OCTOBER 15, 1913 



729 



of the hive oi* else he wouhl have to iio to 

 the side of the hive where the number is. 



My arrangement is this : Ten hives in a 

 row, alAvays counting from left to right ; 

 and ten rows in each section (that is, 100 

 hives). I certainly have every liive num- 

 bered in my book ; but in the apiary the 

 position gives me the number at a glance, 

 wherever I may be at the time. For exam- 

 ple, a swarm is issuing from a hive, say the 

 fifth in the fifth row, which must be 4."); 

 the brick on top of the hives gives me all 

 the particulars I want as to the condition 

 of the cjueen and hive, so I know every 

 thing in a few seconds without moving one 

 yard. I have had this arrangement ever 

 since I began using frame hives. I have 

 my hives on four pegs about 12 inclies from 

 the ground, and have them jiiaced 10 feet 

 by 20 feet, and a row of fruit-trees between, 

 as you will see by the post card. 



Henty, N. S. W., Australia. 



IS SUGAR A WHOLESOME FOOD FOR BEES? 



BY J. A. HEBERLE, B. S. 



Practical beekeepei's have always sound- 

 ed a note of caution against feeding too 

 much sugar. Of course the warning was 

 not against feeding sugar for winter stores 

 in a poor honey year, nor is there any harm 

 in feeding a few pounds of sugar to' eacli 

 colony. I feed every year in September 

 about four pounds of sugar to eacli colony 

 at an apiary where the bees gather a little 

 heather honey, and my bees always winter 

 well. 



The sugar is usually boiled. This was 

 formerly done because ultramarine was used 

 to make sugar appear wliiter. By boiling, 

 the ultramarine came on top and was 

 skimmed off. I have no convenient place to 

 boil the sugar. I use cold water to make 

 the syrup — equal parts by measure of well- 

 refined crystallized sugar and water. If it 

 is late in the season, then a more concen- 

 trated syrup is used, as much as 7 parts of 

 sugar to 4 parts of water by volume to this 

 synip. Hot water is needed to facilitate 

 the solution. 



Honey from honey-dew is not suitable 

 for winter stores. Some of this capped 

 honey should be taken out, and sufficient 

 sugar fed or suitable honey given so the 

 bees, while compelled to remain in the hive, 

 can feed on the good honey or sugar. 

 Honey from honey-dew invariably gives 

 dysentery, and very often such a colony in 

 our long severe winters is lost, or so weak- 

 ened that it is scarcely worth the trouble. 

 T I'ecommend in poor seasons to take in 

 early fall some capped honey from eacli 



colony. Feed sugar instead, and give the 

 capped honey in the spring as needed. 



In our rough si)ring weather it is dan- 

 gerous to supply feed in fluid form too 

 early in spring. It entices the bees to fly 

 out for water and pollen, and a large per 

 cent never reach home again. If the lack- 

 ing food is supplied with capped honey- 

 combs the bees are not so excited nor so 

 much stimulated, and at the beginning of 

 the honey-flow are usually more poj^ulous', 

 and consequently bring more surplus. Colo- 

 nies not stimulated seem to conserve their 

 energies, and use them later to better ad- 

 vantage. Stimulating in the latter part of 

 spring when the inconstant weather has 

 lost part of its danger may be advanta- 

 geous. Great care, however, must always 

 be exercised when stimulative feeding in 

 sjiring is practiced. The warning against 

 sugar feeding was for those beekeepers who 

 take all the honey they can from the bees 

 and feed sugar. These mercenary beekeep- 

 ers tliink they are profiting by this robbing 

 system, but they are mistaken. They have 

 considerable work, and but little gain. They 

 do harm to their bees and lessen the chance 

 for a good crop of lioney next season, be- 

 cause the colonies so robbed do not prosper 

 as well in spring on the sugar, and can not 

 make use of the early honey-flow to the 

 same advantage as the more populous colo- 

 nies that had plenty of honey during brood- 

 reaiing time. 



Dr. U. Kramer, of Zurich, wrote an in- 

 teresting article on " The Physiological 

 Effect of Sugar-feeding." By analy.sis it 

 was determined that sugar honey {i. e., 

 sugar fed to the bees and extracted) con- 

 tained practically as much nitrogen as hon- 

 ey. Of course, the ethereal oils and other 

 subtile substances peculiar to honey are not 

 ])resent, and the inversion is not complete. 

 Sugar honey from the uncapped cells show- 

 ed 0.28 i^er cent of nitrogen; the capped 

 sugar honey showed 0.36 per cent of nitro- 

 gen. Sugar is a hydro-carbon, and contains 

 no nitrogen. Dr. Kramer deduces, tliere- 

 fore, that the bees supply albumen from 

 their body while inverting the sugar. If 

 that is so, there can be no question but that 

 feeding great quantities of sugar must be 

 harmful to the bees. It must Aveaken their 

 vitality and make them more suscejitible (o 

 disease. 



HOW LONGEVITY IS INFLUENCED. 



To lessen the vitality means to shorten 

 their life, while longevity of the bee is the 

 secret of success in beekeeping. It should 

 be the ideal of the beekeeper to produce by 

 careful selection bees that liave (ireat vital- 

 ilfl. Such bees resist diseases better, and 

 bring the most surplus. During spring the 



