1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Through water the honey will again resume 

 its natural, watery, nectar-like appearance. 

 Upon these grounds, in case I am forced to feed 

 in order that I may keep my bees alive, I give 

 them water. Later, when feeding for the pur- 

 pose of stimulating is begun, I mix one part of 

 water with two ot honey. Should I feed very 

 old honey I use equal parts of both. In feeding 

 young swarms, for which no very old honey can 

 be used (since it would reduce their building 

 instinct, but would increase their swarming 

 desire), I use honey one year old, mixing them 

 half-and-half For thinning the honey, most 

 bee-keepers prefer flowing water to well-water. 

 Many boil the water first, thinking it advanta- 

 geous. Having my bees at some distance from 

 the house, I have taken the water I used for 

 diluting the honey from a small stream, and 

 have never tried boiled water. According to 

 late scientific discoveries, water is filled with 

 vegetable and animal organisms and germs. 

 In boiling water these arc all destroyed and the 

 water will not prove injurious to the bee-food. 

 In this respect, boiling the water is judicious. 

 But when one reflects on the other hand, that 

 the bees gathering the water for feeding their 

 brood from standing pools (which would first 

 come under the head of impurity), and that 

 such water does not injure the brood, we are 

 led to believe there is no necessity for boiling 

 the water. In pieparing his bee-food, the bee 

 keeper must have care that he does not dilute 

 more honey than he will need that night. 

 Should any honey remain unused, longer than 

 a day, if the w^eather be somewhat warm it will 

 become sour. H. Schulze. 



Knesebeck, March 9, 1873. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Doolittle's Article. 



Dear Journal. — We really did not know 

 what title to give to our rambling thoughts, so 

 we concluded to head them as above. We have 

 passed through one of the most disastrous 

 winters to bees within our knowledge, in Onon- 

 dago Co. Fully three-fourths of all the bees in 

 the county, which went into winter quarters 

 last fall, are dead. Of those who belonged to 

 the class who hive their bees, and then let them 

 take care of tliemselves, scarcely one remains. 



Our bees were wintered on their summer 

 stand, according to a plan given in a previous 

 number of the Juurnal, and came out with the 

 loss of but one swarm, which starved through 

 carelessness. Four were found queen less, which 

 with two very smill ones, we tmited with others, 

 making our present numl)er thirty five. 



Our bees flew finely February 4th, and March 

 7th, which would no 1, have been the case had 

 they been in the cellar. They had their cleans- 

 ing flight April 1, and it remained fine weather 

 for them (which they improved, carrying in 

 flour, water, etc.,) until the 17th, when it came 



off cold and has remained so without a day 

 wai'm enough for them to fly ever since, the re- 

 sult of which is although the queen has laid 

 some eggs within that time, yet the bees have not 

 hatched any of them, and there is not thirty 

 square inches of larva in all our hives, and has 

 not been in the past ten days. This is not 

 guess work, for we have examined, so v\e know. 

 The 16th of Ajml our hives averaged one 

 hundred and fifty square inches of brood in all 

 stages, and at thepresent time scarcely anything 

 but eggs I'emain, as nearly all the sealed brood 

 hatched. This will be a stTious draw back, 

 even if the weather proves favoraijle hereafter. 

 I have tried feeding some swarms half a pound 

 every day, and they are no better thnn the rest. 

 Now Doolittle wants his say ai)out this feeding 

 to promote breeding in the sjjring, or any other 

 season of the year, as we have tried every plan 

 we have ever read abotit, and that is quite a 

 number, we will assure you. Have all the honey 

 in the hive in the fall that your bees can possi- 

 bly consume by the next seascm, when the flow- 

 ers commence to yield honey, which is not less 

 than thirty-five pounds, then when the bees 

 begin to fly the next spring, divide the cluster 

 in the centre, (if they have all the brood they 

 can protect,) and insert a frame of honey after 

 first breaking the sealing of the cells, by passing 

 a knife flat ways over them, and so keep doing 

 as fast as they can protect the brood, and you 

 will find that you will get your honey all used 

 up and more brood than you can possibly get by 

 feeding with any feeder. If ynu have not the 

 honey in the hive, then you must feed of course, 

 and even then we should prefer turning it in the 

 combs. The worst way of feeding that we have 

 ever tried was that recommended to the " Dea- 

 con," by Herbert A. Burch, in Bee Keeper's 

 Journal, wliere he says, " feed every stock by 

 10 a. m.," etc., we thought when we read it, here 

 was where we had missed it as we had always 

 fed in the evening, so we tried that, and they 

 did "rush for the flelds," and into every hive 

 that could be got into, and sitch a time as we 

 had we never want again, so we have gone back 

 to feeding in the evening to prevent robbing if 

 we are obliged to feed. Friend Burch will 

 please excuse us, as perhaps our bees are like 

 Quinby's, "very contrary." We want our hives 

 tight at the top to keep in the warmth, and 

 this we can secitre to perfection with "Novice's" 

 quilts. Another thing we do which we have 

 not seen in print, and that is, we keep the en- < 

 trance closed entirely nights, and during the 

 day when the mercury does not riseabovo forty- 

 four degrees, and by that means, keep in" all 

 tile heat the bees can generate. If any one is 

 afraid of smothering, try one or two hives, and 

 they will be convinced that it cannot be done 

 in cool spring weather. 



We think we shall all have to come to the 

 conclusion of D L. Adair yet. that bees properly 

 cared for, can live without air. We keep the 



