248 



THE AMERICAN BEE . JOURNAL. 



April 16, 1903. 



total business so that although the new man gets a share 

 the old ones will do as much business as ever. 



Neither of these three cases will be entirely the same 

 in bee-keeping. The first case is entirely impossible, for 

 the new comer will get his pro rata portion of the nectar in 

 spite of any effort on the part of the others. 



Something like the second case may happen, but there 

 is this great difference ; The encroaching grocer is at a 

 disadvantage, for the others have the advantage of an 

 established trade, and it is not the placing of his capital 

 there that gets him his trade, while the old established bee- 

 keepers have no advantage, and the new man is sure of his 

 share of the trade (nectar) merely by placing his capital 

 (colonies). The third case is utterly impossible in bee- 

 keeping, for the bees can only forage within a fixed limit. 



The case of the stock-raiser would be a more parallel 

 one. If a stock-raiser had a field fully occupied, and 

 another man should come and dump into that field a bunch 

 of cattle to be fed, he would be much like an interloping 

 bee-keeper. But the stock-raiser may have a legal claim to 

 the ground, while the bee-keeper has only the moral claim 

 of priority. 



Truth compels me to say that these views are not origi- 

 nal, but obtained from one who has given the matter much 

 thought. 



A Beg-innep's Troubles and Questions. 



This is a nice country for bees, and we bought 7 colo- 

 nies last spring. We had good luck in getting nearly all 

 the swarms, but as we did not know anything about bees 

 we did not take care of them as we should, although we 

 tried our best, and now we are losing our bees, which is 

 quite a loss to us in our circumstances, just commencing in 

 a new country. 



The bees did quite well in the summer, considering the 

 cool weather we had. We put 20 colonies away last fall — 

 heavy colonies — but not knowing about feeding bees, as 

 now we have found out in reading the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, our bees did not have proper attention. As there is no 

 one near that we can find out anything about bees from, I 

 thought perhaps you would be kind enough to answer some 

 questions, and maybe we could save enough of our bees to 

 start with in the spring. 



We had intended buying our hives and supplies soon, 

 but it begins to look as though we will not need them. If 

 we lose all our bees we will not be able to start again this 

 year, and it discourages us very much. We intend to build 

 this summer, and would have a good cellar another year for 

 them. I suppose the place we have for them is not proper, 

 but we heard of a bee-keeper in southern Minnesota that 

 had this kind of a place. It is a house double-boarded, tar 

 paper between. It is dark in there ; we have the bees tiered 

 one hive upon the other. 



We tried to get some Porto Rico sugar, as given in "A 

 B C of Bee-Culture," but we could not get it, so we are using 

 light brown, and 2 colonies have died since we commenced 

 feeding them. They are all short of stores, and others are 

 getting smaller. We also lost 2 colonies that had plenty of 

 honey, so we do not know the reason. We have lost 5 colo- 

 nies already, and I am afraid, from the way they look now, 

 that we will lose them all. Do you think it would be better 

 to build a shed and leave the south side open so the sun can 

 shine on them ? 



Would granulated sugar be best to feed them ? We 

 followed the directions given in the " A B C of Bee-Cul- 

 ture " for early spring feeding. The bees seem to like it ; 

 it forms a syrup, but perhaps that is not best to use. 



We think we are through with the coldest weather now, 

 and if we could only save enough bees to start again I 

 should be glad, and would try to learn more about them. 



I thought perhaps you would tell us something about 

 what would help us. I don't know where else to get infor- 

 mation. We made our hiveS last summer. Also let me 

 know something about feeding. Would old cloths be all 

 right to put over the brood-nest to keep the bees warm ? 

 You know our hives are different from yours. We haven't 

 the quilts in ours. 



Could we put some colonies together, as some have 

 died, and there is only a small colony left 7 



How about the queens if we try to unite? 



We have had some warm days this winter, and I 

 thought perhaps we could unite some and feed. We have 

 no honey to feed them. 



You will see by my letter we are very ignorant as to 

 how to take care of bees, but I hope we may improve. 



Mrs. C. G. Ckuickshank. 

 Crow Wing Co., Minn., Jan. 20. 



A repository above ground, closed as yours, is not a 

 good place generally, neither is a shed facing south as you 

 propose, unless the bees are packed on all sides excepting 

 the south. But it will not be best to make any change 

 until there comes a day warm enough for the bees to fly. 

 On a still day with the sun shining they will fly when the 

 thermometer is no higher than 50 degrees. It is now get- 

 ting along toward spring so close that it is possible that all 

 that will be necessary will be to set them out the first day 

 they can fly and leave them out, but it will be much better 

 to give them some protection, if it be nothing more than to 

 pile corn-stalks about the hives. 



I am glad you have a text-book to consult, but I think 

 if you will look again you will find that it advises granu- 

 lated sugar for feeding. Neither is sprinu feeding, but win- 

 ter feeding the thing for you. Spring feeding is not to be 

 considered until bees can at least fly every few days. I 

 think your text-book will tell you that you should not feed 

 syrup of any kind in winter, but candy made of granulated 

 sugar. If this is made in frames, or in cakes and laid on 

 top of the frames covered up warmly, you will have done 

 the best thing you can for your bees, so far as can be judged 

 from what you have written. 



The "Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Qlasges. 

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



METHOD OF STARTING QUEBNS IN AN UPPER STORY. 



So far as words and names go, Stachelhausen's method 

 of starting queens in an upper story is a sort of a swindle. 

 His upper story is on the bottom-board, and the queen and 

 main colony elsewhere at the time. Practically, however, 

 I guess he lias a splendid idea — take the bottom story en- 

 tirely away for one day, and thin bring it back. All pro- 

 tracted monkeying on the part of the keeper, and waste of 

 time on the part of the bees, are thus shut off, and you know 

 your cells are being started. Yet the advantages of rearing 

 queens above an excluder are kept, most of them. I did not 

 know the plan of getting the queen fertilized from the 

 upper story was abandoned, and was a little surprised to 

 hear Mr. S. say so. 



Interesting to see that Stachelhausen thinks the larva? 

 usually taken for the Doolittle method are not young 

 enough for the very best results — would sooner take them 

 an hour or two before they hatch than to wait many hours 

 after. And so, perhaps, it is a good plan to repeat this 

 sentence of his : 



" After trying all the different methods I went back to 

 the Alley strips— and can't help believing that if the arti- 

 ficial cell-cups are preferred it is merely a case of fashion." 

 Page 151. 



HONHY FOR S%VKETBNING FRUITS. 



Mrs. J. L,. Strong finds the sweet of honey harmonizes 

 well with most fruits, but that apples are an exception. 

 Kind o' seems to me I have had occasion some time to 

 notice that honey and apple-sauce made a bad combination. 

 Unless somebody comes forward to report success in sweet- 

 ening apples, let that stand for the present as disapproved. 

 Page 152. 



CONSUMPTION OF STORES IN WINTER. 



On page 158, H. B. Stumpe's experiment is instructive. 

 A good colony taken out to fly in winter used up eight 

 pounds of food in the one month next succeeding, while the 

 others used only seven pounds in all winter. Presumably 

 this extra eating was caused by extra brood-rearing — and 

 that is undesirable in the cellar. The widely different re- 

 sults of winter flight seem to be explainable on this line. 

 Sometimes it has no effect but the good ones of airing and 

 drying both begs and hive, stopping the worrying, and 

 giving the bees a chance to empty their bowels. Soinetimes, 

 in addition to these good things, a great lot of brood gets 

 started, and soon the bees are in a worse condition than 

 before. 



