GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



Cut-loaf Sugar for Winter Feeding 



Our people here have so good a bee-range they 

 scarcely ever have to feed the bees for winter stores, 

 and two winters I found quite a number of colonies 

 nearly starved out, and I fed them with cut-loaf 

 sugar over the brood-nest. Each winter I lost three 

 and four colonies thus fed, but I suppose they were 

 too weak to profit by feeding, as the others pulled 

 through nicely. It is a nice clean way to feed. 



This winter our whole j'ard is weak, and short of 

 stores, owing to a bad season. 



Now, I wish to unite weak colonies to get enough 

 bees. Will you please tell me what you think of the 

 feed — your experience, if any, and of the others 

 who may have tried out the plan ? 



Letohatchee, Ala., Nov. 11. W. N. Randolph. 



[Cut-loaf sugar is not as good a feed as lump 

 hard candy — candy that is recommended in the A B 

 C and X Y Z of Bee Culture, under the head of 

 , " Candy." Mr. Arthur C. Miller speaks of a new 

 •coffee A sugar, which, he says, makes an excellent 

 bee feed given to the bees direct. It has some of the 

 characteristics of brown sugar ; is a very pale yel- 

 low ; and, when squeezed between the fingers, will 

 hold its shape. We have never tried it, but would 

 suppose it would make an excellent feed. We should 

 be afraid that, under some conditions, the cut-loaf 

 sugar woiild be too dry to make a satisfactory win- 

 ter food, and we would, therefore, recommend either 

 the candy or the coffee A sugar, referred to by Mr. 

 Miller on page 770, of our Dec. 1st issue. 



With regard to uniting, this can usually be prac- 

 ticed after colder weather has set in. When the 

 bees can fly every day and go to the fields it is not 

 practicable to unite. After colder weather sets in, 

 when the bees will be shut i-a the hives for a week 

 or ten days at a time, they may then be united ; but 

 their old location should be changed as much as pos- 

 sible to prevent the bees from going back. — Ed.] 



Questions on Tiering Up 



1. How do we know when the bees are once well 

 started so that we can raise the extracting-super 

 and put under it a comb-honey super ? 



2. What is a good sign by which to discover the 

 evident decrease of the supply of nectar ? 



3. Can the sections be called well ripened if left 

 in the super indefinitely with a bee-escape board 

 under it? 



4. Is there any danger of moth eggs if sections 

 of comb honey are kept in a case for several weeks ? 



5. If propolis accumulates in a hive-body, is its 

 cleaning-up urged? If so, how about the bees and 

 frames in it? Isn't it a good plan to clean the hives 

 up during a favorable weather after the close of 

 the honey-flow, if there is plenty of propolis in them ? 



Chicago Junction, O. Leon P. Jones. 



[1. Wlien new honey appears in the extracting- 

 combs and the work of capping the cells has just 

 commenced, it would be proper to place the comb- 

 honey super underneath. 



2. You can detect a decrease in the honey-flow 

 by watching the bees themselves ; although the most 

 accurate way, if you wish to go to the trouble, is 

 to have a hive on scales. 



3. It would depend upon the weather as to 

 whether comb honey would deteriorate over a bee- 

 escape on a hive of bees. During- a long rainy spell 

 we should be afraid that the honey would absorb 

 moisture and become somewhat thin. 



1. If the comb honey in question had been pro- 

 duced over a colony of black bees there might be 

 some danger olthe larvae of wax-moth. If the colo- 

 ny were strong and vigorous there would not be as 



much danger, although blacks do not protect their 

 hives as well as the Italians. 



i5. There is little need of propolis except to close 

 up cracks that would let in the cold. When it 

 accumulates to such an extent as to interfere with 

 the handling of frames, or lodges in the hive rabbets, 

 it should be cleaned away. — Eo.] 



Annual Meeting of Ontario Beekeepers' Association 



It was said that the annual convention of the 

 Ontario Beekeepers' Association for 1911 broke all 

 records for attendance; but the 1912 convention, 

 held in Toronto last week, was more largely attend- 

 ed by far than last year. It is reported that 250 

 beekeepers were in attendance at the various ses- 

 sions, the crowd at each session being about 125. 

 Papers and discussions were very businesslike and 

 to tlie point. The following officers were elected for 

 1913: President, Dennis Nolan, Newton Robinson; 

 First Vice-president, J. L. Byer, Mount Joy; Second 

 Vice-president, Miss Ethel Robson, Uderton; Secre- 

 tary-treasurer, Morley Pettit, Ontario Agricultural 

 College, Guelph. 



The next event of provincial interest to beekeep- 

 ers in Ontario is the Apiculture Short Course to be 

 held at the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, 

 January 7 to 18, 1913. These two weeks will be 

 filled just as full as possible of practical information 

 for beginners, and advanced beekeepers as well. 

 For particulars and copy of program address 



MOELEY Pettit, Provincial Apiarist, Guelph, Ont. 



Sweet Clover for Hay in Kansas 



To-day I was shown your pamphlet, " The Truth 

 about Sweet Clover," and read a few of the state- 

 ments of various ones. This was issued in 1910. 



I have been feeding sweet clover to stock for about 

 five years ; and my experience has been that it is as 

 good as alfalfa hay. I have read where it contains 

 just a little less protein in it than alfalfa. I find it 

 will not bloat cattle, and that it makes an earlier 

 pasture as well as a later ; that it stands dry weath- 

 er and freezing weather better than alfalfa. It is 

 my experience, too, that it is about the cheapest and 

 best-known fertilizer for worn-out or stale grotind. 



Two years ago I sowed 130 acres right on the 

 I^rairie and salt grass without doing another thing, 

 and raised two good crops of hay off from the same 

 last year, and this year I got a crop of hay and 

 thrashed out 900 bushels of seed, for which I am 

 offered $8.00 per bushel of 60-lbs., white sack thrown 

 in. I am offering the same at $10.00 in any quantity 

 or for all. I am sowing now 100 acres more, right 

 on the same kind of ground, and will do nothing 

 further than sow it to the ground. I believe it is 

 the coming crop ; and where you let it go to seed 

 there will be enough shatter off to keep resowing the 

 field so that it will be perpetual. 



Garden City, Kan., Nov. 11. E. G. Finnup. 



Uniform Cage for Mailing Bees Wanted 



Referring to the editorial in the October 15th 

 issue concerning shipping bees by parcels post, I 

 will say that some one will surely send bees in a 

 poorly constructed cage that will make trouble later, 

 so that bees will be barred from the mails. This is 

 nlmost sure to happen unless the right precautions 

 are taken to start with. Why not have a discussion 

 by those who have had experience in mailing bees, 

 and a good strong cage adopted that all must use? 



W^e do not want bees kicked out of the mails, 

 efi)e;-ially (hose of us who live in this semi-arid dis- 

 trict where occasionally we lose every thing from 

 pollen and honey dearth. We want to get better 



