422 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



bottom-bars and out at the corners, which 

 gives me a hive oliock-full of Ijees in the 

 right time for the lioney-harvest. The 

 getting of bees in the right time for the 

 honey-harvest counts more toward cash 

 and fun in the apiary, than all else, unless 

 I have made a great mistake during tlie 

 past 10 years of my bee-keeping. In this 

 way I go over the whole yard, looking 

 after both the strong and weak colonies, 

 after which it is again left undisturbed 

 until about the middle of the apple-bloom. 



At this date I lind that I have left, after 

 my sales and losses, 2.5 good to fair, 1.5 

 rather weak, and 10 very weak colonies, 

 making .50 in all, left out of SO last fall. 



Borodino, N. Y., May 20, 1885. 



Read :it the Western Maine Convention. 



The Bee at its Best. 



L. F. ABBOTT. 



Taking tlie bee as we look at it 

 flittiug from flower to flower, it has 

 no special significance beyond a hun- 

 dred insects Ate could name, either in 

 beauty, size, or general appearance. 

 In fact, the bee is rather an ordinary 

 looking insect, and stripped of its 

 glorious record it has made for itself 

 as a producer of an article of com- 

 merce which ranks as among the 

 delectable and choicest productions 

 drawn from nature's laboratory— if 

 we let it alone and do not presume to 

 trifle with its free agency very essen- 

 tially—it would pass for rather an 

 ordinary, sober kind of an animal, 

 rather stirring in its habits, to be 

 sure, but possessing no very marked 

 peculiarities. 



But the bee needs to be seen at 

 home to see it at Its best. When we 

 view a few quarts of our shiny black 

 ones or the golden-banded Italians, 

 busily caring for their thousands of 

 young larvce, preparatory to laying in 

 a store of the choicest nectar ere the 

 May flowers turn brown and the apple 

 blossoms unfold their petals, then we 

 see the bee in one of its most inspir- 

 ing aspects. 



Ilence, the question introduces it- 

 self, when is the bee at its best V And 

 in answer to that question we must 

 say, that depends to what period of 

 its existence the question relates. If 

 I induce my bees to breed up late in 

 autumn and then put them into win- 

 ter quarters where they keep quiet 

 till March heralds the approach of 

 opening spring, and not much brood- 

 rearing has been carried on during 

 the interim from going into winter 

 quarters, many of us would say that 

 the bee was at its best under such 

 conditions. That would liave been 

 the judgment of the writer a few 

 months ago, but some things of late 

 point to that condition of things as a 

 little mooiishiny. 



Our bees, we know, did not breed 

 after Sept. 25, 1884, unless in one 

 colony the queen commenced lo lay 

 again in November, which we strongly 

 suspect she did do, and unless this 

 were the case, the main part of the 

 bees (vhich braved the rigors of our 

 past cold winter were mainly bees 

 hatched in August arid before ; but 

 they came through tlie winter bright, 

 and apparently as strong as in the 

 fall. 



Here is another point which came 

 to my notice a few days ago, which 

 shows that bees may and do breed in 

 winter. A few days ago a friend of 

 mine informed me that late in Novem- 

 ber last, he superseded a black queen 

 in a good colony, giving it an Italian 

 queen of his own rearing in exchange. 

 At the time of her introduction there 

 was no brood in the hive. He placed 

 the colony in the cellar with others. 

 His cellar was kept at a temperature 

 ranging from 31° to 31^, the average 

 being about 3-5'^. This spring, on put- 

 ting out the bees upon the summer 

 stands, this hive with the Italian 

 queen introduced to black bees in 

 November was found to have fully 

 one-third of its bees pure Italians, 

 and the colony in good condition and 

 strong. The question well may be 

 asked, are bees wintered in the cellar 

 at so low a temperature as 35^, at 

 their best V 



There is one point which I am fully 

 convinced is conducive to putting the 

 bee at its best, and that is, to put 

 each colony to be wintered in proper 

 condition for wintering, at latest by 

 the middle of October, or at any rate 

 when the weather is warm enough so 

 the bees will cap in the syrup which 

 is best to feed them for winter stores. 

 I am so well satisfied on the point of 

 wintering bees on sugar syrup, that I 

 do not hesitate to proclaim that the 

 bee is only at its best when it sits 

 down to its table in winter to an ex- 

 clusive diet of pure gramulated-sugar 

 syrup. 



Another essential point is, that the 

 colony be fed sufficient to insure a 

 full supply of stores to carry it 

 through all contingencies till May I, 

 at least ; because I do not consider 

 the bee at its best unless it can 

 calmly, with smiling countenance, 

 feel beyond the reach of possible con- 

 tingency of lack of stores to foster its 

 young during the coquetting of April 

 with winter ; enablinjj it to keep at 

 home and " snap its lingers " at the 

 weather till May wakes the willows 

 and maples. 



I do not believe it best to disturb 

 the bees by feeding them for stimu- 

 lation, as it is termed, very much be- 

 fore frogs peep and the swallows fly ; 

 nor then, if there are cold rain-storms 

 and the wind is tempered from snow- 

 clad hills. Cover the bees up warm 

 in the fall— in chaff hives, if possible 

 — and give them a thick covering of 

 dry material above the bars, and do 

 not disturb them, only when abso- 

 lutely necessary, till the swallows 

 come. Thus, for the time of year, I 

 believe the bee will be at its best. 



Bees fed at any season means accel- 

 erated activity." A little honey clan- 

 destinely obtained sets the whole 

 colony in an uproar. When bees are 

 fed in the evening, if the air is frosty, 

 numbers will sally out of the entrance 

 to make believe they are bringing in 

 stores from the fields. Kor do they 

 forget the good luck when the morn- 

 ing comes. Numbers fly out, and in 

 unpropitious weather become chilled, 

 and on the whole. I am of the opin- 

 ion, as a rule, feeding in April to 

 stimulate to brood-rearing does not 

 result in gain, but often is the means 



of a positive loss, as the increase of 

 young bees no more than balances 

 the loss of the old ones which come 

 to an untimely end by the exercise of 

 an unwise ambition. 



Hence, I believe the bee is best let 

 alone, to keep it at its best through 

 the critical period of our changeable 

 spring weather ; but when May opens 

 with warm nights as well as days, 

 give them all the feed they need, even 

 if a little accumulates in the combs. 



It is a bad sign to see immature 

 brood carried out in the night and 

 lying about the hive entrances. That 

 is a pretty sure sign the stores are 

 short. This condition of things should 

 not be allowed to occur, but be sure 

 and feed so that the contingency of 

 long storms may be provided for in 

 giving an abundance of feed at once, 



Lewiston, p Maine. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Successful Wintering of Bees. 



IRA BAKBER. 



On page 3.58, Mr. James Heddon 

 says that I can fix my cellar as I 

 choose, and if I will let him fill the 

 honey that the bees are to winter on, 

 with floating pollen, my bees will 

 rapidly accumulate feces. I will say 

 in reply that I have wintered a g:reat 

 many colonies on combs taken from 

 colonies in the fall that had been 

 queenless since June, with nearly 

 every cell of which contained pollen 

 and honey, and there was no signs of 

 any discharges from the bees. The 

 bees mixed it to suit themselves, and 

 came out in good condition. I should 

 have no fear of any honey containing 

 enough floating pollen, as the bees 

 gather it from the flowers, to injure 

 them in the least ; but what effect a 

 mush made of honey and pollen would 

 have, I leave to the readers of the 

 Bee Journal to decide. 



Again, Mr. Heddon asks if any one 

 can show by any method of wintering 

 iaees 1.51 days in confinement, and no 

 discharge where not fed on sugar 

 syrup. My answer is that the most 

 of my bees were confined from 160 to 

 169 days, and not a speck was to be 

 seen in any of the hives, except abouc 

 20 colonies that were placed near the 

 bottom of the cellar, and there was 

 not a speck to be seen on their hives 

 when the cellar was first opened 

 (April 17). If there was any dis- 

 charges from Nov. 20 up to that date, 

 it was in a dry state. 



I put 200 colonies into winter quar- 

 ters, and took out 196, and to-day 

 every colony is alive and in a flourish- 

 ing condition, except 2 whose queens 

 failed, and will require help to bring 

 tliem up. All can see that they must 

 have w^intered well to be able to with- 

 stand this severe spring. Swarming 

 commenced on June 13, and to all 

 appearances there will be plenty of it. 



Mr. Heddon asks, " If they who lose 

 bees most are not most apt to find out 

 the cause of such loss." My answer 

 is, yes. Long before Mr. Heddon 

 knew a bee from a beetle, I was los- 

 ing hundreds of colonies in trying to 

 find out where I could keep them 



