THE KTSIBMICK^ BE© JOiPRIiSX^. 



185 



combs and changing to new locations 

 two or three times, the increase prob- 

 ably wouUl be largelj' checked, if not 

 entirely prevented. 



Increase oi* Colonie<«. 



If one has but a small number of 

 colonies, and wishes to increase as fast 

 as possible, and yet get as large amount 

 of surplus comb honey as jjossible, I 

 know of no better plan than the fol- 

 lowing : 



We will say the apiarist has four 

 colonies ; by the methods I have given, 

 encourage breeding in the spring, and 

 when the time arrives for putting on 

 surplus cases, contract the brood-apart- 

 ment to live or six frames, shaking off 

 nearly all the bees from the frames re- 

 moved, and place them in a hive with 

 a laying queen. Shave all brood- 

 combs to J-iuch, and space them to | 

 of an inch. When the old colonies 

 send off new swarms, capture the old 

 queen and return them to their respec- 

 tive hives, supplying their places in 

 the new colony with young, laying 

 queens, which can be introduced at 

 this time without much danger. Re- 

 move all queen-cells from the old col- 

 ony, to prevent after-swarms, and let 

 brood-i-earing proceed. By this method, 

 in a good honey-flow, colonies may be 

 increased very fast, and a good amount 

 of surplus honey be ob!ained. 



The plan of shaving the combs to |- 

 inch thickness, and spacing the frames 

 to a bee-space, I believe to be of con- 

 siderable importance. The idea was 

 not original with me, but as far as I 

 know, to Mr. E. P. Churchill belongs 

 the honor of first giving this method 

 to the bee-keeping world. 



Using: tUe Extractor. 



Can the extractor be used to advan- 

 tage in running an apiary for comb 

 honey, by extracting from the brood- 

 frames when putting on the surplus 

 e;vses ? This is a question I am not 

 fullj' prepared to answer either way, 

 and certainly not in the negative. I 

 have used the extractor in that way. 

 and thereby secured a good amount of 

 honey, but it is generally a mixture of 

 fruit-bloom and clover honey, neither 

 one nor the other. 



On the whole, I am not sure but as 

 good results will be obtained by letting 

 the honey remain in the combs, when 

 manipulating the hives for the surplus 

 cases. The theory is, that in shaving 

 and spacing the combs and reversing 

 them, the bees will carrv the honey 

 from the brood-frames and deposit it 

 in the sections. I am inclined to think 

 that this is generally true. Then if 

 one cares for sameness in quality of 

 his comb honey, it is better to extract 

 the mixed honey, and secure the vir- 

 gin article from the clover bloom. 



Lewiston, Maiof. 



BEE-CELLAR. 



Wintering Bee<> in the Cellar- 

 Experience. 



WHttcn for theAvxertcan Bee Journal 



BY A. D. LORD. 



I am located two miles from any 

 timber land, having commenced in the 

 spring of 1887 with 3 colonies, and in- 

 creased them to 7, which I wintered in 

 the cellar under the house. There was 

 plentj' of bees in the spring, but some 

 of the colonies dwindled to a mere 

 handful, and I only saved them by 

 buying a few by the pound and giving 

 some to each colony. They were slow 

 in building up, but increased again in 

 1888 to 18 colonies, and I took 250 

 pounds of comb honey. 



I put in the bees on Nov. 8, and each 

 colony was weighed, so that I might 

 know just the amount of honey that it 

 takes to winter them. They have lost 

 in weight up to the present time (Feb. 

 26) from 2i to 4 pounds each. 



I will endeavor to give a description 

 of mj' bee-cellar : 



I commenced by digging 5 feet into 

 the ground, then setting up studding 7 

 feet high, and ceiling it all around as 

 tight as lumber could make it. It has 

 two doors to pass in and out, and it is 

 8x12 feet, with a ventilator at each end. 



Before putting the bees in, I took a 

 section of the hive, and putting a piece 

 of cotton cloth over the bottom and 

 filling it about .3 inches deep with oats, 

 to absord the moisture, which, I think, 

 has done well, for the bees are per- 

 fectly dry all the time. The tempera- 

 ture has been from 34° to 40?, and 

 they seem to be perfectly quiet all the 

 time. 



I have carefully scraped up all the 

 dead bees, and they weigh IJ pounds 

 at the present time. 



Amiret, Minn. 



FEEDING BEES. 



What and How to Feed During 

 a mild \%lnter. 



Written for the Prairie Farmer 



BY JIRS. L. HARBISON. 



Bees during a mild winter, like the 

 present, consume m6re honey than in 

 a cold one. When they arc often upon 

 the wing exercising, they require more 

 food than during a cold winter when 

 they are in a semi-dormant state. 

 Bees store their pollen or bee-bread in 

 the base of the cells, and fill up with 

 honey. When they have consumed 

 the honey, they will rear brood in the 

 center of the cluster, the nurse-bees 

 eating the bread so as to give milk to 

 the young, or, in other words, feeding 



it to the young half-digested, as the 

 pigeons feed their young. These little 

 patches of brood in the center of the 

 cluster are a wise provision of nature 

 against the loss of the <iueen, for as 

 long as they have eggs or larvse not 

 over three days old, they can rear 

 another queen or mother bee. 



As the drain upon the bees' stores 

 has been excessive, owing to the mild 

 weather and consequent activity of the 

 l>ees, the owners of colonies, whether 

 few or many, should not let them 

 starve. If he does, he loses not only 

 the bees, but all the honey they had in 

 the fall. Bees consume their stores 

 very rapidly in the spring while rear- 

 ing their joung, for scientists tell us 

 that insects dui-ing their larval state 

 consume more food than during the 

 remainder of their lives. 



Honey as Food tor Bees. 



Honey is their natural food, and 

 nothing else is to be resorted to when 

 it is to be had. Large apiaries usually 

 ha\e in store dark honey that is not 

 salable, and broken or partly-filled 

 comb, which can be utilized in this 

 way. I have a few two-pound sec- 

 tions, in which the queen laid and 

 drones were reared, discoloring them, 

 rendering them unfit for food, and 

 these I shall use as feed for bees, turn- 

 ing them down over the cluster. 



I do not advise feeding bees in early 

 sjiring, except to prevent starvation, 

 for it arouses them to activity, and 

 they will try to rear more brood than 

 the}- can cover ; and let the weather 

 turn suddenly cold, contracting the 

 cluster, much of it will perish. More 

 young <|ueens will be reared by feed- 

 ing, but it will be at the risk of the 

 lives of the old bees, for it is a severe 

 draught on their vitality, preparing 

 their food ; they also fly out for water 

 on chilly days and perish. When a 

 bee loads uji with cold water it gets 

 numb, and cannot return home. If 

 the old bees die oft" faster than the 

 young ones are able to take their 

 places, the colony must ultimately 

 perish. 



iVIaking; tlie " Ciood " Candy. 



This candy was the indention of a 

 prominent bee-keeper, whose name it 

 bears, and is made as follows : 



Heat li(|uid honey until hot, but not 

 up to the boiling-point, and stir in con- 

 fectioners' sugar until it will alisorb no 

 more, when it can be made into cakes 

 with the hands. This candy will not 

 be sticky, yet keeps soft and moist, so 

 that bees can feed from it. 



A cake of this candy could be 

 slipped down into the cluster and save 

 a colony from starvation, and j'et not 

 arouse thcra to undue activity, as the 

 feeding of liquid honey or syrup 

 would do. 



