896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Nov. 



years, and am now 55 years of age, and expect to 

 have to suffer as long as in this tabernacle. 

 Dugger, Ind., Oct. 23, lssft. .]. Lammev. 



Why, friend L., if the stings were not a 

 cure, you admit that it did not hurt so bad ; 

 and if the bee-stings were only an allevia- 

 tion temporarily, I think that is something 

 to be thankful for. Your case was a very 

 aggravated one, if I understand you cor- 

 rectly. 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



All queries sent in for this department should be briefly 

 stated, and free from any possible ambiguity. The question 

 or questions should be written upon a separate slip of paper, 

 and marked, "For Our Question-Box." 



Question 148.— a. If your cobmies had their combs 

 well filled and capped over vith honey-dew, and you 

 had tin other eombstoffivi them, would you, if sugar 

 wen high, extract it and feed granulated-sugar syrup? 

 In other words, would you inner to run the risk of 

 (In ir not uinti i iittj on honey-dew. rather than to go to 

 the expense o) extracting? b. If u-ell-ripened buck- 

 wheat were substituted in place of the honey-dew, as i>i 

 a, what irnuld lie your procedure? 



I never had any honey-dew till this year. I have 

 concluded to let the bees take their chances in win- 

 tering on it, rather than go through the labor of 

 extracting and feeding. G. M. Doolittle. 



Under these rare conditions I would extract and 

 feed something better. Bees winter well on good 

 buckwheat honey and it could be fed instead of su- 

 gar. There is much called honey-dew that is some- 

 thing else. P. H. Elwood. 



Here in the South, bees winter on any kind of 

 sweets they gather; but as honey-dew is detrimen- 

 tal to safe wintering in the North, it will pay better 

 to extract it and feed granulated-sugar syrup than 

 to run the risk of losing the bees. P. L. Viallon. 



a. I would extract, at least from the majority of 

 my colonies. I might "chance" a few hives on 

 honey-dew. b. Let them alone. Well - ripened 

 buckwheat honey is good winter food for bees or 

 men. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



I should trust the honey-dew to winter on if well 

 ripened, b. I would not disturb the buckwheat 

 honey, if well ripened. It is of great importance 

 that any honey can be well ripened for winter 

 stores. H. R. Boardman. 



a. I would take my chances on their own stores 

 killing them, rather than to extract, especially here, 

 where full hives of bees can be bought for $3.00 

 each, in hives worth $1.25, and when sugar, as now, 

 is worth 10 cts. per lb. R. Wilkin. 



I have run the risk successfully, many times, of 

 having honey-dew or buckwheat honey for winter 

 stores, and I will do it again every time. It is the 

 damp above that kills your bees, but not the honey- 

 dew nor buckwheat honey, nor the bee-bread. 



C. F. Muth. 



a. Ves, I would. So far as I know about honey- 

 dew, it is not safe, though my experience with it is 

 very limited. Granulated sugar I know is safe, 

 and a 6ure thing is always the best for me. b. I 

 would have it, as I have wintered bees successfully 

 on buckwheat honey alone. A. B. Manum. 



a. We prefer to go to the expense of feeding su- 

 gar syrup, rather than to run the almost certain 

 risk of losing our bees. b. We consider well-ripen- 

 ed buckwheat honey as safer than honey-dew; yet 

 we prefer clover honey. It is on that account that 

 we do not extract honey from brood-chamber in 

 summer. Dadant & Son. 



a. I have had honey-dew that I should not consid- 

 er it any risk to winter bees on; and I have seen 

 that which I would know there was no risk to 

 run in wintering bees on it, for they would surely 

 all be dead before spring, b. I'd mind my own bus- 

 iness (if I had any) and let the bees alone. If I 

 hadn't any business, I'd proceed to find some. 



A. B Mason. 



a. I have had too little experience with honey- 

 dew, to answer this part of the question, b. Well- 

 ripened buckwheat honey has given me the best 

 satisfaction of any thing I have ever used for win- 

 ter stores; and if I were to do any substituting at 

 all, 1 should prefer to put such honey in place of 

 sugar sjrup. O. O Poppleton. 



That would depend. If the honey - dew were 

 pleasant enough for my own table, 1 should not 

 fear it. I have eaten honey-dew honey that was 

 A No. 1. b. If in the worker combs, give these 

 combs to bees. If not, I would extract from sec- 

 tions, and feed. I see no trouble. Perhaps 1 mis- 

 apprehend the question. A. J. Cook. 



a. I should probably run the risk of wintering on 

 honey-dew; but I would do this: Late in the fall I 

 would give each colony 8 to 10 pounds of good su- 

 gar syrup. This would be stored where it would be 

 first consumed by the bees, and would reduce the 

 danger of loss to a minimum, b. I consider good 

 buckwheat honey equal to white clover, for winter- 

 ing bees. Geo. Grimm. 



a. I certainly would feed them something— good 

 honey or sugar. Pure honey-dew is death to bees 

 in winter. I knew a man who experimented by 

 feeding 20 colonies on honey-dew exclusively. He 

 put them in a cellar, and all died. Other colonies, 

 wintered in the same cellar, fed on good honey, 

 came out all right, b. If they had well-ripened 

 buckwheat, or any well-ripened honey from any 

 kind of flowers, 1 should let them alone. 



S. I. Freeborn. 



If the combs were filled with all honey-dew, no 



good honey in them, I should hate to risk them. 



I should say, extract a part of them, one-half, and 



feed sugar. Buckwheat and fall honey, gathered 



from actual flowers, is good for winter feed for 



bees, and is good on pancakes. Our bees have all 



some honey-dew, gathered after the basswood flow. 



We shall let it remain, as the bees have got a good 



supply besides, of basswood honey. 



E. France. 



a. I have had little experience, and I don't be- 

 lieve I would extract any sealed combs I have ever 

 had, in order to replace with sugar syrup. I think, 

 however, that in some places it is so bad that it 

 might be best to extract the honey-dew. b. Put in 

 the buckwheat in combs, if possible; but if extract- 

 ed, be sure there is no foul brood about it, and then 

 feed as early as possible in the Warner-Miller feed- 

 er. C. C. Miller. 



a. I have had very little experience with honey- 

 dew, and none in wintering bees. All honey-dew is 

 not alike. If it were like some 1 have seen, 1 think 



