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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



been, for I did not have the trouble in 

 my other colonies, and I had 70. I have 

 used sulphur, but I believe sulphur hurts 

 the queen. I do not think she is good 

 afterwards. If I find that the bees have 

 this disease, I always kill the queen, or 

 double them up and give them a new 

 queen, for I am satisfied that it is the 

 queen that causes the trouble. 



Feeding Bees in the Cellar. 



Question No. 3.—" Where bees have 

 been neglected, is it practical to feed up 

 in the cellar ?" 



Pres. Abbott— Yes. I want to tell 

 you how I fix bees so that they will win- 

 ter all right. I take some granulated 

 sugar and melt it carefully, and make a 

 cake about half an inch to an inch thick, 

 6 inches wide and 9 inches long. I then 

 go down into the cellar, turn the cloths 

 back, find out just where the cluster is, 

 and lay this cake right on top of the 

 cluster, and then let them alone, and 

 from the first of January they will be 

 all right until the following March. A 

 cake like that will hold about 5 pounds, 

 and it will keep them all right. I have 

 never lost a single colony that had a 

 cake of granulated sugar in it. They 

 don't need any honey. I have done this 

 for years, but have never seen it in the 

 bee-papers, and J[ have never sent it to 

 them. 



Mrs. Strawbridge— I find that if they 

 have been fed in this way during the 

 winter, the bees will abscond when put 

 out in the spring. They will take the 

 absconding fever. 



Pres. Abbott— I have been experiment- 

 ing with this a great deal. As soon as 

 the warm weather sets in I find that the 

 bees will chip off little flakes of it, and 

 will fly out with it, but they do not ab- 

 scond. As soon as this commences I 

 melt the sugar and feed it to them, and 

 they will take it all down. I always put 

 the cake in if they have from 5 to 100 

 pounds of honey. Five pounds of this 

 cake will winter a colony. Use as little 

 water as you can. Bees can only go one 

 way in winter, and that is upward in 

 the line of heat. They keep the heat 

 in the cluster, and as they move up they 

 come in contact with the cake of sugar, 

 and the heat keeps the sugar moist. 

 You might have 100 pounds of honey in 

 the hive, and if it is not above the clus- 

 ter the bees will die. 1 lay the cake on 

 sticks to give a bee-space. 



Spring Dwindling of Bees. 



Question No. 4.—" Spring dwindling : 

 its remedies and prevention." 



Mr. Root — The cake of sugar is all 

 right. 



Mr. Holtermann — Winter your bees 

 right. Your climate is different from 

 ours in Canada, but I think the general 

 conditions are the same. I think it is 

 on account of improper wintering. Poor 

 wintering reduces the vitality of the bees 

 to such a low state that before they can 

 rear young bees they die off. I carry 

 the bees into the cellar and tier the hives 

 up one on top of the other, with a cush- 

 ion over them. The last year or two I 

 have adopted the plan of raising the 

 back of the hive % of an inch, and I find 

 that a very satisfactory way. 



Mr. Whitcomb — I think it is on ac- 

 count of a lack of water early in the 

 spring that causes the bees to fly out. I 

 mean the lack of water near the hives. 

 The bees come out on warm days and fly 

 about for water, and if there is none 

 near the hives, they will fly farther. 

 They drink the cold water, and it seems 

 to paralyze them so they cannot get back 

 to the hive, but die. I have adopted a 

 system of watering my bees, and I have 

 no trouble now with spring dwindling. 

 I take a block of wood 5 or 6 inches 

 square, and cut grooves from one corner 

 to the other almost to the edge. They 

 will cross in the center of the block. I 

 then take a common quart jar, a fruit 

 jar, and fill it full of water and invert it 

 on the block. These little grooves will 

 fill up, and it will be replenished as the 

 bees take it up. I set this right near 

 the hives, and the bees can then get all 

 the water they want without flying long 

 distances for it and getting chilled. I 

 have found this to be a sure preventive 

 for spring dwindling. 



The Bee-Smoker. 



Question No. 5. — " What is the most 

 practical bee-smoker ?" 



Pres. Abbott— The one you like the 

 best, and your dealer sells the cheapest. 



Foul Brood. 



Question No. 6. — "What can the As- 

 sociation do to stop the spread or prevent 

 the spread of foul brood ?" 



Dr. Miller — We cannot do anything. 



Freight Rates on Bees, Honey and 

 Supplies. 



Question No. 7. — "Are we as bee- 

 keepers receiving fair rates of freight on 

 bees, honey and supplies? If not, may 

 we not as an Association bring some in- 

 fluence to bear upon the Classification 

 Committee to secure fair rating?" 



The President appointed a committee 



