Feb. 26, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



137 



two times I fed them my daughter was sick, and the siii,'ar 

 was made into a good syrup, but not near the boiling ptiiiit. 

 Some that was left was all crystallized, and I am afraid it 

 is that way in the hives. If so, is there danger of the bees 

 starving ? I know there is plenty in there if they can use 

 it. Please let me know whether they are safe, or if there is 

 anything I can have done, as I think of them all night long. 

 Cass Co., Mo.. Feb. 3. Lucv M. Wacnkk. 



You say that your syrup crystallized, and you evidently 

 fear that the trouble came from not boiling the syrup. 



It is not at all likely that boiling syrup makes any differ- 

 ence. It would crystallize just as quick after boiling as be- 

 fore. The sugar is already cooked as thoroughly as it can 

 be, all it needs is to be dissolved. All the boiling does to 

 the sugar is to dissolve it. Cold water will do that, too. 



The right thing to do is to feed early, and feed thin. 

 That will give the bees a chance to evaporate and make the 

 chemical changes necessary to prevent granulation. 



If you use a Miller feeder you can put in the syrup, or 

 you can put in the dry sugar, anywhere from one to IS 

 pounds. Then make a depression in the center and add a 

 very little water at first. After that has soaked slowly 

 through the sugar, so that the first that goes into the feeder 

 will be sweet, you can add as much water as you want to — 

 you need not bother to measure it. Of course, the amount 

 of water used must be governed somewhat by the amount of 

 sugar used. If you use only one pound of sugar, you would 

 hardly fill the feeder full of water, but if IS pounds is used 

 you can put in as much water as will go in. When the bees 

 have taken it up, put in more water, and so on until all the 

 sugar is used up. This is an easy and nice way to feed. 



A crock-and-plate feeder can be used also with sugar 

 and water. But remember you can not feed thin feed late 

 in the season, because too-thin feed is unwholesome for 

 winter stores. 



When late feeding must be done, use five parts sugar to 

 two of water, and add one even teaspoonful of tartaric acid 

 to 20 of sugar to prevent granulation. It is betterto use the 

 feed hot, for the reason that the bees will take it down 

 faster. 



If you have extracted honey you can make Scholz candy 

 and feed them candy in place of syrup. In winter this will 

 be very much better. 



What you want to know is. What to do about it now. It 

 is not likely that your syrup crystallized so badly but that 

 your bees can at least use part of it. The first warm day it 

 may be well to examine and see how the matter stands. 

 Then supply what is lacking by giving them Scholz candy, 

 or, as you are so far South, and it is getting so late in the 

 season that it is likely your bees will have a flight every 

 two or three days, you can give them thin syrup. 



A New Stove-Blacking. 



Instead of blacking the kitchen stove, to smut uten- 

 sils, hands, and flat-irons, dissolve beeswax and gasoline 

 and rub it over the stove when cold. The result is a very 

 good imitation of blacking, and there is neither dust nor 

 smut. — National Stockman and Farmer. 



^ The Afterthought. % \ 



The "Old Reliable" seen through Mew and Unreliable Qlasseg. 

 By B. e. HASTY. Sta. B Rural, Toledo, O. 



OSMOSIS, TJMBIUCAL CORD, ETC. 



And Osmosis wishes to exterminate the Umbilical Cord. 

 First we know the Umbilical Cord will sail in to exterminate 

 Osmosis; and, dreadful to see, they may Kilkenny-cat each 

 other. Well, if Atavism sitting on the fence is left to us we'll 

 manage to get along. Page 45. 



FEEDING IN THE OPEN AIR. 



The inverted can, resting on a square of thick cloth — and 

 lots and lots of them — for feeding the whole apiary in the 

 open air. Very simple; and yet it has not often been sugg<s(rd 

 before — if at all. A. F. Foote, page 45, finds it to work well. 

 Chances to fail with it though, I surmise. 



POROUS COVKIir-XQ FOR HIVES. 



Mr. Holterm'iinn's stylo of putting the argument in favor 

 of porous covering in outdoor wintering will sound unusual to 

 some. May be all right just the same. 



"If the change of air has to be accomplished by the en- 

 trance alone, the bees must exert themselves to create a draft, 

 and this is not goo<l." 



Is it common, even when air inside gets pretty bad, for 

 lices to fan in winter? I'm not positive, but incline to say it 

 is not. Of course, they do not fan except when the cluster is 

 broken up. at least to some extent — but perchance few of us 

 know exactly how often that takes place. Page 54. 



A COMB FOUNDATION SEPARAIXJR. 



A fomidation separator — to hold up part of the weight of 

 the Ijecs, and to make it impossible for them to elongate the 

 adjacent cells. Tliis is not for sections but for full deptli 

 combs. Defends their full space, and keeps them from being 

 built with protuberances and hollows. This appears to be a 

 good thing. Morley Pettit, page 54. 



DIFFERENT BREEnS AND QUALITIES. 



Mr. Getaz will probably admit that diff'erent breeds of 

 cows give milk of different qualities and decidedly different 

 richness; but I see he rigidly bars off anything of the kind in 

 different breeds of nurse bees. 



May be 



If Mr. G. he 



Was a ba-bee bee 



He would more light see — 



and cry for some of that Jersey Food instead of that old 

 thin stuff. Page 55. 



FRAME OF BROOD AND SHAKEN BEES. 



J. T. Hairston reads his experience that a frame of brood 

 does harm in a shaken swarm, and that thej- stay better with- 

 out it. Rather str.inge — but genuine experience among bees 

 will now and then be strange. As to their starting queen cells 

 on it the first thing, I rather guess that's something more than 

 merely local and exceptional. Frame can be taken out again 

 after being in a week and serving its purpose to prevent ab- 

 sconding. Page 55. 



NON-LEAKING SHIPPING CASES. 



Queer that so obvious a device to prevent cases from leak- 

 ing was not more talked of and used long ago. (Paraffin or 

 wax melted and run around the corners.) With either plan in 

 imiversal use the wholesale man would find some cases leak- 

 ing. Which plan on the whole would conduce to the least leak- 

 ing? On the one hand there's the didu't-see-'em cracks and 

 holes, and the springing loose due to being mercilessly banged 

 on the road, or due to poor nailing. On the other hand, 

 there's the blunderer who spoils the tray in the first instance, 

 and the examination blunderer, who takes out a section to 

 • look at and tears down the paper wall as he rams it recklessly 

 back. But on the whole, I guess the paper trays have i't. 

 Among other merits they keep the wood from soaking until 

 it looks badly, so the cases are nicer to use a second time. 

 Pages 59 and 52. 



DR. LAMBOTTES IDEAS ABOUT FOUL BROOD. 



"Powerful weak" — is Dr. Lambotte's attempt to upset the 

 established ideas about foul brood. Providing, that is, that 

 Adrian Getaz, on page 62, gives us a fair idea of the argu- 

 ment. If the field was entirely clear, and nobody knew a thing 

 about the cause of foul brood, he ovight to make a more con- 

 clusive case for his explanation and bug before inviting the 

 whole world to adopt his views. 



HONEY ON TIRED EYELIDS. 



How does that honey on the eyelids operate to rest the 

 tired eye inside? Want to know, you know. If the parts 

 surroimding the ball are fevered (quite likely they are in such 

 a case) I can imagine that closing the pores of the skin might 

 cheek the local fever, and that when the local fever wa.'J 

 checked the eye would get well faster. When I was a boy and 

 hands "ot desperately sore and crackled up in the autumn 

 winds, plenty of honey ruhlied on and stockings drawn over 

 to keep froni daubing "the sheets would take the fever all out 

 between bedtime and morning, and give the cracks a nice start 

 toward healing. Page 67. 



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