole business in disgust, as almost every 

 one else does who tries it." 



"What do you think became of that 50 

 lbs. of honey? " 



"Well, I will tell you what I think be- 

 came of it. You will notice he says he fed 

 them about IS lbs. each, which they carried 

 off during the day. At that rate it would 

 take only a little over three days to carry 

 off the SO lbs. They were not building any 

 comb; and as it takes three or four days of 

 feeding to start comb-building, there could 

 be no place to store the feed except in the 

 brood-chamber; and as his frame is 11 '4 

 inches deep, there was plenty of room for 

 it, or the queen might have been a poor 

 one, and the bees simply crowded her out 

 and filled up the brood-chamber. I have 

 often found this the cause of a failure in 

 feeding back. A good queen will compel 

 the bees to move the honey out and give her 

 room, while a poor one will be crowded out 

 completely, and the brood-chamber cram- 

 med full of honey, after which the bees will 

 work about as Mr. Doolittle says his did." 



" Do your bees ever refuse to work in the 

 feeders? " 



" Well, not so bad as that; but there is a 

 great difference in the working qualities of 

 bees. Some will build comb faster, and 

 cap their honey whiter. I keep a pedigree 

 of these bees, and use them for feeding 

 back. They are also likely to do better 

 field work. I had three colonies this year 



