682 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



ing her in a nucleus I hope to keep her 

 living all this season. 



HONEY REFRIGERATED. 



Last June I sold a woman a section of 

 fruit-bloom honey. In Sei^tember I made 

 another sale to her. At this time she told 

 me she had just taken the other honey out- 

 of her refrigerator, wliere she had kept it 

 all summer. She 'did not notice until she 



took it out that the carton read not to keep 

 in a refrigerator. She said the honey was 

 uninjured, for all she could see. But she 

 said she wouldn't risk any more. 



Three Rivers, Mass. 



[Evidently she had a good refrigerator in 

 wiiich the ventilation was so ample that the 

 air was dry. The dampness in the average 

 refrigerator is what injures honey. — Ed.] 



SUCCESSFUL WINTERING ON ASTER HONEY 



BY J. F. KIGHT 



As is generally known, the honey crop in 

 Indiana for 1014 was a failure. Honey 

 became so scarce in my twenty-five colonies 

 in August that 1 bought 300 lbs. of granu- 

 lated sugar at 8 cents, and commenced to 

 feed about one quart to the colonies daily 

 outdoors. Soon the queens had most brood- 

 eombs full of eggs and larvae. By the mid- 

 dle of September the hives were boiling 

 over with young bees; but I do not believe 

 there was 50 lbs. of honey in all the twen- 

 ty-five colonies. Fortunately I yet had 

 some of ray eight-cent sugar left when the 

 wliite aster came in full bloom. To my sur- 

 prise the bees refused any more sugar syr- 

 up, preferring the aster. 



As each colony was unusually strong in 

 young bees, wliat they did to that aster 

 nectar was a sight. They filled exevy avail- 

 able cell, crowding the queens until, by the 

 time the flow ceased, each hive seemed as 

 heavy as that much lead. I do not believe 

 there was a pound of any kind of honey in 

 iiiy whole apiary except white aster. In 

 early November it turned cold, and my bees 



were packed in leaves with the single tele- 

 seoT)e cover until they were ready for al- 

 most any kind of winter weathex*. 



My fear as to the results of the aster 

 honey gave me a chill. I thought I would 

 have only beeless hives full of aster honey 

 in the spring. To increase this fear, when 

 my bees did not get a cleansing flight from 

 late in November to February 11, I felt 

 sure I would have no bees left. 



To my surprise, on Feb. 11 each colony 

 showed signs of life, and all bad a cleansing 

 flight. ]\[y bees came through the long and 

 cold winter in better condition than I have 

 ever had them in my thirty years of expe- 

 rience in bee culture. I did not lose a sin- 

 gle colony, but had four weak ones queen- 

 less on April 10. 



To sum up, I firmly believe if bees are 

 plentiful in the hive, can have plenty of 

 time to ripen the honey, and are well pro- 

 tected on the summer stands, there need be 

 no fear from aster honey. 



Indianapolis, Ind. 



DRY LOCATIONS DIMINISH WINTER LOSSES 



BY W. C. FLEMING 



Bees filled up heavily last October on 

 aster honey, and I was very much pleased, 

 as I had never had any trouble wintering on 

 this honey, neither had I ever heard of any 

 objections to aster honey as a winter food 

 in tliis latitude. Bees get a flight almost 

 eveiy week during the winter months. 



I have my bees in two yards, one at liome 

 and the other a few miles east of home. 



M}'^ home yard of eighty-five colonies is 

 located in a rather thick pine grove with 

 heavy woods on the north and west. Little 

 sunshine or wind gets to them, and the 

 gi'ound is rather low and wet. 



In this yard my loss was rather heavy for 

 North Carolina. I lost seven outright, and 

 more than a dozen were verv weak and al- 



most worthless when spring came. They 

 showed spots along the front of the hive, 

 telling plainly that dysentery was the trou- 

 ble. My other yard east of home wintered 

 1-erfectly, not a single loss, nor could I de- 

 tect any sign of dysentery. 



Both yards wintered on aster honey whol- 

 ly, and all hives were well filled in both 

 yards. Now for the difi'erence. My home 

 yard where the loss occurred is heavily 

 shaded, and, on low groiind, became very 

 damp. The other yard where there was no 

 loss stands out in the open where all the 

 .sujishine and wind can get to them. Hence 

 they wintered in a dryer condition. 



Greensboro, N. C. 



