634 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For tbe Ameilcan Bee Journal. 



Wintering Bees, etc. 



30— WM. H. BALCH, (31—81). 



The middle of October, 1884, found 

 me with a part of my bees short of 

 houey, but with plenty of pollen. 

 Well knowing what would be the re- 

 sult, from sad experience in former 

 years, and the season being near its 

 close, and also remembering the oft- 

 repeated caution from the bee-frater- 

 nity, " Honey or syrup must be sealed 

 over by the bees in order to be of real 

 benefit in wintering," it may easily 

 be imagined that I was in something 

 of a dilemma. Twenty hives were 

 weighed and found wanting— aver- 

 aging about 15 pounds of stores in 

 each hive ; this being composed of 

 from 3-4 to >^ pollen. In my reason- 

 ing I came to these conclusions: 1. 

 The stores in these hives are just 

 what are needed when brood-rearing 

 commences in the early spring. 2. 

 The brood-nest should not be dis- 

 turbed so late in the season, as I had 

 found that handling bees late in the 

 season often causes their death before 

 warm weather comes. Tliere was no 

 surer remedy than to cover up those 

 stores with something, and I thought 

 that •• something" must be feed of a 

 nature not to induce brood-rearing. 

 Having never had to feed in the fall, 

 I was ignorant in real practice of pre- 

 paring food, but concluded to feed a 

 part of them according to Mr. Doo- 

 tittle's plan of mixing two parts of 

 granulated sugar with one of water ; 

 and the remainder according to Mr. 

 Jloot's method— three parts of sugar 

 to one of water. 



Time, with me, is money; so I rea- 

 soned thus : What object is there in 

 boiling the syrup and taking the 

 chances of scorching it V it had been 

 boiled when made into sugar. I 

 measured the water (what I could 

 conveniently handle at one time in 

 my extractor), heated it to the boil- 

 ing point, put it into the extractor 

 with the sugar, stirred it until the 

 sugar was dissolved, and then while 

 it was yet warm, I fed it. Not hav- 

 ing feeders, I raised tlie front end of 

 the hives, the bottom-boards being 

 high enough to contain what feed 

 was necessary for the required amnunt 

 that was to make each hive have 30 

 pounds of stores exclusive of hive 

 and bees. In from 24 to 3G hours it 

 was all taken up. 



Two weeks afterward, or about 

 Nov. 1, 1 placed a part of tliose so pre- 

 pared, in the cellar, and apart were 

 prepared as follows : I dug a trench 

 in the earth, the ground being 

 gravelly, such as water never stands 

 on. This trench was 15 inches deep 

 and one foot wider than the length of 

 two hives. Sticks were placed cross- 

 wise, then narrow boards lengthwise, 

 the hives being placed on in a double 

 row, back to back, tlie rows being 5 or 

 6 inches apart to prevent one colony 

 from crawling into the hive of 

 another, as is often the case, and 

 sometimes several will crawl together 

 and perish for want of sufficient food. 

 After placing the hives in proper 

 position, a stout pole was placed two 



feet above the hives, and held by sup- 

 porters. Then sticks and boards vi'ere 

 cut to a proper length and placed on 

 the ground and leaned against this 

 ridge-pole. These were covered witli 

 straw, and the whole covered with 

 earth one foot deep at tlie bottom and 

 6 inches at the top. 



Now for the results : There was 

 but little ditferance between those in 

 the clamps and those in the cellar, 

 the favor being with those in the 

 cellar. All were alive. Those fed on 

 two parts sugar and one part water 

 were in fair condition, and those fed 

 on three parts sugar and one part 

 water were just a-booming. The re- 

 mainder (21 in number) of my apiary 

 had plenty of this poor stuff to wmter 

 on, and that were not fed, were care- 

 fully prepared in a way with which I 

 have had the best success in former 

 years, much better than with cellar- 

 wintering. They commenced to breed 

 in January, and the conseqiiences 

 were that one-third were dead with a 

 large amount of brood, some having 

 six frames with brood, three starved, 

 and the rest had plenty of stores. AH 

 of this latter class were in hives con- 

 taining 13 Langstroth frames. The 

 remaining two-thirds just pulled 

 through, not being worth half-price. 



EXPTJCITNESS IN DESCRIPTIONS. 



On page 602, Mr. R. S. Torrey has 

 given his method of wintering bees ; 

 but like many of us he failed to give 

 some important points. He says : " I 

 take all their honey from their sides 

 and place it immediately over them, 

 in the top of the hive, putting all the 

 empty combs in the lower part of the 

 hive for the bees to cluster upon." 

 This is a very good plan, indeed, but 

 he does not say whether he uses a 2- 

 storv hive, nor whether he produces 

 extracted or comb honey. If he pro- 

 duces comb honev, he must get it on 

 top of a 2-story hive, or else he would 

 not have empty boxes to put below, 

 as the idea is conveyed that the hive 

 is full of frames above and below ; if 

 not, he should have stated what was 

 to be done with the empty space on 

 either side of the bees after taking 

 out the honey. 



Again, he says: '"I then make a 

 whole box without top or bottom and 

 set it over the hive, the box being 

 large enough to leave 3 or 4 inches of 

 space between the outside of the hive 

 and the inside of the box." Now, 

 mark you, he says a whole box placed 

 over the hive, and this to be tilled 

 with sawdust, as he considers that the 

 best packing-material. Of course the 

 idea is conclusive that the bees are 

 shut ill with this outer shell, and the 

 packing around the hive, as there is 

 not one word about an entrance in the 

 ichole box without a cover. 



Writing in such a general manner 

 as the above, is more liable to do the 

 beginner more harm than good. I 

 simply call attention to this because 

 of the fact that the majority of us 

 who write do it for the benefit of the 

 inexperienced, hoping, by our ex- 

 periences, to benefit them in the art 

 of bee-keeping. Let us strive to be 

 more explicit in our descriptions, for 

 I have found that some very small 



things — some things which, unless 

 seen by a close observer, would be 

 passed unnoticed— are the real secrets 

 of success in the art of apiculture. 

 Oran.QN. Y. 



Prairie Farmer- 



Honey Gathered from Corn. 



MBS. L. HARRISON. 



There has been considerable dis- 

 cussion among bee-keepers relative 

 to the merits of corn as a honey-pro- 

 ducing plant. This morning (July 31) 

 my attention was called to a patch of 

 sweet-corn, and, on investigating, I 

 found from one to seven bees at work 

 on every hill. Some of the corn is in 

 tassel, while more of it is quite small, 

 owing to a failure of seed to come up, 

 and having had to be replanted sev- 

 eral times. Bees were working upon 

 it all alike, and where it was in bloom 

 it was not the place of attraction, but 

 t)ie arils of the leaves close up to the 

 stalk. If it had been water that they 

 were seeking, they could have gath- 

 ered it in abundance upon the leaves, 

 as they were dripping with dew ; and 

 if pollen had been the object sought, 

 the full-blown tassels would have 

 been visited. I have noticed this 

 phenomenon several times, and from 

 observations conclude that, when the 

 electric conditions are suitable, nectar 

 is secreted from the stalks during the 

 night, and runs down to the arils of 

 the leaves where it finds a receptacle, 

 and is appropriated by the Ijees. I 

 have never had an opportunity to ob- 

 serve whether common field-corn 

 yields this nectar or not. 



Bees are very irritable when there 

 is no honey to be gathered, and are 

 ever on the alert to discover it. Yes- 

 terday I was amused by their awk- 

 wark flight, in descending the chim- 

 ney of the honey-house, and I had to 

 paste paper over the stove-pipe hole 

 to keep them out. 



Kerosene rubbed on the hive-en- 

 trances will soon put to flight robbers 

 that are seeking an entrance. 



Peoria,© Ills. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



The Season, Wintering, etc. 



B. NOVICE. 



Last spring I bought 2 colonies of 

 hybrid bees in Eclectic hives, and al- 

 ready they have more than paid me 

 for my investment. At present I 

 have three strong colonies, all hard 

 at work on the goldenrod and fringed 

 gentian. Notwithstanding the sum- 

 mer has been wet and short — we have 

 had no summer weather here since 

 about Aug. 2-5— the bees have stored 

 60 pounds of comb honey, besides lay- 

 ing up their winter stores. I can 

 easily dispose of all my honey for 20 

 cents per pound, and thus clear a 

 good percentage on my investment. 

 Besides this, it has been a very great 

 pleasure to me to manage them, as it 

 lias doubtless been their pleasure to 

 manage me, on several occasions. 



Two of my neighbors are in the bee- 

 business, one having 20 colonies and 



