Feb. 22, I9f 6 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



163 



only about 167, or less than 7 pounds per colony. Now, 32 

 pounds is not much for a colony to store, but it was more 

 than 4 times the amount the others stored. In Edition, the 

 Italians filled up their hives well with winter stores, which 

 is more than some of their neighbors did. This leads me to 

 a second point — feeding. I am sorry you and Dr. Miller 

 had so much trouble with your unfinished sections, but I am 

 glad you told us of it, for if sometimes the bee-keeping 

 chieftains can not get their bees to work their will, we 

 humble followers need not always get discouraged, and 

 think, " I suppose it is my own fault somewhere," when our 

 bees persist in doing the very opposite of what we want or 

 expect of them. 



I had just the same trouble as you had, but with me it 

 was more serious, for I not only wanted to get the sections 

 cleaned out, but to feed the light colonies. I also had a 

 number of brood-frames containing 1 or 2 pounds of honey 

 I wanted them to take out, but nothing would induce the 

 bees to carry it down. I tried giving the supers under the 

 hive-body, but neither would they carry it up. I then gave 

 them extracted honey, and I gave them syrup, but neither 

 would they store that. I fed it hot, and I fed it cold ; I fed 

 in the warm part of the day, and I fed at night, but with 

 the hives I wanted to fill up most it was no use at all. 

 Anything left in the open — a few drops spilled, or the stick 

 I mixed with — would be black with bees directly ; but except 

 in the case of one or two colonies they would not take from 

 the feeder. 



I made the syrup thick, as recommended in the Bee 

 Journal of Oct. 5, 1905, and mixed it smooth and clear in 

 the bread-making machine, which mixed it beautifully. 

 Finally, I had to buy a number of full extracting combs 

 from a neighbor to get enough for them to winter on. 



Observe. I said " to winter on." But there are several 

 still too light to stand the strain of brood-rearing in the 

 spring, and I shall have to feed them in some way about 

 March. 



We have had several warm days lately, and the bees 

 have been flying freely about, and they are usually quite 

 ready for bran and flour by the middle of February. I have 

 noticed that the elms are usually out about the first of 

 March, with the bees thick upon them, and the box-elders 

 are only a little later. 



I never quite understand what is meant by " stimula- 

 tive feeding " in the spring. How would you feed under 

 these circumstances ? Would the syrup I made in the fall 

 be right then, or should I make a thinner one? I have 

 never had to feed syrup before at all. 



I use 10-frame hives, and leave all the frames in all the 

 summer, and, in addition, I have always tried to get a num- 

 ber of extra combs filled with sealed honey to enrich the 

 poorer colonies in the spring. 



I know this is not the most " advanced " method, but I 

 do almost the entire work of the apiary by myself ; and if 

 there is a little less honey in the packing cases there is 

 also less handling of hives and combs, and less anxiety 

 about winter stores. 



I have another favor to ask of you: In the American 

 Bee Journal for 1903, page 491, there is a letter signed by 

 Dr. F. L. Peiro on feeding bees with "crushed white mul- 

 berries." He speaks of a previous article on the subject, 

 but I did not take the Journal till that year. We have a 

 large number of mulberry trees, both purple and white, and 

 the bees certainly get either pollen or honey from the blos- 

 soms, and perhaps both. I tried crushing the fruit and 

 putting it near the hives, but the bees would not take it. 



Would it be too much to ask you to look this up, and let 

 me know how the fruit should be prepared ? If it is really 

 as good a bee-food as he thinks, it is a pity not to use the 

 quantity of fruit we have every year. Colorado. 



There is at least one member of our family that will 

 agree with your misguided ones, that extracted honey is 

 much the best. 



You are on the right track, keeping tab of what each 

 colony is doing, and, by breeding from the colony doing 

 the best work, you can have in time those poorest colonies 

 doing just as good work as the best. 



It was the sections that we had trouble with. Our bees 

 have seldom bothered us much in taking feed from a feeder 

 in the fall. Sometimes they have refused to take it in the 

 spring, but that, I think, was perhaps because they were 

 rather weak. 



A very good plan is to give the strong colony that will 

 take the feed a story of empty brood-combs and let them fill 

 them, then draw from these to feed those that need feeding. 



What is meant by stimulative feeding, is to feed in such | 



a way as to induce the queen to lay more than she otherwise 

 would do, by feeding a small quantity each day, or every 

 other day. It is better to have the honey or syrup thin. 



But stimulative feeding is a two-edged sword, and may 

 do more harm than good, by inducing the bees to fly in un- 

 favorable weather. 



In our locality stimulative feeding is rarely needed, as 

 the queens usually lay as many eggs as the bees can cover. 

 In some localities, especially in Colorado, there may be 

 good weather in the spring so that bees can fly, everything 

 all right for brood-rearing, but there is nothing for the 

 bees to gather, so the queens will not lay as when nectar is 

 coming in. In such cases feeding is a necessity in order to 

 keep the queens laying. 



You are indeed using the most " advanced method." Is 

 there anything that is better to feed bees than solid frames 

 of honey ? I always feel rich when we have a good supply 

 of full combs on hand. 



I have looked up the article by Dr. Peiro. The only in- 

 structions are to mash the mulberries to a pulp, and put on 

 the alighting-boards. It is doubtful if the bees will trouble 

 themselves with any kind of fruit-juice when they can get 

 nectar from the flowers. 



I1lt\ pasty's 

 Ctftertfyougfyts 



The " Old Reliable" as seen through New and Unreliable Gla6ses. 

 By E. E. Basty, Sta. B. Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



Mr. Scholl and Those Bee-Problems. 



May be good for Mr. Scholl— but bad for we'uns— that 



he has so unexpectedly flown the Texas coop. The Ohio 



State University is not much interested to have him settle 



all those toothsome bee-problems, I fear. Whatever shall 



we do ? 



'• We never had a little dog 

 But what he died or run away." 



Didn't Like Nature's Hive. 

 So when L. M. Gulden had secured one of Nature's 

 hives at his pretty apiary (for contrast), the bees therein 

 "up and died." So ashamed of their not-up-to-date con- 

 dition that they got cold feet. Pages 21 and 27. 



Space Under Solid Combs in Winter. 



On page 29, Dr. Miller's all right to get his bees in a 

 bunch down below solid combs of honey, when it's a matter 

 of cellar-wintering merely ; but I'm an out-door feller, and 

 was thinking of out-door conditions. I have come of late 

 years to think that vacant space below (or unnecessary 

 vacant space anywhere, for that matter) counts heavily 

 against the best success in wintering outdoors. Such space 

 is cellar, and shockingly cold cellar at that ; and it half 

 forfeits the strongest advantage of outdoor wintering- 

 direct ventilation from perfectly pure and highly ozonized 

 air. In other words, air keeps circulating back and forth 

 between the big, cold space and the warmer, narrow spaces 

 next to the cluster, with the result that pure air from the 

 outside arrives only in an adulterated condition. Or, in 

 still other words— seeing the air next the cluster must be 

 cooled by admixture with colder air from some place, far 

 better the mix be with pure outdoor air than with dead and 

 impure indoor air. 



Difference in Percentage of Mismatings. 



So E. W. Diefendorf thinks the lemon-banded Italians 

 and the orange-banded Italians differ in the percentage of 

 queens that will mismate (outside things being equal), the 

 latter making the worse scores. That, if sustained, will 

 offer some aid and comfort to those who think that compara- 

 tive agility in flight, and the number of wing-strokes per 

 second (on both male and female sides) count heavily in 

 the martial selection. I don't seem to have much to say 

 about it— perhaps— and then again perhaps not. Page 30. 



Catching the Prodigal Swarms. 



And here's another rich idea : During a season when 

 famine conditions prevail, a large, well-kept apiary attracts 



