THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



425 



For about three hours I was fearful 

 that I would lose most of my bees, 

 but they settled the muddle as well as 

 they could ; aud as I looked them over 

 I found that many bees had been 

 and wei'e on the bottom-board half 

 dead and dying, and many colonies 

 that appeared strong when carried 

 out, were much reduced in numbers, 

 while others had been replenished. 



To avoid the recurrence of the same 

 state of things, I decided to carry 

 them into and out of the cellar after 

 dark ; and as they are not inclined to 

 leave the hive when it is dark, very 

 few bees are lost when placing theni 

 in the cellar. When they are carried 

 out in the forepart of the night, if 

 tliey get somewhat aroused by hand- 

 ling, they will have ample time to 

 quiet down before morning ; if the 

 next day be cool, they will not leave 

 the hive ; and if it be very warm and 

 pleasant, they will not be so excited 

 at the first appearance of the sunlight 

 that comes by slow degrees, and as 

 they then leave the hive, they will 

 mark its locality, and no great con- 

 fusion is manifest. 



In this, aud all other portions of our 

 work, we do well to see that every- 

 thing is done at the proper time, 

 and during cold weather we may be 

 in a warm shop making the hives and 

 frames for the next season ; when it 

 gets a little warmer, we may make up 

 our wax into foundation ; and when it 

 is yet warmer we may fasten the 

 foundation into the frames, and have 

 all ready when the hurrying time 

 comes. 



Apiculture is a peculiar business. 

 If one would make it pay, he must do 

 most of the work with his own head 

 and hands ; for 



" He that by the plow would thrive, 

 Himself must either hold or driv^e." 



If we let work go that should be 

 done in winter, until the busy season 

 comes, we must then hire help, which 

 reduces our net gain, which is small 

 enough at best. Procrastination is 

 death to bee-keeping. None but 

 wide-awake, perpetual, everlasting 

 workers will prosper in this business. 



Not slothful waste, nor reckless haste, 

 Can e'er secure the g^oal, 



Would we succeed ; 

 With discreet mind and ready hand, 

 And with undaunted will, 



We may proceed. 



Orion,? Wis. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Wintering Bees on Sugar Syrup. 



G. L. TINKER, M. D. 



The subject of wintering bees has 

 become the all-engrossing one. In- 

 deed, here at the North it is becom- 

 ing a serious matter. If we are to 

 lose, every three or four years, one- 

 half or three-fourths of our bees in 

 ■wintering, it cannot fail to depress 

 the bee-keeping industry. At no pre- 

 vious time have there been such 

 sweeping losses as to wipe out almost 

 entirely the native stock of bees, as in 

 this instance. It becomes the duty, 

 therefore, of every one interested in 



the welfare of bee keef)ers, to set 

 forth such facts and to offer sucli sug- 

 gestions as may be tliought toaidiu 

 farthering tlie solution of the prob- 

 lem of successful wintering 



My own experience is, that winter 

 loss other than accidental is needless ; 

 and that every bee-keeper should be 

 able to winter bees with proper care. 

 First of all, I wish to remark, if it 

 shall ever be established (which I am 

 firmly convinced it will not be) that 

 bees cannot be wintered here at the 

 North upon their natural stores, it 

 will be a sad day for the devotees of 

 apiculture. Be sure that in casting 

 up the balance of profit and loss, if 

 bee-keepers shall be obliged to sub- 

 stitute sugar syrup for the natural 

 stores, in order to winter their bees, 

 their accounts will not fall to the side 

 of profit. And although sugar syrup 

 appears (?) to be safer than honey for 

 wintering bees, I think that its use, 

 except in cases of necessity, as where 

 the bees are short of stores, should be 

 discouraged. I coincide fully with 

 Mr. Doolittle, that it is impracticable 

 in preventing the occurrence of bee- 

 diarrhea. Not only Mr. D., but a 

 number of others have reported fatal 

 cases of diarrhea where nothing but 

 sugar syrup was allowed. We say 

 " nothing," for the few grains of pol- 

 len that may be discovered in empty 

 brood combs with a microscope 

 amounts to nothing conceivable un- 

 less we are prepared to accept the 

 infinitesimal doctrine. Microscopic 

 pollen in brood-combs is much like 

 " floating pollen " in honey— neither 

 exists in quantities sufficient to bloat 

 up the body of one bee though it 

 should eat all the pollen in a dozen 

 empty combs, or all that might exist 

 in a hive full of honey. 



Feeding sugar syrup is not only 

 impracticable in preventing beediar- 

 rhea, but in the matter of the ex- 

 pense and labor necessary to effect a 

 change of the stores every fall. It 

 also has a dark side in another direc- 

 tion. A few days since an old farmer 

 who had kept many " scaps " from 

 boyhood up, called to see my bees. 

 He had lost all of his the past winter 

 for the first time, and wished to get 

 more. He exclaimed over the docility 

 and great beauty of the bees, but said: 

 " Doctor, I have heard that you fed 

 sugar to your bees, is that so ?" I 

 replied that I did sometimes. " But 

 how do you get such white honey 

 [with a scrutinizing look], don't you 

 feed sugar to get that V I saitl " No ; 

 not a bit of it." But I found great 

 difficulty in persuading him that I 

 only made use of it to supply colonies 

 deficient in stores for winter. But 

 this man is only one among many 

 whom I have met having similar 

 views. It is plain if we must feed 

 sugar by the barrel to winter our bees 

 upon, we shall be at least open to 

 grave suspicions that if we do not 

 actually feed it to get comb honey, it 

 will somehow or another get into the 

 section-boxes. The impression also 

 goes abroad, if we feed so much 

 sugar, that either the bees cost more 

 to keep them than their surplus honey 

 is worth, or else we must make use of 

 it in producing comb honey. 



If sugar syrup was in any way 

 essential to successful wintering, I 

 should feel differently in this matter, 

 but under the circumstances I feel 

 like urging with all the influence I 

 possess, that bee-keepers cease to 

 feed sugar except in cases of neces- 

 sity where comb honey or extracted 

 honey is not readily obtainable. W'e 

 are unjustly cjiarged already with 

 many things, but this contemplated 

 wholesale feeding of sugar, on the 

 strength of an improved theory, will 

 lay us open to serious and damaging 

 charges that we m;iy never cease to 

 deny and explain away without ever 

 fully convincing any body, that some 

 of the great amount of sugar fed does 

 not get into our comb honey. 



Another fact that should be thought- 

 fully noted is this : If honey-dew, 

 under proper conditions, is safe to 

 winter bees upon, as Mr. Boardman, 

 Dr. Southard and myself have found 

 upon careful tests, we do not need to 

 trouble ourselves much about the 

 superiority of sugar syrup over good 

 clover or basswood honey. No doubt 

 it furnishes the most heat, as first 

 pointed out by myself, but it is 

 equally true that honey-dew furnishes 

 less tieat than clover honey. But 

 there is a way of conserving the heat 

 of a colony of bees in winter indicated 

 clearly in my answer to Query, No. 

 73, that I have practiced for several 

 years, until I have become fully satis- 

 fied that it involves one of the greatest 

 secrets of successful wintering. The 

 above gentlemen have practiced with 

 most signal success the same method. 

 With these facts before us, it does 

 not seem to be essential to use an 

 agent solely because an equal quantity 

 of it is capable of furnishing a little 

 more heat when consumed by bees. 



Mr. Doolittle has made an effective 

 and sensible defense of the practical 

 methods in wintering bees. It is my 

 turn now to review the methods that 

 promise only disaster and ruin to the 

 industry of bee-keeping, if followed 

 up. In a future article I will present 

 my views on the cause of bee-diar- 

 rhea, and indicate the conditions 

 which must be observed to secure 

 success. 



New Philadelphia, o Ohio. 



For tbe American Bee Joumai. 



That Lawsuit, Transferring, etc. 



A. J. COOK. 



Every day since I saw Mr. Hed- 

 don's proposition to organize a na- 

 tional defense association, I have 

 meant to write giving my approval, 

 and promise of support. Each bee- 

 keeper is interested in this matter, 

 and none of us can afford to let this 

 case be decided adverse to right, 

 which means the bee-keeper's inter- 

 est. I hope that the best counsel 

 will be secured, so that the matter 

 may be thoroughly tested, and, if 

 necessary, the case should be carried 

 to the highest courts of the State. 

 Not only is this question being agi- 

 tated in Wisconsin, but also in West- 

 ern Michigan— along the fruit belt — 

 aud in California. An unjust verdict 



