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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



burn; R H. Smith, St. Thomas; F. A. Gem- 

 mil. London; A. Laing. Hamilton, and Mr. 

 Tebbs, manager Boys' Home, Hesppler; Mr. 

 Chris. Edmanson, president Brant Bee-keep- 

 ers' Association, who occupied the chair dur- 

 ing the opening session. 



WHY IT PATS TO USE ALL-SUGAR STORES 

 FOR WINTER. 



The subject for discussion was, "Natural 

 or Artificial Stores — which? when supplied 

 and where placed?" Before giving briefly 

 some of the statements made, let me say that, 

 as a result of one or two seasons where great 

 loss has been occasioned, iu part, at least, by 

 inferior natural stores for winter, there was 

 an entire unanimity of opinion among 

 the members that it was desirable to give 

 bees sufficient artificial (sugar) stores to 

 carry them through the season when, by 

 reason of long-continued cold, they were 

 confined to the hive. 



I was taken back to my early bee-keeping 

 days of some twenty-six years ago when a 

 somewhat similar disaster took place follow- 

 ed by discussions upon the wintering prob- 

 lem, the pollen theory, and the advocating 

 of sugar syrup for winter stores for bees. 



Captain Hetherington once said that he did 

 not winter with uniform success until he jed 

 each colony enough sugar-syrup stores to car- 

 ry them through the ivinter. Just here I 

 would endorse the sentiment of the captain. 

 If those in sections far enough north so that 

 the bees are confined to the hive for two, 

 three, or four months, would provide each 

 colony with, say, 15 lbs. of sugar-syrup stores, 

 the entire bee-keeping industry would under- 

 go a change. It would become an industry 

 of greater stability. But what is one man's 

 poison is another's meat. A word to the 

 wise is sufficient. 



WHY FEED IN THE FALL. 



Mr. F. T. Adams, Brantford, opened the 

 discussion by stating that he remembered 

 well the time when he thought it an extrav- 

 agance to spend money on feeding colonies 

 sugar syrup in the fall. He depended on 

 spring feeding; and if the weather was not 

 suitable in the spring the bees were not fed, 

 and under such conditions they often perish- 

 ed. He now advocates feeding heavily in the 

 fall so the bees will have plenty of stores un- 

 til sufficient honey comes in the following 

 spring. He considers early spring feeding 

 bad because it breaks the cluster in the hive, 

 excites the bees; and often the brood, which 

 the bees begin to rear, is abandoned before 

 maturity, and destroyed. He likes to feed 

 as early in the autumn as possible, before 

 cold nights interfere; with him this is about 

 Aug. 25. Then the stores are well ripened 

 and capped. If his bees had a fall flow he 

 might feed later. He contracts general ly from 

 ten combs to seven; and if any colonies have 

 too much brood to feed properly he takes a 

 portion out and gives it to weaker colonies. 



He uses, by measure, two parts of granu- 

 lated sugar to one part of water, first bring- 

 ing the water to a boil, then gradually stir- 



ring in the sugar, bringing the mixture to a 

 boil. 



Members in convention now resolved them- 

 selves into a series of hostile camps, being 

 hot and cold " processors, " thick and thin 

 syrup-makers, and advocates and non-advo- 

 cates of tartaric ai-id. W. A. Chrysler, F. J. 

 Miller, and A. Laing, all good men, advocat- 

 ed the cold pmcess; H. G. Sibbald. J. H. 

 Shaver, D. Anguish, Jas. Armstrong, and L. 

 A. Aspinwall were advocates of the warm 

 process. Mr. Sibbald even declared that he 

 had lost heavily in winter by feeding syrup 

 mixed by the cold process, and twitted some 

 of the opposition uptm the losses they had in 

 wintering, which might be obviated by adopt- 

 ing the hot process. Statements in some 

 cases were somewhat modified by saying 

 that, if the syrup were fed early, the cold 

 process might make less difference. 



As to the thickness of the syrup, the pro- 

 portion advocated ran all the way from half 

 and half by measure to three parts of sugar 

 to one of water (Mr. Anguish advocating the 

 latter), The argument in favor of thin syr- 

 up was that it was less trouble to make by 

 the cold process, and that the bees would 

 take it up more readily. Those opposed did 

 not see the use of giving the bees so much 

 water; the evaporation of the moisture kept 

 the bees excited; heat had to be generated, 

 which wore out the bees and wasted sugar 

 syrup. Mr Sibbald stated that, in late feed- 

 ing, stimulation to brood-rearing should be 

 avoided and the syrup fed rapidly. This 

 causes the bees to store the syrup before the 

 queen gets ready to lay, and the bees quiet 

 down again almost at once. 



Mr. Aspinwall thought syrup should have 

 tartaric acid in it. It not only prevents the 

 crystallization, but inverts the cane sugar. 

 This is a process which, owing to rapid 

 storing, is done imperfectly by the bees. 

 Owing to obstacles, he fed his bees in Decem- 

 ber last, and could have fed them all winter. 

 He uses a top feeder placed directly over the 

 cluster. He then gives the bees a little 

 smoke and raps the hive when the bees arouse 

 sufficiently to find the warm syrup. 



Mr. F. A. Gemmell advocated tartaric acid 

 because it never does any harm, and is some- 

 times beneficial. Mr. Aspinwall stated that 

 there is a gland in the mandibles of the 

 b' e, which secretes a fluid, very rank and 

 strong-smelling. This is formic acid, and, 

 under normal honey-gathering, largely in- 

 verts the nectar. 



Upon the advisability of contracting the 

 brood-chamber for winter there was a fair 

 amount of unanimity. The desirability for 

 bees to cover, as nearly as possible, their 

 stores was admitted by all. It was, however, 

 pointed out that, in case of danger of foul 

 brood, the contraction resulted in a whole- 

 sale mixing of the combs, which might result 

 in spreading the disease. 



It was advised to feed in the fall as soon as 

 the queen had stopped laying when the brood 

 space in the hive would be contracted so the 

 bees could store the syrup in these emptied 

 cells, and cluster over the stores during win- 



