THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



71 



The slides are my own mouuting and 

 so not finished highly. The sperma- 

 tozoa are stained as well as the bacilli. 



Mr. Cheshire was then made an hon- 

 orary member of the association. Mr. 

 Todd announced that he would have 

 bacilhts and spermatozoa in shape for 

 microscopical examination on Thurs- 

 day. 



[To be continued.'] 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWEBS. 



ANSWER TO QUERY OF J. B. HALL, IN 



FEB. NO. *' APICULTURIST," PAGE 



47, BY EDITOR. 



" Caucasian Bees." Eefer to page 

 122 in October No. of " Apiculturist " 

 for 1883, an ai'ticle written by Julius 

 Hoflman. 



"Caucasian Bees." Refer to page 

 169 "Apiculturist," December, 1883, 

 an article by Arthur Todd. 



QUESTION BY THE EDITOR. 



There seems to be a diversity of opin- 

 ion among our most prominent and 

 successful apiarists and teachers in 

 apiculture, regarding the advisability 

 of stimulative feeding during the 

 spring. Will you give your ideas re- 

 specting this subject, as it is a matter 

 of considerable importance ? We trust 

 that those, to whom this question is 

 sent, will give our readers a careful and 

 thorough description of the matter, as 

 it appears to them, in the light of their 

 experience. 



In answering, please state when feed- 

 ing should be commenced ; what kind 

 of food should be used; what kind of 

 feeder (if any), is used; in what quan- 

 tities the food should be supplied; 

 what eflect is produced ; if it in any de- 

 gree prevents the bees from flying in 

 search of water ; what the relative con- 

 dition is, at the time of the first large 

 yield of honey, between colonies thus 

 stimulated, and those that were left to 

 build up without it. 



In fact our object is to present our 

 readers with a brief, but decisive expla- 

 nation of this matter. 



ANSWER BY L. C. ROOT. 



I am impressed that our prominent 

 and most successful apiarists will con- 

 tinue to investigate and experiment, 

 no matter what the opinions of others 

 may be, yet I realize the confusion 



that comes to the beginner from the 

 variation of opinions on this subject. 

 At present, my advice to beginners is 

 to disturb the bees as little as is prac- 

 ticable during April and May, in lati- 

 tudes as cold as central New York. 

 Be sure they have plenty of sealed 

 honey and use every precaution to pre- 

 vent them from flying, particularly 

 during cold days. 



As the season advances, if there is 

 a time between the difi'erent classes of 

 bloom when no honey is aflbrded, all 

 stocks that ai'e not liberally supplied 

 with honey should be fed. Feed noth- 

 ing but pure honey. I am aware that 

 under experienced management stim- 

 ulative feeding may be practised to ad- 

 vantage, but the average person who 

 has not had experience would not be 

 benefited. 



Mohawk, N. Y. 



ANSWER BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



I have long believed that stimulative 

 feeding at the proper time was very 

 profitable. This is not a mere theory, 

 as we have carefully experimented in 

 spring and summer — when there were 

 no flowers — and in autumn. We found 

 by careful comparison that such colo- 

 nies as were stimulated always in- 

 creased more rapidly than those not 

 fed. We feed always in April and 

 May, use the Smith feeder, which is 

 described and illustrated in my manual. 

 Feed not more than a gill to each col- 

 ony per day, which is done just in the 

 evening. I feed extracted honey if we 

 have it, if not, sugar syrup. 



Though I am aware that some of 

 our excellent beekeepers scout this 

 idea, yet from actual and repeated 

 tests, I am persuaded that feeding 

 sparingly, whenever bees are not ac- 

 tively gathering, will accelerate brood 

 rearing. 



ANSWER BY J. E. POND. 



The matter of stimulative feeding 

 in the spring is one of great import- 

 ance, and one that should be thor- 

 oughly understood. In the hands of 

 an expert it will be conducive of great 

 good ; but the novice must understand 

 that it is a "two-edged sword," and 

 when used indiscriminately may pro- 

 duce much mischief. Its chief value 

 consists in using it so to increase a 

 colony, that a full and eflective army 

 of workers may be on hand to gather 

 in the first spring yield, that otherwise 

 would not have been able so to do. A 

 few years ago I was an earnest advo- 



