167 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



September 



I 



warm, as soon as the snow is melted. 

 The colonies after a long Winter are 

 weak and without any brood. There is 

 only a short time to build up for the 

 harvest. Under such conditions stimu- 

 lative feeding and all other means that 

 may increase brood-rearing should be 

 used. 



Mr. Dooliitle objects to stimulative 

 feeding but he attains the same end by 

 spreading the brood regularly. Of the 

 two ways I should prefer stimulative 

 feeding, as it does not necessitate the 

 opening of the hives and the consequent 

 loss of heat. 



In the middle latitudes the latter part 

 of the Winter, I might as well say the 

 whole Winter, consists of a succession 

 of warm spells of weather, alternating 

 with cold waves. During the warm days 

 more brood is started than the bees can 

 cover in the cold days, and a consider- 

 able loss of brood occurs every year. 

 The trouble can be remedied to a great 

 extent, but not entirely, by using chaff 

 hives or otherwise well-protected hives. 

 No need of .stimulative feeding there. 



Knoxvillc. Tenn. 



"I would rather fail and know the cause 

 than succeed and not know why." 



FEEDING FOR WINTER— SOGAR 

 PREFERABLE TO HONEY. 



BY I>. E. KEKlt. 



AFTER the honey harvest and be- 

 fore cold weather sets in, the 

 energetic bee-keeper will have 

 e.xamined his colonies, giving them well- 

 filled combs from hives that can spare 

 them, or feeding those in need of stores 

 on sugar syrup. 



Not long ago the time was when every 

 Winter thousands of colonies were 

 allowed to starve because of the want of 

 a few cents" worth of feed. At present, 

 however, there are not many but under- 

 stand feeding sufficiently well to keep 

 their colonies from starving. 



It is not a difficult matter to feed bees 



if done at the right time. The most im- 

 portant parts are to put the feed near 

 the bees and to feed as rapidly as pos- 

 sible to avoid robbing. To prevent rob- 

 bing it is necessary to feed inside the 

 hive, and it is always best to work at 

 night. An average colony at this time 

 of year aught to remove enough syrup 

 from a feeder in a single night to last an 

 entire Winter. Feeding a pint or so at 

 a time would cause the ruin of a strong 

 colony at this season. 



The amount of food to be given must 

 depend altogether upon the locality of 

 the bee-keeper. Here ten pounds of a 

 fair quality of cheap sugar is all that is 

 required per colony. Further North, 

 however, where the bees seldom get a 

 flight, twenty or twenty-five pounds of 

 the finest grade of sugar is necessary. 



If I am not mistaken, it is generally 

 supposed that bees consume a greater 

 amount of honey when active during 

 Winter than when forced by cold to 

 keep to their hives. I cannot account, 

 then, for the fact that bees here, flying 

 almost as much in Winter as in Summer, 

 can pull through on from five to ten 

 pounds of honey, while twice that 

 amount is required in other places where 

 the intense cold plays somewhere around 

 zero all Winter. There is positively 

 nothing our bees could find to work on 

 during the Winter. Will some one who 

 knows why explain the cause of this ? 



I have many times demonstrated to 

 my entire satisfaction how much better 

 sugar is for winter stores than anything: 

 else, where bees are kept for profit. For 

 ease, economy and safety in wintering I 

 henceforth will winter my bees on sugar 

 syrup in preference to the finest honey. 



Hurricane, Ark., July 18, 1901. 



"^If you e.vpeGt to make auythiag, e3q>ect 

 to make mistakes." 



"It is a mistake to eat all you can, spend 

 all you have, tell all you know, or show all 

 you feel." 



"No man who is succeeding gets tired in 

 doing a day's work." 



