May ir>. i9i. 



Tin; bees ;ippe;ired lively and liealtliy in every way. 



euloiiies in the eight-frame liives would 

 liave to be given room, and a single full- 

 depth super was given to about 60 colonies. 

 Over 1000 pounds of honey of light color, 

 light body, and ratlier indifferent flavor, 

 was extracted, while of coui-se all the other 

 colonies without supers — nearly 200 of 

 them, simph- januned the brood-nests solid. 

 NVe had aster lioney for once — no doubt 

 about it — and now it was high time to put 

 into practice some of the suggestions we 

 had so freely oifered Manley Brothers at 

 Detroit. Hut (let me emphasize the word) 

 when we looked at tliat big yard with solid 

 combs, the weather chilly most of the time, 

 and bees (|uite stupid, the idea of tearing- 

 out all those combs from the brood-nests 

 did nut look a bit fasciiuiting; in fact, it 

 was almost an impossibility, all things con- 

 sidered, and 1 began to see why bees were 

 left alone with late stores, even if they 

 stood a good chance of dying before spring. 

 They managed to feed 700 pounds of sugar 

 to the 100 eight-fiame Langstroth liives, but 

 no more would they take, even when invert- 

 ed pails were left over them for two days. 

 The other 1.30 colonies had much deeper 

 frames, and feeding was not to be thought 

 of. So, after all we had said on the ques- 

 tion previously, the bees were left to winter 

 on aster honey, and in a locality where the 

 niercur)- often crawls to 30 below zero F., 

 and once in a while to 40°. 



During the past winter, reports from 

 aster honey as a winter food gave us but 

 little comfort; and during all the season, 

 including this spring, I have seen only an 

 isolated ease or two where success was re- 

 ])orted, and then the bees had flights in 

 February. We are all familiar how the 

 bees of the Root Co. acted. Although win- 

 tering in a model cellar, they had to be 

 carried out for a midwinter flight. So good 

 an authority from so far south as West 

 Virginia, Mr. L. H. Robey, wrote me that 

 they often have trouble with aster honey. 

 It sours in the hive, and if the bees are 

 confined very long it is sure to cause dysen- 

 tery. He said he felt quite sure that, if 

 his bees had no flights fi-om late Novembei' 

 till February, they would die if wintering 

 on this honey. As we have some of Mr. 

 Robey's bees at this yard, of course his 

 experience did not encourage us very much. 



Tlie bees at the yard in question had no 

 flight after the last week in October. De- 

 cember was the severest on record — much 

 the coldest month of the \vinter. The near- 

 est tested thermometer registered 42° below 

 on Christmas day; but at that time the 

 hives were pretty well buried with snow. 

 As March came in, a day warm enough for 

 bees to fly was patiently waited for; and as 

 the month began to draw to a close without 

 such a day, I am afraid tliat I began to be 

 a bit impatient sometimes. Our bees in 



