114 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Nov., 



credit), but, bless their hearts, did neither of 

 them ever consider thiit a box hive with the 

 combs built not quite to tlie bottom, gave just 

 their conditions exactly, and yet such hives had 

 the dysentery just as badly as the rest. A 

 careful reading of the testimtmy furnished 

 might have saved the time spent in fabricating 

 long theories gathered from science and the 

 doings of the " AUwise Creator himself" (We 

 beg pardon, but friend Andrus has given us 

 too much theory, and too few facts from bee 

 culture). On the same principle a small colo- 

 ny of bees should winter well in a large, 

 tight hive, but most beekeepers have seen the 

 folly of such a course in trying to follow Hos- 

 mer, and we believe all are well satisfied now 

 to follow Langstroth in considering " strong 

 stocks, the sheet anchor in beekeeping." 



Those who think a colony of young bees 

 exclusively won't have the dysentery, had better 

 make the exjjeriment. for we are under an in- 

 junction not to consider that jjart of the matter 

 at present. 



We hardly need repeat what we would advise, 

 yet there seems to be such a stubbornness, if 

 we may so term it among the veterans, in re- 

 gard to considering sugar as food for bees at 

 all, that we must keep going over it. Quinby 

 has made some experiments feeding sugar, and 

 successful ones, too, but he don't put them in 

 print; and H. A. King, in his October maga- 

 zine, seems to have reconsidered the matter, for 

 he replies to a correspondent who may have an 

 existence, tliat '• Honey is best, but syrup made 

 from white sugar is nearly &s good." 



Is it possible, we fell to wondering when we 

 saw the above, that jealousy in regard to who 

 may have made a discovery, might stand in the 

 way of advising hundreds or thousands as to 

 how they might best winter their bees. 



One year ago many hesitated and said we 

 had not yet had a suificient number of experi- 

 ments, but now the journals have given us the 

 reports of so many, all pointing one way, it 

 does seem the matter should be called settled. 



It is true that by the time this reaches our 

 readers most of the feeding should have been 

 finished up, and those who iiave decided upon 

 risking natural stores, perhaps, are in for it; 

 but to those who have colonies that may starve 

 before April next, we would say, go at once, 

 and give them food. During warm days in 

 November, even, sugar syrup \n\\ be taken and 

 sealed, if your hives contain plenty of 

 bees, if they do not 'tis al-nost useless. 

 As they must be fed rapidly, yoi. should have 

 for each hive a tea kettle feeder (described in 

 these pages two years ago), an(' if you go right 

 at it, you can feed fifty colonic -i in one pleas- 

 ant day, if need be. 



We have alone, unaided, this present week 

 made a barrel of sugar into syrup, with which 

 we amply supplied twenty colonies with winter 



food in less than three hours' time for the 

 whole operation. With the exce])tion of the 

 twenty feeders and a box to hold the syrup, we 

 used nothing but common household imple- 

 ments. The bees did not empty the feeders in 

 that time, of course, but most of them were 

 emptied during the night, and the next even- 

 ing we made another barrel, and were it not 

 for unfertile queens remaining in the upper 

 stories of a few of the hives, we should have 

 had our whole fifty-seven colonies fed up for 

 winter in about three days' time, with the aid 

 of the twenty feeders. 



Mr. Editor, with your permission we would 

 like to make a few remarks and requests to 

 some of the correspondents in the last number. 



To Mr. Pence, our hearty thanks ; the sooner 

 we can weed out bogus reports emanating from 

 patent hive men, the better for our pursuit. 

 When Mr. Will E. King answers that charge, 

 we have still graver ones from different locali- 

 ties, that he will do well to consider. 



In answer to an inquiry on the same page we 

 would say that straw bee houses do very well, 

 but they are not durable, and not as tidy as we 

 like a honey house. 



It seems that our friends across the ocean 

 are awa-e of some of the advantages of sugar 

 as food for bees in winter. 



Mr. Adair's reply seems manly and honest 

 until he says the section hive " is less liable to 

 crush bees than any other frame hive." If he 

 is really honest in that expression, he has been 

 a patent hive man so long that he has forgot- 

 ten the meaning of words. We hope Adair 

 will excuse us for remarking that an examina- 

 tion of the reports do not show a cL^ar claim 

 to the section hive he is selling. li" it is our 

 dullness of comprehension, will others take a 

 look at it ? 



Thanks to our German friend, Collen, for the 

 result of his experiments. We are fa uiliar 

 with the same fact, but attribute the loss i-ain- 

 ly to the evaporation of the water in the sj up, 

 so there is no great loss ; yet in our experiL mt 

 of feeding our colony a barrel of syrup last i ill, 

 so much was evolved that the hive lelt 

 quite warm even on cold, freezy mornings, and 

 the bees clustered out unless the most abun- 

 dant ventilation given. To set tree this large 

 amount of heat, of course, much sugar must 

 have been consumed as fuel, and we found such 

 the case. We now regard it as most economic- 

 al to have each colony fill their own combs. 



Mr. Muth, we think, has had no experience 

 with dysentery in his locality, and his bees 

 winter precisely as they did with us before its 

 advent. The arrangement he mentions seems 

 to affect but little where it prevailed. 



We do not think the dampness and mold 

 could have given his bees the bee disease that 

 has made such havoc. 



