418 



December, 1915. 



American Hee Journal 



IS small compared with purchasing 

 full colonies. 4th. The express rates 

 are very moderate. (It costs 22 cents 

 per pound to send bees to Toronto 

 from Alabama, if sent in 50 pound lots). 

 5th, but most important of all, it is 

 simply impossible to transmit disease 

 by this method if properly made candy 

 is used. 



We believe in the pound package. 

 Indeed, we hope we will soon see the 

 end of shipping bees on combs. If the 

 pound package is purchased early 

 enough, it is a much safer investment 

 than a full colony of bees with all the 

 risks of disease. 



In closing this article we quote from 

 a private letter received from an apiary 

 inspector, a man full of years of expe- 

 rience : " This plan of shipping bees 

 in combless packages deserves every 

 support. I feel satisfied that in time it 

 will go a long way towards eliminating 

 the spread of diseases, which, in spite 

 of our best efforts, is slowly on the 

 increase." 



Toronto, Ont. 



Importing Bees into England— 

 A War-Time Experiment 



BY A. H. BOWEN. 



■ AM sending a photograph of 15 col- 

 onies of pure Dutch bees on their 

 arrival at an English country sta- 

 tion after a six days' journey from Am- 

 sterdam to London dock. 



Importing bees in war-time is rather 

 a risky and expensive operation. The 

 freight and railway charges are heavy, 

 and each consignment must be accom- 

 panied by a certificate of origin signed 

 by the British Consul to show that the 

 shipment is perfectly genuine, from a 

 neutral country. 



However, I was anxious for an ex- 

 tension of apiaries; and, further, of 

 an opportunity of thoroughly testing 

 the supposed disease-resistant qualities 

 of pure Dutch bees. Apart from the 

 last consignment of 21 colonies, of 

 which 11 were utterly smashed, and the 

 bees all drowned in their own honey — 

 the bees came through in good order. 

 Each box held six frames, and the 



covers were screened with wire cloth 

 to allow of ample ventilation. Very 

 few bees were dead, and in most cases 

 the queens had continued laying, while 

 e>! route. 



The Isle of Wight disease has rav- 

 aged many apiaries, and the only likely 

 means of mitigating its severity or of 

 stamping it out seemed to be in employ- 

 ing a more resistant race than the 

 common natiie variety, if such were to 

 be had. In size Dutch bees are slightly 

 larger than pure Italians. They are 

 almost jet black. The queens are of 

 good size, well developed, and carry 

 three rings of slightly grey hair on the 

 abdomen. 



Dutch queens are extremely prolific, 

 and breed late into the autumn. As a 

 rule, the colonies are very populous, 

 an 1 yield good crops of honey in warm 

 seasons; but in a cool wet summer the 

 large populations consume much food, 

 and are often in danger of starving if 

 not fed. In Dutch bees the swarming 

 impulse seems very highly developed. 

 Colonies of medium strength will fre- 

 quently construct 10 to 15 fine large 

 cells in the preparation of swarming 

 or when superseding their failing 

 queen. They may continue to send out 

 smaller swarms as the cells hatch after 

 the first swarm has left. The bees do 

 not use propolis excessively. 



Temper appears to fluctuate in vari- 

 ous colonies. Generally it is quite 

 mild, but one sometimes comes across 

 colonies with a habit of stinging vig- 

 orously when approached. From my 

 own observations, and as a result of 

 reports that have come in I should say 

 that Dutch bees, both pure and crossed, 

 are of great value in building up api- 

 aries which have been reduced by dis- 

 ease ; and I believe under careful man- 

 agement they will remain healthy in 

 localities where disease is known to 

 be rampant. 



I have discovered that Dutch colo- 

 nies with their natural fondness of 

 constructing queen-cells are the very 

 finest to use tor starting and incubat- 

 ing artificial cups in a queen-rearing 

 apiary. Whether queenless colonies 

 or bees superseding their failing queen 

 or upper stories are employed for rais- 

 ing cells, the results are equally good. 



Nearly all of each batch of cups given 

 at one time are accepted, and lavishly 

 supplied with royal jelly. 



Some of the finest golden queens I 

 have seen were reared by Dutch bees. 

 In queen-breeding the best results are 

 always obtained by having the queens 

 bred in unrelated colonies of a differ- 

 ent race, and Dutch bees are unexcelled 

 for producing well developed, plump 

 and long-lived queens. 



When the war is overthe restrictions 

 which now hamper the importation of 

 bees will pass, and I am not without 

 hope that by greater selection and 

 care in breeding from resistant stock 

 we shall at last be able to wear out the 

 Isle of Wight disease, and make bee- 

 culture one of the most profitable of 

 our rural industries. 



Cheltenham, England. 



A SHIPMENT OF DUTCH BEKS AT AN ENGLISH RAILWAY STATION 



Experience in Feeding Sugar 

 Syrup 



BY J. E. CRANE. 



AS I have taken somewhat extreme 

 views as to feeding sugar syrup to 

 bees for winter stores, perhaps a 

 more complete statement of my expe- 

 rience along this line may be of value 

 to other beekeepers. 



Having kept bees most of my life 

 where little honey was gathered after 

 clover and basswood, I have had con- 

 siderable to do in feeding bees for 

 winter. 



When first I began to keep bees I 

 thought that if I kept many it would be 

 necessary to lay by a store of honey to 

 feed in autumn or in poor years. Then 

 I was told that if I would add cream-of- 

 tartar to sugar syrup it might be fed 

 safely, as the acid would prevent crys- 

 tallization of the sugar. The laying 

 by a large lot of honey to feed when 

 needed seemed quite a burden, and if 

 the use of the acid would prevent 

 crystallization of the syrup it would 

 be preferable, as I could buy the sugar 

 when needed. I tried creamof-tartar 

 in the syrup, and it seemed to work 

 very satisfactorily, as I found little 

 granulation when such syrup was fed, 

 and I was relieved of much anxiety 

 about my bees starving to death in 

 wintering after poor years. 



Presently some one in some of our 

 bee-journals said that vinegar was just 

 as good as cream-of-tartar to keep 

 sugar syrup from crystallizing in the 

 combs and vinegar made from honey 

 was just the thing. It looked reason- 

 able and I tried it, and sure enough it 

 worked just as well as cream-of-tartar. 

 I could make my vinegar from honey 

 rinsings or odds and ends not fit for 

 the table and thus save the expense of 

 cream-of-tartar. How fortunate to 

 have learned this fact. 



Later G. M. Doolittle, who has done 

 a good deal of original thinking, gave 

 his method of feeding sugar syrup and 

 how he overcame the tendency of sugar 

 to crystallize. His receipt was to dis- 

 solve two parts of sugar in one of 

 water and bring it to the boiling point 

 and then add one pound of honey to 

 each six pounds of sugar used. [Prof. 

 C. E. Bartholomew, of the Iowa State 

 Agricultural College, makes the state- 

 ment that syrup made of 85 parts of 

 sugar to 50 parts of water will keep in- 



