THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



191 



How to prepare sugar syrup for feeding 

 bees. 



As some colonies need more sugar than 

 others to carry thrm tlironi^h the winter, 

 I have found ni> better rule for preparing 

 the syrui) tlian tliis : If a colony will need, 

 say fourteen pountls of sugar, place that 

 quantity m any kind of a vessel. Now 

 mark on the insiiie the vessel where the 

 top of the sugar comes ami add boiling 

 water until all the sngar is Avet and the 

 •water rises to tli:it mark. Stir the mix- 

 ture occasionally until all the sugar is dis- 

 solved, then add a pint of water and two 

 pounds of gontl honey. 'J'he syrup will be 

 slightly tiiinner than it should be to cap, 

 but the small quanlit}- of water it contains 

 will soon be evaporated by the heat of 

 the colony. The honey added will prevent 

 the sugar from graunlating ;ind make the 

 syrup more pidatable to the bees. 



Those who use this receipt will not com- 

 plain that syrup granulates in the combs. 



This syrup should not be exposed to 

 robber bees, as it will induce robbing as 

 quickly as clear honey. 



Where hives have caps that will exclude 

 bees, I know of no better way for rapid 

 feeding than to remove the honej^-board, 

 or quilt, and place a pan on the frames 

 that Av dl hold four or more quarts of syrup. 

 Fill the pan and i)ut some sticks or straw 

 in, to prevent the bees from drowning; 

 a bridge should be provided so the bees 

 can reach the top of the pan to get the 

 syrup. Wiien a colony has a sulticient 

 amount of food, the winter packing should 

 be put on thus keeping the combs warm 

 until the water is evaporated from the 

 syrup. 



A bee-swarming conundrum! 



A New Jersey bee man is exercised 

 over a possible dilemma in which his 

 swarming bees may place him with one of 

 his neighbors. Some of his swarms have 

 ignored land lines and settled on a neigh- 

 bor's premises. The neighl)or has become 

 "tired" with sucli trespasses by wandering 

 colonies of bees and the man trespassed 

 upon has nolitied the bee owner that if 

 any more of his bees alight upon his 

 premises again he will drown or burn 

 them. The man is attached to his l)ees, 

 is pained at tiieir peril by water and peril 

 by tire, and wants the editor to tell him 

 what to do in such an emergency. Brother 

 Koot gives him some wholesome ailvice 

 and intimates that there is danger of the 

 correspondent and liis neighbor getting 

 up a greater disturbance than a runaway 

 swarm of bees could do, if they happened 

 to go iu the right direction.— £'xcAa«^e. 



A few dollars Invested in queen-traps 

 would have prevented the loss of any bi'es 

 or trouble among the neiglil)ors. Brother 

 Root did not liave the trap in mind when 

 he gave the good advice. Use the trap, 

 friends, and there will be no occasion to 

 go into the neigiibor's laud to get your 

 bees when they swarm. 



Races of Beos. 



Bkks are not native to America. The 

 first race introtlnced was the black or Ger- 

 man bee. We often read in the bee jour- 

 nals of a large, brown bee, which was in- 

 digenous to this continent. 1 think that 

 any such t)ee is only a variety of our com- 

 mon black bee which was introduced into. 

 America longyears ago, and so has become 

 widely distributed and it would not be 

 strange if color variation had taken place 

 to quite a degree. 



The black bees are described by their 

 name, though they often appear gray be- 

 cause of their hairy covering. Tlie black 

 bees have some well-marked characteris- 

 tics : They are restless ; when we hold a 

 frame of comb covered by these bees l)efore 

 us, they are ever running rapidly about and 

 constantly dropping oti" the comb. The 

 black bees are also irritable, and thus quite 

 likely to sting unless considerable care is 

 exercised. Tlie good points of the black 

 bees are: Tliey cap their honey thicker, 

 and so comb honey from tiiem is very 

 white; they are very ready to go into sec- 

 tions or a surplus chamber on top of the 

 hive, at the dawn of the honey harvest. 

 This point is especially prized by many of 

 our best beekeepers. This fact leads many 

 of our wisest apiarists to desire at least 

 some black blood in their bees. 



The Italian bees are often spoken of as 

 the yellow race, owing to the fact that the 

 hinder part of their body— the abdomen — 

 of the queen and drones especially, is 

 often wholly or nearly all yellow. The 

 worker bees, too. of this race, if pure, will 

 all have three bright yellow bands on their 

 abdomen next to the thorax. \Vhen an 

 Italian bee is full of honey these bands 

 will all show distinctly. Owing to this 

 fact the Italian bee is very handsome. The 

 Italian bees are very amiable, are quiet on 

 the combs vvlien handled, possess longer 

 tongues than do black bees, are more en- 

 ergetic and prolific, but do not make quite 

 as white comb honey, nor are they quite 

 as ready to enter tlie surplus cases when 

 the season opens. The Italian, owing to 

 its amiability, is like the Carniolau, pecu- 

 liarly the bee for the beginner. 



