342 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEVi^. 



ing, and I have made it an opportunity for 

 exchanging sugar for honey by feeding the 

 bees liberaly at this time, filling their store 

 combs with sugar syrup for winter stores, 

 and getting in exchange the choicest honey 

 from the flowers in the sections. By this 

 plan there is a possibility of some surplus if 

 any honey is gathered from the field. 



Of course there is a premium on this ex- 

 change, just how much depends on several 

 things. 



A part of the feed given at this time will 

 be converted into young bees which will be- 

 come a part of the working force to gather 

 the surplus honey, and a part will be sealed 

 up in the store combs for winter stores. 

 The part that becomes winter stores is with- 

 out doubt a safe investment. The part 

 which is consumed in rearing brood, raising 

 more bees to gather more honey, is, I am 

 sure, still better. 



Sugar and water in about equal parts 

 thoroughly dissolved is all that is needed. 

 Don't try to fix it up or doctor it in any way, 

 let the bees do that themselves. Don't im- 

 agine thr.t you can help the bees in their 

 work of ripening the feed at any time by 

 making it thicker. 



You will only hinder instead of helping 

 them. Don't feed too fast ; about 3 lbs. of 

 sugar per day is enough. 



The wide-awake farmer feeds and cares 

 for his horses to increase their working 

 ability ; his cows for the milk and butter ; 

 his sheep for thewool and the poultry for 

 the eggs. No sensible-up-to-the-times- 

 farmer would think of making his business 

 profitable without he did this, and yet. there 

 are very many bee keepers who seem to 

 cling to the uncertain possibilities of the 

 bees working for nothing and boarding 

 themselves ; of getting a crop without any 

 outlay. 



Bat suppose the season should be a fail- 

 ure, how aie you going to get your money 

 back that you have paid out fur sugar, I 

 have been asked. My bees will be ready for 

 business when the next season opens, instead 

 of hovering on the ragged edge of starvation 

 for half the year and then have to be fed 

 to be worth anything. 



Of course, there may be, and probably 

 are, some localities where Nature is so 

 bounteous in her yield of sweets that the bees 

 will never need feeding, — but I am speaking 

 in regard to my own locality and I am con- 

 vinced from the reports that there are plenty 

 of others as poor as mine. 



The kind of feeding which I have describ- 

 ed is, I think, the most profitable kind of 

 feeding ; but there is another kind of feeding 

 which claims some attention, viz., feeding 

 back to get unfinished sections completed. 

 I have had considerable experience in this 

 direction just how much does not matter, 

 but I could give some figures showing the 

 actual results of some experiments that I 

 have made that would look very fiattering. 



Some of my experiments in feeding back 

 have been profitable and some have not. 

 Those which have not I think are in the ma- 

 jority. Of course, I am better prepared now 

 to avoid the mistakes and blunders that have 

 made this work unprofitable; but I am not 

 as enthusiastic over this subject as I once was. 

 If properly conducted and the conditions are 

 favorable, without doubt it might be made 

 profitable in the ri{]ht hands ; but with the 

 average bee-keeper I am sure it would re- 

 sult in disappointment and loss. 



A synopsis from my experiments may 

 furnish some valuable hints to those who 

 may wish to try their hands at this kind of 

 feeding. 



Feeding back should be begun as soon 

 as possible after the honey season closes. 

 The weather will be likely to be more favor- 

 able and the bees will be in better condition 

 than later. Of course, the crop of honey 

 must be taken off and graded before the un- 

 finished sections can be got at, but the less 

 delay the better in getting the bees to work 

 upon them. The extracted honey which is 

 to be fed back should be fed as soon as pos- 

 sible after it is extracted, while it is new, 

 for a change takes place in it very soon 

 which will cause it to granulate in the combs 

 after it is stored and sealed over by tlie bees. 

 I liuve had a good deal of trouble of this kind. 

 In fact, tlio d fficulty of getting a choice 

 grade of honey has been one of the most 

 serious draw backs with me. All sections 

 to be finished should be uncapped otherwise 

 they will have a patchy look when finished. 

 Considerable comb may be built during the 

 feeding if there is space for it. 



The most successful plan, and the one I 

 should recommend, is to shake or drum out 

 the bees from a strony heavy colony with 

 plenty of brood, upon empty frames with 

 only starters, and begin feeding at once, 

 and as soon as the queen has commenced to 

 lay in the new combs, which will usually be 

 in 24 to 48 hours, put on the sections ( as 

 many as it is expected to finish ) at once 



