.tcnf: J, inir> 



465 



Heads of Graim frem Differemilt Fields 



The Backlot Buzzer 



)\'ith rourage and a dii-in' suit 'most any feller 

 ran iniU the teeth of an old-fashioned bee gum. 



Some Factors Governing Stimulative 

 Feeding 



Dr. C. C. Miller: — I have hwen thinking about this 

 question of stimulative feeding a great deal, and I 

 have wondered if there is not an explanation some- 

 where as to why some say it is entirely wrong, and 

 others claim it to be the only thing. 



My experience has been that, when the bees have 

 plenty of sealed honey in the spring, they will raise 

 all the brood they can cover. This is all I care that 

 they should have. But now I am told that if a cold 

 spell should c-onie, and the bees have plenty of sealed 

 stores, but none unsealed, they will starve the brood 

 before they will uncap any honey, even though their 

 combs arc half full. Now, if this is true it seems 

 that it would pav me to feed every colony some syrup 

 when a cold spell comes in spring to make sure that 

 none was without unsealed food. Of course, if the 

 bees had gathered honey in advance it would not be 

 necessary to feed. Then the large beekeeper with 

 scanty spring pasture and danger of cold spells is 

 the one who wo\ild profit l)y spring feeding. I be- 

 lieve that those who claim they profit by stimulative 

 fe<>ding in spring do not gain by stimulating the 

 bees to rear more brood, but by getting them to keep 

 what they already have. 



Kirov, Wis. Osc.\K Kitl.xnd. 



[Dr. Miller replies:] 



I don't know all about it, but I can tell you how 

 it seems to me. .\c<-ording to your view the argu- 

 ment for the advantage of stimulative feeding is 



that " if a cold spell should come, and the bees have 

 plenty of sealed stores, but none unsealed, they will 

 starve the brood before they will uncap any honey, 

 even though their combs are half full." 



What testimony, have wc in regard to this? Here 

 is one item that may have a little bearing: I have 

 often seen, in the fall, eggs in the hive and no un- 

 sealed brood, with abundance of honey in the hive; 

 and I think this is a more common condition than 

 is generally supposed. It seems to show that at least 

 sometimes there may be plenty of stores in the hive, 

 the queen may be laying, and yet no brood will be 

 devj'loped from the eggs, and of course no larvre 

 fod. because no honey is coming in at the time. I 

 have also known other times when the bees continued 

 to rear brood, although for a number of days no 

 honey had been coming in. This latter was in the 

 early part of the year — not in the fall. 



So it would appear that the season of the year is 

 a factor in the case. Perhaps a stronger proof of 

 this lies in the fact that it is not an uncommon 

 thing for brood-rearing to be started before bees are 

 brought out of cellar, when, of course, no honey is 

 coming in, and at a still earlier date in colonies 

 wintered outdoors; while it is well known that it is 

 very difficult to start brood-rearing with any amount 

 of feeding late in the fall. 



It sometimes happens in winter that bees use up 

 all the stores within reach, and starve or freeze with 

 plenty of stores in the hives. But this happens only 

 in a prolonged cold spell, for bees are provident 

 creatures: and when they have used up what stores 

 are within reach, unless it is too cold for them to 

 stir they make it their first care on finding the 

 nearby stores exhausted to bring a fresh supply from 

 more distant combs, or else to move bodily to them. 

 Moreover, I think they are not merely satisfied with 

 scaled stores ; and I am not sure I ever found a 

 case when, if they had any honey at all, there was 

 not a goodly store of unsealed honey in the middle of 

 the cluster. 



Now, keeping all these things in mind, and re- 

 meml)ering that stimulative feeding is practiced, not 

 at a time when bees are marooned with the cold, but 

 when they are free to move to any part of the hive, 

 does it look reasonable to suppose that with honey 

 in the hive bees will let brood starve at a time when 

 •they are naturally most inclined to brood-rearing? 

 I do not say that it never happens; I don't know: 

 but I do say that in an experience of more than half 

 a century I never knew it to happen with my bees. 



Incidentally yon raise the question why some think 

 stimulative feeding entirely wrong and others claim 

 it to lie " the only thing." That's easy. Notwith- 

 standing the strong inclination of bees to rear brood 

 early in the season, a dearth will stop brood-rearing 

 )■/ the dearth cnntiniir.f long enovc/h. In places where 

 this occurs, which I think are exceptional, stimula- 

 tive feeding is " the only thing," while in other 

 places, such as mine and almost certainly yours, it 

 does no good and may do harm. 



Marengo, 111. 



Doubled-up Nuclei Not Wintering Well 



In regard to the wintering of bees in this locality, 

 there has been a wide variation. I have visited per- 

 haps a dozen beemen, and find where there was a 

 fall flow of honey or where bees were located in a 

 lasswood belt the colonies came through the winter 

 very well with but little loss. Buckwheat having 

 been a failure last fall, most bees suffered as there 

 was 'ittle if any brood reared after .August 1. Our 

 own loss was 8 to 10 per cent. This loss was chiefly 

 among nuclei which were doubled up late in the fall. 

 We did no feeding at outyards last fall, and the loss 



