JULY 1, 1915 



551 



eei'tain extent this establishes a lower mar- 

 ket price. 1 have had people call at my 

 wagon, and, after inquiring the prices of 

 my goods, would say : " You ask too much 

 for your honey. Your neighbor down the 

 line asks only so much." 



As I never do any bantering, but uphold 

 my established prices, I generally advise 

 them to buy wherever they deem it the most 

 profitable. Some, of course, leave me and 

 go back to that cheaper neighbor; but the 

 majority, who are observing enough to no- 

 tice the superiority of my stock, would pay 

 my price. 



Annoying as it is to have these outsiders 

 tamper with a business they do not under- 

 stand, their slipshod management does not 

 seriously interfere with my plans. I do not 

 wish to be selfish, nor deny others the priv- 

 ilege I enjoy. On the contrary-, I am al- 

 ways willing to let others profit by my ex- 

 perience. As far as I am able I am ready 

 to assist by word and actual demonstration 



v/lienever I am called on to do so; but for 

 the benefit of the professional honey trade, 

 to raise beekeeping to a higher standard, 

 tlie cleaner the sweep the better. 



As an additional foul-brood report I will 

 say my bees were free from the disease the 

 first two yeai-s after the treatment. A cou- 

 ple of stray black swarms that had taken 

 possession of empty hives the following 

 year developed the disease in moderate form. 

 Their queens I promptly supei-seded with 

 Italians, which cured them permanently. 

 Last summer I again noticed three slightly 

 affected colonies — at least I suspected them. 

 I applied the different treatments to all 

 three. To one I gave a new queen. The 

 queen of the second I caged for ten days, 

 and four brood-combs of the third, that 

 showed the least indications, I moved into 

 their extracting-super. All were cured for 

 the remainder of the season. 



La Salle, N. Y. 



WHERE STIMULATIVE FEEDING DOES NOT STIMULATE 



BY E. S. MILES 



I don't like the term " stimulative feed- 

 ing," since to me it seems misleading. Mj' 

 experience is exactly like Di'. Miller's. When 

 the bees want brood, and have honey on 

 hand, they will feed what they have, even 

 if nothing is coming in; but, of course, if 

 none comes for a sufficiently long period, 

 brood-rearing will slack off and finally cease 

 altogether. Bees appear to distinguish 

 between fall and spring; hence when the 

 final stop to gathering comes in the fall they 

 seem to know that stores may be more im- 

 portant than a few more bees. Unless there 

 is an abundance of honey on hand they 

 may let some brood perish. 



Let me try to tell how my bees do in 

 spring. When first set from the cellar all 

 queens will lay a patch of eggs, even if 

 nothing is to be gathered. If there is old 

 pollen and honey in the combs these eggs 

 will be hatched and the brood reared. If 

 there is an abundance of old pollen and 

 honey, the queen will keep on laying until 

 she has all the brood the bees can protect on 

 cool nights. Now, so long as my colony is 

 in this condition notliing can be gained by 

 feeding; so it follows that the phrase "stim- 

 ulative feeding" is rai.sleading. 



My bees will always do as outlined above ; 

 and if I had any that would not I would 

 surely part with them and get some that 

 would. But suppose no stores come in, and 

 the first brood emerges, the colony gets 



stronger, and can cover more brood. That 

 is something I have never known ; for, with- 

 in the time of setting from the cellar, and 

 the first brood emerges, there always comes 

 bloom enough of some kind to furnish some 

 new pollen and honey. The coming of ad- 

 ditional stores allows the bees to enlarge the 

 brood again to their capacity for keeping 

 it warm. 



Of course, if one prefers he may caU this 

 gathering a " stimulation " and be correct ; 

 but it should be borne in mind that there 

 is " a time for everything under the sun." 

 If we had the condition suggested above, 

 where the colony could cover and mature 

 more brood, and if more were desirable, and 

 if pollen or a substitute were available (no- 

 tice the ifs), and if old stores were running- 

 short, what would we do? I would feed. 

 To stimulate brood-rearing? Well, you 

 could call it that if it makes you feel better; 

 but I say to myself, " The bees are running 

 short of stores; they are becoming econom- 

 ical; and if I let them practice economy 

 now, mav be I'll bo compelled to do so lat- 

 er." 



So I practice what I call " doping 'em 

 up." Put on a feeder and feed them till 

 they feel rich and fat — that is, unless I am 

 morally certain a flow will start up within 

 a day or two. In such a case I feed them 

 enough so that, if I were in their place, I 

 wouldn't worry if I thought it would rain 



