April, 1914. 



129 



American Hae Jonrnal 



article I decided that bees could thrive 

 on damp sugar in southern Texas il 

 they throve on it in Rhode Island. J 

 then set about to make mating boxes 

 with feeders in them suitable for the 

 feeding of damp sugar. 



Here is a drawing of the mating box 

 that I made with the feeder shown on 

 the left-hand side. This feeder holds 

 about one cup of sugar. 



The amber sugar that I found in the 

 stores here was very dry; I thought 

 too dry to answer the purpose. The 

 only damp sugar that I could get was 

 sticky, heavy and very dark. With this 

 sugar I did my experimenting. I 

 brought bees home from an out-yard; 

 I shook the bees off the combs into an 

 empty box, covered with wire-cloth, 

 with ripe queen-cells. I placed the 

 mating boxes, filled the feeders with 

 the damp sugar, and at dark I put in 

 the queen-cells and the bees. To get 

 the bees into the boxes I poured w iter 

 over them, shook them down into the 

 bottom of the box and dipped them 

 out with a tea-cup. By morning they 

 had settled down in their new homes 

 and were at work on the sugar n the 

 feeders I suppose the bees get w.iter 

 to dissolve the sugar, for they conveil 

 it into a thick syrup and store it a.vay 

 in the combs. 



As soon as the bees needed room a 

 frame containing a starter of found i- 

 tion was given to them. They built 

 comb as they needed room for th ir 

 stores and eggs, as soon astheqie as 

 went to laying. It was surely a good 

 sight to look into the boxes and s e 

 the bees building comb, a young q i ■ . n 

 laying her first eggs, and bees diggi ig 

 away in the sugar. Here is one ess ;n- 

 tial point to remember, always l;t the 

 bees have a little extra room, as t will 

 keep them from absconding. .\ e ;der 

 full of sugar will hold the bees as I ng 

 as they have a little surplus room but 

 if they have not the room to exo ind, 

 they will soon have all of the little 



combs filled with eggs, and they will 

 leavi. 



There are several reasons why damp 

 sugar is an idealfeedfor mating nuclei ; 

 it stimulates the bees about the same as 

 sugar syrup, but does not excite them 

 nor cause robbing if it is given with 

 proper care; it lasts longer than the 

 same measure of syrup, and will not 

 sour if not taken at once, as the syrup 

 will do. 



1 have never fed damp sugar to full 

 C(.lonies of bees. Here the full colo- 

 nies never need feed if they winter 

 wilh good stores, unless a honey dearth 

 comes in the early spring. At such a 

 time I make a syrup by mixing equal 

 pirts, by measure, of sugar and water. 

 I carry the syrup to the bee-yards in 

 honey cans, and pour it into a trough 

 thit holds 30 or 40 gallons. .-X float 

 m.ide of strips of light weight wood is 

 put in the trough for the bees to alight 

 U()on when they take up the syrup. 

 Attjr the trough of feed is ready for 

 the bees I take a vessel of syrup, a 

 coffee pot is best, and raise the cover 

 to each hive and pour in some syrup. 

 The bees come boiling out of the hive 

 at the entrance to see where such a 

 honey-flow is coming from. It is not 

 lo ig before they find the syrup and are 

 soon busy carrying it into the hive and 

 stoiing it into the combs. 



A yard of 40 strong colonies will be 

 able to carry in 40 gallons in two or 

 thr ;e hours on a warm day. After the 

 syuiphas been taken up,it is best to equa- 

 liz; the stores by " swapping " combs 

 of weak and strong colonies. Taking 

 ev .-rything into consideration, I be- 

 li ;ve that this is the best way to feed 

 b ! .'S for stores in warm weather. Of 

 c lurse, if your neighbor has bees near 

 by you will also feed them. 



Nearly every bee man has to feed 

 b '.es some time or other, especially the 

 qii len-breeder, and he will have to de- 

 ciile which of the several ways of feed- 

 i ig is the best under the circumstances. 



No matter how much thought is given 

 to the best plans, when we go to put 

 them into practice something unex- 

 pected comes up to give them a back- 

 set. For this very reason I am sure 

 that all people will not succeed with 

 the damp sugar plan of feeding bees. 

 The ones that do succeed the best will 

 be the closest observers. 

 Beeville, Tex. 



[Bees do bring in water to dissolve 

 sugar into syrup. For that reason 

 sugar feeding is not profitable for 

 brood-rearing in cool spring weather 

 in northern countries. When vou 

 make sugar syrup, if you use two parts 

 of sugar to one of water, it will not 

 sour readily. The syrup that sours is 

 that which is made too thin. — Editor.] 



Mr. Enoles Mating Nucleus. 



The Migratory System vs. the 

 Convertible Hive System 



BV I. E. H.\ND. 



IN AN ARTICLE on page 58, I men- 

 tioned some of the distinguishing 

 features of the " convertible hive," 

 and in this article will endeavor to 

 demonstrate some of the advantages of 

 a properly proportioned hive when 

 operated in conjunction with a well 

 organized system. The term "system" 

 as applied to bee-keeping methods im- 

 plies a multitude of conditions intel- 

 ligently formulated into a method that 

 meets the exigencies of the situation, 

 and brings order out of chaos by 

 numerous auxiliary details, all tend- 

 ing toward the one object "system." 

 Depending largely upon a well con- 

 ducted system for success, some 

 apiarists ship their bees to Florida in 

 winter at an enormous expense and 

 no small risk, hoping to treble the 

 number of colonies and return them 

 in time for the harvest. If the hope 

 of a winter harvest is the desideratum 

 in the migratory system, it seems like 

 staking a small fortune on an uncer- 

 tainty, for locations are few where 

 the future harvest can be forecasted 

 with absolute certainty. If the clim- 

 ate is the coveted goal, and feeding 

 is an important part of the program, 

 it is money and time worse than 

 wasted; for no climate and environ- 

 ment is better adapted for winter in- 

 crease by feeding than in Ohio, and 

 no season is so auspicious of success 

 as right at the close of the harvest 

 from basswood when the hives are 

 overflowing with bees and brood. 



With a properly proportioned hive 

 operated in conjunction with a sys- 

 tem for which it is especially de- 

 signed, there is little excuse for in- 

 curring the expense and risk of an 

 expedition to southern climes, to 

 treble the number of colonies between 

 two honey seasons, for it can be ac- 

 complished at a trifling expense, and 

 no risk, right at home. Acting on the 

 advice to "plant your guns and stand 

 by them," I have formulated a sys- 

 tem operating in conjunction with the 

 "convertible hive," that solves the 



