The American Apicultiirist. 



ENTERED AT THE POST-OFFICK, WKNHAM, AS SECOND-CLASS MATTEU. 



Published Monthly. 



Henry Aixet, IManager. 



VOL. V. WENHAM, MASS., APRIL i, 1887. 



No. 4. 



We deal in first-class apiavi- I Established in 1883. Terms:! Any yearly snbsci-iber is en- 

 an suijplies of all kinds, lowest I $1.00 jier year, 50 cents per six I titled to one of our selected 

 prices. Prompt delivery. I montlis, 2.5 cents per three I queens anytime between June 1 



Send for price list. I months. Cash in advance. | and Oct. 1, bj' remitting .'50 cts. 



Address all communications, AMERICAN APICULTURIST, Wenham, Mass. 



For the American JpicuUurist, 



FEEDING SUGAR. 



R. L. Taylor. 



Since the publication of ni}'- ar- 

 ticle in the January number of the 

 "Apiculturist" for the present year 

 on the subject of sugar-stores (in 

 ■which I ventured the opinion that 

 with such stores I could winter 

 bees with practical certainty), I 

 have received various inquiries ask- 

 ing for the method and time of feed- 

 ing, for information touching the 

 kind of sugar and its preparation, 

 and the alter management neces- 

 sary to secure certain success in 

 wintering ; and it may be of suffi- 

 cient interest to the readers of the 

 "Apiculturist" to warrant me in 

 answering these questions through 

 its pages. 



It must be understood in the 

 first place that no colony, not in a 

 normal condition, can be wintered 

 with certainty. I would not say 

 that a colony must be strong nor 

 even of average strength, but it 

 should be of sufficient strength so 

 as not to feel a conscious need of 

 additional numbers, for veiy weak 

 colonies are much more likely to 

 breed unseasonably. The bees 

 must be healthy and the queen 

 vigorous. The uneasiness and ex- 

 citement in a colony consequent 



7 



on the loss of its queen precludes 

 certainty in wintering even under 

 the best conditions. 



Having then an apiary consisting 

 of colonies in a normal condition, 

 the problem is how to get each col- 

 ony restricted to an amount of 

 comb equal to that of five L. frames 

 and to have that comb supplied, to 

 the exclusion of honey and bee- 

 bread, with at least twent}' pounds 

 of good sugar-syrup at or soon af- 

 ter the time when the last brood in 

 the hive emerges from the cell. 



The first thing to receive atten- 

 tion is the obtaining of an adequate 

 supply of sugar. It should be 

 pure granulated sugar. I have 

 used Havemeyer & Elder's with 

 satisfaction. In making the sugar 

 into syrup the proportion of water 

 used should be one pound to two 

 pounds of sugar. It is better to 

 have the proportion of water less 

 rather than more and only soft 

 water should be used. I make the 

 syrup by first putting say thirty 

 pounds of water into a flat-bot- 

 tomed vessel (a wash boiler will 

 do) placed on the stove and when 

 the water begins to boil I pour into 

 it gently sixty pounds of the su- 

 gar ; it will dissolve as it drops 

 into the water and so preclude any 

 necessity of stirring and any dan- 

 ger of burning. The mixture may 

 be stirred lightly at first but I never 

 stir it afterwards. The stirring 



(75) 



