iH±J BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



137 



Of course we could u^e liives large enough 

 to hold plenty of storcp, so that feeding 

 would not be necessary in such seasons. 

 These are a good kind of hive, if one is keep- 

 ing bees merely for those things to be found 

 in bee-keeping that we would not sell for 

 money if we could. I think I find as many 

 of those things as anybody, but at the same 

 time, in order to pay expenses, make a liv- 

 ing, and lay up a little for a rainy day, I 

 have to make considerable money with them 

 too. And for the comb honey producer 

 those big hives are a failure, especially in 

 such seasons as we are having right along 

 now. In using them, if we do not feed in 

 poor seasons, it takes most of the white hon- 

 ey to fill them up. and after they are full the 

 bees will not work in the sections as readily 

 as they will when they are in a smaller hive. 

 \Ve want the white honey in sections, and 

 then we can let them secure winter stores 

 from fall flowers, if we are in a locality 

 where the honey from such makes suitable 

 winter food. If it does not, or there is no 

 fall flow, we can feed sugar. I consider a 

 pound of the best granulated equal to a 

 pound of clover or basswood honey for win- 

 ter stores ; and there is a dittereuce of ten 

 cents a pound, and often more, between the 

 two. If we allow 30 pounds for winter 

 stores, this will make a difference of $30Oon 

 100 colonies. This will pay us well for our 

 time in feeding. I am not going to give any 

 theory about it, but I will say the largest 

 yields I ever got were from colonies of eight 

 and ten frame hives. 



Another thing I would like to say is, that 

 the most prolific queens are not the best in 

 many cases. I have had some very poor 

 queens that were very prolific. Some of the 

 very best Italian queens I now have, or ever 

 have had, are hardly able to keep eight Lang- 

 stroth frames full during the time they 

 should be kept full. Very likely many that 

 read this will think I do not know what a 

 good queen is, and I feel quite sure this will 

 be the case when I say that last summer I 

 killed a $0 breeding queen that was prolific 

 and equal to at least ten frames. But that 

 is not the worst. A year ago last summer I 

 sold for $1 a two-year-old imported Italian 

 queen that cost me over SI). I did not need 

 a dollar very badly, either. But if one was 

 to buy some that I have, and I think they are 

 good, the price the5' would have to pay 

 would make them think that they ought to 

 be good. 



Now as to the time to commence feeding 

 in the spring. I do not think, as a general 

 thing, it has paid me to feed much before 

 fruit-bloom, and not even then, if the bees 

 could secure enough from it to keep brood- 

 rearing going on as rapidly as it should 

 at this time. But if they do not, it has 

 always paid me well to feed. In this lo- 

 cality there are no flowers after fruit-bloom 

 until white clover. I generally feed a good 

 deal during this time. If we commence to 

 feed we must keep it up until there is some 

 to be had from the fields, or else stop grad- 

 ually, for if we get the brood nest full of 

 brood, and then stop all at once, if there is 

 not much food in the hive, and none in the 

 fields, the brood will necessarily be thrown 



out, or else starve to death, and then, as a 

 general thing, here in the North, such a col- 

 ony is ruined for that season, as far as sur- 

 plus honey is concerned. But on the other 

 hand, we must not feed too much. If we do, 

 with small hives, we will restrict the room in 

 the brood nest, and thus prevent the very 

 object for which we are feeding, namely, a 

 large force of workers to gather the flow 

 which we hope for and expect will come 

 later. 



But shortly before the time for the main 

 flow to commence, feed heavy if we wish to 

 fill the brood nest with sugar stores. 

 Whether this is best or not in a locality 

 where there is a fall flow, I do not know. I 

 have practiced this .somewhat, and I think 

 under the right management, it can be made 

 to pay. But my advice to the inexperienced 

 is to try this on a small scale at first. There 

 are certain difficulties, and much more to 

 learn about this than there is to simply feed 

 enough to secure a large force of workers. 

 In feeding for this purpose, I do not think it 

 is necessary to feed every day. I never feed 

 more than every second day, and a good deal 

 of the time only every third or fourth day. 

 But I think we may push brood-rearing 

 much more rapidly when we wish to, by 

 feeding a small amount every second or 

 third day, than we can by giving a large feed 

 all at once, or a frame of honey for feeding. 



I use a great deal of poor and inferior hon- 

 ey and honey-dew when I have it. Such as 

 is not fit for winter stores can be extracted, 

 and by judicious feeding at the right time it 

 can be converted, as it were, into many times 

 its weight of white honey. I do not want any 

 more honey-dew for winter stores. Some 

 winters bees appear to winter on it all right ; 

 in others they will not. There was a good 

 deal of it gathered here last fall. I put about 

 100 colonies in with this honey- dew, and the 

 loss so far is about 20 per cent. Very likely 

 it will be 50 per cent, before May- perhaps 

 more. A good many of the=e hives were 

 badly spotted by the first of January, but 

 as far as I have been able to observe, honey 

 dew answers every purpose as well as the 

 best honey, when the bees can fly. 



When I feed sugar I use the best granula- 

 ted. I have tried cheap brown sugar, both 

 dark and light, and such as we can get here 

 is not fit to feed bees at any time. There is 

 something in it that does not agree with 

 them. 



Now a few words about feeders. I use the 

 Miller for all kinds of feeding, and I think 

 this, or some kind in which we can feed dur- 

 ing the daytime without danger of robbing, 

 is best; for here, even quite late in the 

 spring, the nij'hts will often be so cool that 

 bees will not take feed readily from a feeder 

 that is set outside near the entrance, and if 

 thev would when the nights are cool. I think 

 it is much better to feed in the morning, and 

 then the feed will be carried below by night 

 and they will keep quiet and protect the 

 brood better. 



Any feeder or method we use In which it is 

 necessary to use smoke every time we feed, 

 is a bad thing. The less bees are smoked 

 and disturbed in the spring, the better. 



