1200 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



Of course, such honey should never be placed 

 •with clean honey; in fact, there is neither business 

 nor excuse for such honey at all, its very condi- 

 tion without moth damage rendering it unfit for 

 market, and deservedly reducing the price from 

 25 to 40 per cent, and also lowering the tone of 

 the whole honey market wherever exhibited. 



It will be readily seen from the foregoing, that, 

 if honey is taken from the hive when it should 

 be — that is, as soon as sealed, and before becom- 

 ing travel-stained, and each comb held to the 

 light to reveal pollen-cells, it can be stored with 

 the assurance that absolutely no damage can re- 

 sult to such honey from moth-larvae. 



A cupboard filled with more than 800 sections, 

 without fumigation, during July, 1907, and pack- 

 ed for market the last week in November, reveal- 

 ed but three combs injured by moth-larvas — one 

 in which a cell of pollen had been overlooked; 

 the other two, slightly travel-stained near the bot- 

 tom, were well " roaded " as far as the stain ex- 

 tended. 



The few if any sections containing pollen-cells 

 may be placed where easily inspected, and, to- 

 gether with any travel-stained ones, may be plac- 

 ed in a box, and fumigated if necessary; for while 

 travel-stained comb will rarely bring larvae to full 

 development, the larvs will ruin the comb sur- 

 face. Of course, where honey is left on the hive 

 until much of it is badly travel-stained, fumiga- 

 tion becomes an absolute necessity. 



Fumigating a large lot of honey may not al- 

 ways damage the quality; but it is also quite cer- 

 tain that the quality is never improved by it; and 

 if not done by an expert it may not be complete 

 enough to eradicate the larvae, especially when 

 well encased in roads, or, it may be, overdone to 

 the extent that much of the surface assumes a 

 greenish cast and a flavor condemned by most 

 epicurean noses. 



Baptisttown, N. J. 



AUTUMN OR SPRING FEEDING. 



Extracting Honey and Feeding Back, vs. 

 Furnishing Bruised Combs of Honey. 



BY J. GRAY. 



1 have read with interest the articles on the 

 above subject. The truth lies midway between 

 the two, and is equally applicable to your country 

 and England. During my tours, extending over 

 a considerable number of years, I have met many 

 advocates of both systems, and have been enabled 

 to judge the effects of both systems impartially. 



Alexander is right in extracting to give the 

 queen room. I doubt not many of your corre- 

 pondents have reached the same point, only by 

 an easier path, which I much prefer. 



There are four vital points in successful spring 

 work, each essential to the success of the colony, 

 as follows: 1. A good queen; 2. Bees to cover 

 her work; 3. Plenty of stores; 4. Stocks well 

 established on good old combs. It's the third 

 point this article deals with; it is unwise to force 

 natuie too early, hence the waiting for "settled 

 warm weather." Bees void their feces only on 

 the wing, and active brood-raising means the con- 

 sumption of more pollen, which means more 

 faeces to get rid of. A bee fills its large air-sacs 



with air, when on flight, by closing its spirales 

 and contracting its muscles. It is enabled by 

 the air pressure to empty its colon. 



Autumn feeding, or reserve combs of stores, 

 are essential up to this point of the season. Now 

 comes the strenuous work when the skill of the 

 apiarist must be directed toward changing a few 

 thousand workers into a mighty roaring force. 

 It is turning food into bees, and it matters little 

 if the food is inside or out. 



Pol/en. — Open a typical brood-nest. Here are 

 four combs of brood, and on either side a comb 

 containing freshly gathered pollen. In no case 

 shift these pollen combs. It is where the bees 

 require it. Seldom is it necessary to feed pollen, 

 for, with settled warm weather, the bees gather 

 enough. 



If honey is in the hive we can extract it as per 

 the Alexander method, and feed back, or let the 

 bees extract it, which is easier and better. Take 

 a comb of honey; bruise it — that is, flatten it 

 down with your spatula till your comb is level 

 and every cell-capping broken. Place it in the 

 center of the brood-nest, and at once the bees set 

 to work to clean up and remove the honey, leav- 

 ing a full comb nice and clean for the queen to oc- 

 cupy. In carrying out this work, the queen is 

 fed more lavishly; the more the queen is fed, the 

 greater the number of eggs, and soon she will be 

 laying the weight of her own body in the course 

 of twelve hours. In fourteen days this operation 

 can be repeated, using two combs, one each side 

 of the center comb. In fourteen days you can 

 repeat the process, only this time your ten-frame 

 hive can spare one comb of sealed brood and ad- 

 hering nurse-bees to strengthen weak colonies. 

 Thus the strong stocks become feeders to the 

 weak ones; and if we reach full strength right 

 through our apiary ahead of our harvest, new 

 colonies can be formed. Feeding during this 

 great activity of the colonies, much water is re- 

 quired, and also some feed. Take a vessel; fill 

 it with pebbles; make your feed one pint of wa- 

 ter to one pound of sugar, and fill the vessel. 

 There is no fighting; but if the unexpected hap- 

 pens, it is easily stopped by filling up the vessel 

 with water instead of syrup. Your feeder acts as 

 a barometer to the various sources of nectar, for 

 the feeder is quickly deserted for the natural 

 source. 



The method outlined means opening up the 

 stock periodically, and feeding. Alexander 

 reaches the same point by extracting and feeding 

 back. The difference in the two systems is, in 

 the first, the bees do the extracting; in the second, 

 the apiarist does the extracting. It is for each of 

 your readers to accept the way that best suits his 

 locality. 



Long Eaton, Eng. , June 1. 



SUGAR SYRUP VS. HONEY AS A WIN- 

 TER FOOD. 



Does it Pay to 



Trade Sugar 

 Honey? 



Syrup for 



BY LEO. E. GATELY. 



Some eight years ago some bees came into my 

 possession which the owner had intended to de- 

 stroy. After removing all of the honey that was 

 fit for table use these bees were taken home late 



