566 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 15 



there are any, but it is not very necessary. 

 Every thing connected with the harness and 

 the hitching up should be arranged with 

 snaps as far as possible. It takes us but a 

 moment to hitch on; then off we are. When 

 a little distant from the yard I turn back the 

 canvas and remove the escape-boards for a 

 little while, so that the bees, left in the hon- 

 ey, will have a good opportunity to leave, 

 which opportunity they will improve. Of 

 course, we keep on moving all the time; and 

 by the time I am a mile away all bees that 

 will leave at all have departed, when the 

 canvas is again spread over the load and 

 fastened down. Neither dust nor rain can 

 then do us much harm. 



With a heavy load v/e make the homeward 

 trip in from three to four hours, and we usu- 

 ally arrive about the middle of the afternoon 

 or sooner. We lose no time in getting to 

 business; and with a helper to do the un- 

 capping we have the honey in the tank by 

 night, ready again for a trip the next day. 



Naples, N. Y., August 14. 



CONDITIONS FOR FALL OR SPRING 

 FEEDING. 



Syrup Made of Sugar and Water, and Hon- 

 ey Fed Fast in the Fall. 



BY F. P. CLACE. 



There seems to be a difference of opinion 

 in regard to fall and spring feeding. We 

 never handled more than 260 colonies at one 

 time, nor produced more than 12 tons of hon- 

 ey in one season, so I have not been what 

 you would call a "large bee-keeper;" but as 

 the profits realized have permitted us to re- 

 tire, and devote our time to gospel work, 

 my experience along the line of fall and 

 spring feeding may possibly be helpful to 

 others. 



The best fall feed that I have ever tried — 

 feed that will winter the bees perfectly ev- 

 ery time — is made as follows: To every 10- 

 qt. pail of water brought to the boiling-point 

 stir in three 10-qt. pailfuls of standard gran- 

 ulated sugar. When this is all dissolved re- 

 move the vessel from the fire and stir in 10 

 qts. of extracted honey (the poorest you 

 have will do) . This will keep the feed from 

 granulating. Give this to the bees, at blood- 

 heat, in the evening (to avoid robbing), in a 

 good feeder or a bake-pan covered with 

 cheese-cloth. If in September you may feed 

 from above. If you have put off feeding 

 till cold weather, better place the pan under 

 the bees, inside of a half-depth extracting- 

 super, on top of hot bricks. By morning 10 

 or 15 lbs. of feed will be safely stored in the 

 center of the brood-nest (just whex'e it is 

 needed), and the bees will wake up in the 

 spring, after their long winter nap, as strong 

 and vigorous as they were in the fall. 



As weak swarms could be obtained for 

 merely taking them out of the hives when 

 we lived in Ontario, I used to get them ev- 

 ery fall to help any stocks that were queen- 



less (second and third swarms always have 

 young queens, you know). Sometimes a 

 couple of these swarms would be run into a 

 hive filled with empty extracting-combs, and 

 then fed up for winter. This is the cheapest 

 way of getting bees if you have the hives 

 and combs on hand, as your colonies cost 

 nothing but the feed. 



I remember once feeding up two swarms 

 after they were in winter quarters (as an ex- 

 periment) with this feed, and they wintered 

 perfectly. In fact, the "wintering problem" 

 had lost its terrors for me when I had 10 lbs. 

 of this feed stored in each brood-nest. With 

 this feed there is no water to be evaporated 

 (using up the vitality of the bees), and the 

 bees will not consume more than half the 

 weight of this syrup that they would of hon- 

 ey while in winter quarters. 



SPRING FEEDING. 



As to spring feeding, while bees are safe 

 that have sealed stores in their hives, if they 

 are set out before there is pollen and honey 

 to gather (the wisdom of this will depend 

 upon hov/ they are wintering), they are 

 pretty sure to get to robbing one another if 

 kept in paying yards (60 or 75 colonies) . To 

 prevent this it paid us well to feed very thin 

 syrup (just sweet enough to keep them at 

 work) on sunny days, and thus to keep them 

 breeding up nicely. This, of course, applies 

 to the home yard. The outyards were fed 

 in the spring by giving those in need combs 

 of honey reserved for that purpose. Keep 

 the doorways well contracted. 



Handsboro, Miss. 



HOW TO REMEDY SLIPPING BELTS ; POWER EXTRACT- 

 ORS PROFITABLE. 



A remedy for a slipping belt on power extractors 

 was mentioned on p. 473, Aug. 1. I had a little experi- 

 ence along that line last winter, and am sure there is 

 even a better substance than rosin on a slipping belt, 

 provided the belt is not too loose. 



When I entered the factory where I am working I 

 was placed on a tin-slitting machine, and was too busy 

 learning to operate the machine at first to notice the 

 belts. One morning the belt commenced to slip when 

 I ran the sheet through, and I noticed the belt was 

 tight enough to operate both pulleys. Then I noticed 

 pieces, almost half way through the belt, torn out here 

 and there, and asked the man who ran the machine 

 before I did what had been used. He informed me 

 that rosin was what had been used, and was what I 

 should use to prevent the belt from slipping. I ob- 

 tained a bottle of crude castor oil and applied it. This 

 made the belt grip tirmly, and also made it pliable, al- 

 though it did not seem to stretch. I found afterward 

 that the best mechanic in the shop always used castor 

 oil on his belts about every two weeks. 



I believe that, in the future, every enterprising bee- 

 keeper will have a power extractor of his own, just as 

 farmers have all their heavy pumping and such work 

 done by windmill or engine. I have turned extractors 

 for the past nine years in clover and buckwheat fows, 

 and know what muscle power is. I have also turned a 

 six-frame extractor, and extracted over 5500 lbs. in a 

 day— not a ten-hour day either— and I believe it would 

 be hard to convince any one who has done the same 

 that power extractors are any thing but profitable in- 

 vestments, even for a small bee-keeper, if he is spe- 

 cializing in bees. 



Lynn Valley, Ont., Aug. 17. W. I. Holtermann. 



[Rosin gives only temporary relief. If used contin- 

 uously it will ruin any good belt. A mechanic or 

 wheelwright who makes a practice of using rosin on 

 his belts generally does not know very much about his 

 business. Castor oil or neatsfoot oil will lengthen the 

 life of the belt and give good friction: but it should be 

 applied the night before it is used.— Ed.] 



