1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



121 



^From Am. Bee Journal.) 



SPRINa FEEDING TO STIMULATE 

 BROOD-REARING. 



BY C. DAVENPORT. 



There has been a good deal said 

 aud written about feeding in the 

 spring for the purpose of stimulating 

 brood- rearing in order to have a 

 large force of workers at the right 

 time. Some claim there is a big ad- 

 vantage in this, and others say the 

 benefit that s-an be derived from it is 

 very slight: and I remember reading 

 one article which claimed that much 

 harm was done by spring feeding. 



I do not think there is any doubt 

 that there is a big profit in both 

 spring and early summer feeding in 

 some seasons. Some years we can get 

 a paying crop without, while others, 

 at least with me, it is impossible to 

 do so. Not that there is no honey to 

 gather, but because there has not 

 been enough to be had before the 

 main flow to enable the brood-rearing 

 to be kept up as it should have been. 

 Consequently, when the flow did 

 come, there would not be enough 

 workers to store much surplus. But 

 in my opinion, if there is anything 

 about bee-keeping that requires skill 

 and judgment, it is this kind of feed- 

 ing, for in this locality the season, 

 amount of stores in the hives, and 

 other things, must be considered in 

 regard to the time to commence, or 

 whether to commence at all — amount 



to be fed, aud how long it should be 

 continued. There is much more 

 about it than I know, or probably 

 ever will know, but some of the 

 things I do know may interest, and 

 possibly benefit, some that have not 

 had much experience in this kind of 

 feeding. 



Of course we could use hives large 

 enough to hold plenty of stores, so 

 that feeding would be necessary in 

 such seasons. These are a good kind 

 of hive, if one is keeping bees merely 

 for those things to be found in bee- 

 keeping that we would not sell for 

 money if we could. I think I find as 

 many of those things as anybody, but 

 at the same time, in order to pay ex 

 penses, make a living, and lay up a 

 little for a rainy day, I have to make 

 considerable money with them, too. 

 And for the comb-honey producer 

 those big hives are a failure, especial- 

 ly in such seasons as we are having 

 right along now. In using them, if 

 we do not feed in poor seasons, it 

 takes most of the white honey to fill 

 them up, and after they are full the 

 bees will not work in the sections as 

 readily as they will when they are in 

 a smaller hive. We want the white 

 honey in sections, and then we can let 

 them secure winter stores from fall 

 flowers, if we are in a locality where 

 the honey from such makes suitable 

 winter food. If it does not or there 

 is no fall flow, we can feed sugar. I 

 consider a pound of the best granulat- 

 ed equal to a pound of clover or bass- 

 wood honey for winter stores; and 

 there is a difference of 10 cents a 

 pound, and often more, between the 

 two. If we allow 80 pounds for 

 winterstores, this will make a differ- 

 ence of $300 on 100 colonies. This 



