684 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



honey, I may add llial in lliis lucality we 

 depend on the late fall honey to carry our 

 bees over the winter. Generally speaking, 

 during July and Auaiist bees cannot find 



enoiiyh lu make a living:. As a rule hives 

 are very light by the time the fall flow be- 

 .yins. Sometimes it is necessary to feed. 

 Littlestown, Pa. 



WINTERING BEES ON PEPPERMINT CANDY 



T$Y W. H. WEBB 



Our bees wintered on aster honey, for 

 this is our only fall flow here. I never have 

 auy trouble with dysentery. Wheu we put 

 our bees up in the fall we put a box of 

 ])eppermint stick candy over the brood- 

 frames and cover the candy with a piece of 

 doth and an empty super filled with tow- 

 sacks. The bees seem to eat the candy in 

 preference to tlie honey. 



I have been using peppermint candy 

 several years for wintering, and it has 

 pro\'ed successful. I don't know what the 



candy contains that prevents dysentery or 

 jiollen-clogging. I believe it is better tlian 

 the other candy. T should be glad if other 

 beekeepeis would try this method and find 

 out what the results will be. 



We went in for the winter last fall with 

 fifty colonies, and we lost four stands on 

 account of the mice cutting them down. It 

 was our fault by not closing the entrance. 

 All the rest came through in good condition 

 this spring. 



Roanoke, Va. 



ASTER HONEY NOT NECESSARILY FATAL 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER 



Aster honey does not cause trouble when 

 a stock has lots of young bees and brood 

 late in the fall. But it and sugar syrup 

 given late both are disastrous. I saw a 

 number of good stocks dead on syrup fed 

 after the first or second severe frost. Bees 

 were all worn oul. Hereabouts feeding is 

 usually deferred until after frost. It is all 

 right to a limit when the stock has brood 



and young bees, but I am now satislied tiiat 

 other practices will be better — for instance, 

 giving combs of sealed stores or candy. 



T belie^■e it will prove a gain to have a 

 few stocks in summer kept busy filling 

 combs with syrup i)urposely for fall use. 

 I have to use a boiled synip with tartaric 

 acid in it, but even so it will pay. 



Providence, R. I. 



WINTER STORES IN JUNE 



BY WILLIAM CRAIG 



Almost every one differs in his way of 

 feeding bees. I am using a ten-frame 

 Lana"stroth hive. During the white-clover 

 or basswood flow I take off as many supers 

 filled, and all capped over, as I have hives 

 of bees. The supers are just the same size 

 as the hive-body. The super contains ten 

 frames, the same as the body below. I set 

 these away in a room in the house, and keep 

 them until about Oct. 1, or until brood- 

 rearing has ceased. 



I now load on the wheelbarrow one of 

 these supers that I have stored away, and 

 begin at No. 1. T set the hive containing 

 the bees to one side, and set the hive filled 

 with honey on the stand. I take out one of 

 the frames that was filled with honey, and 

 leave it at the hou-se to be extracted. 



1 now take a frame from the hive tlial 1 

 set aside, and shake the bees all down in 

 front of the hive that rests on the stand, 

 and continue to do so until the bees are all 



shaken off. This liive now contains nine 

 fi'ames all filled and sealed over. The nine 

 frames are spread to an equal width, and a 

 section tacked on top to keep them from 

 shifting around. If I wish to move I hem 

 ai'ound after the bees have gone in. every 

 colony is fixed just the same. 



T then take the frames tliat contained the 

 bees and extract the hone\' out of them. 

 Some of the hi\ es would have scarcely any 

 honey in them, while some of them would 

 ha\e had plenty to winter on, but I don't 

 like to take any chance. Some may think 

 this is a costly way to winter bees; but I 

 think, taking all things into considei'ation, 

 it is just as cheap as some of the other ways 

 ill' feeding. 1 have done nuich feeding in 

 my lime and it lias always looked to me as 

 iliouuh the l)ees were wearing themselves 

 out considei-ably during the process of feed- 

 ing. 



A ilkin, Minn. 



