202 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



I^ovingf Bees in ^Winter.— 



The following questions are asked by 

 Mr. F. H. Richardson, of Elliott, Mo. : 



1. I have just moved my bees in 

 wagons very carefully. It was pretty 

 cold. Please tell me whether it will 

 hurt them. I found 6 colonies with 

 light stores. 2. How can I feed syrup 

 in cold weather ? 



1. Yes, moving bees in cold weather 

 is likely to hurt them, but it depends 

 upon circumstances how much. If it 

 was not too cold, and thfey had a chance 

 for a flight within a few days afterward, 

 the weather being warm enough, the 

 probability is that you will not detect 

 any great damage. Since the moving is 

 already done, it is well to look on the 

 hopeful side, and in any case it would 

 be well for you to report in May how 

 they come out, for the benefit of others. 



2. In freezing weather you can feed 

 syrup most easily by pouring it all over 

 the bees, and this will kill them quicker 

 than to let them starve to death. In 

 other words, don't think of feeding 

 syrup unless the weather continues 

 warm enough for the bees to fly freely 

 long enough to store the syrup and get 

 it in good shape, which can hardly be 

 before spring fairly opens. If you have 

 comb honey, that is the best winter feed, 

 but be sure the bees get to it. If you 

 haven't comb honey, make candy. 



Old Subscribers.— In response 

 to our call in the issue of the Bee Jour- 

 nal for Dec. 29th, for those to report 

 who have taken this paper ever since it 

 was started, in 1861, we have heard 

 from the following, which shows there 

 are very few who have been subscribers 

 for 32 years : 



J. L. Hubbard, Walpole, N. H. 

 A. D. Sellers, Jefferson City, Mo. 

 R. Dart, Ripon, Wis. 

 D. D. Daniher, Madison, Wis. 

 Wm. Ashcom, Ligonier, Pa. 

 Wm. Wilson, Bardstown, Ky. 

 J. D. Goodrich, E. Hardwick, Vt. 



ii 



Bees and Honey »»— page 197. 



Hfin. O. 91. DOOLITTI^E. 



We are much pleased this week to be 

 permitted to present to our readers the 

 picture and biographical sketch of one 

 so well and favorably known all over 

 the bee-keeping world — Gilbert M. Doo- 

 little. 



Mr. Doolittle, of Borodino, N. Y., was 

 born April 14, 1846, near his present 

 location, in the town of Spafford, Onon- 

 daga County. His parents were natives 

 of Connecticut, and moved to New York 

 a few years before he was born ; hence 

 the thoroughness, energy anij activity 

 of the " Yankee" are largely manifested 

 in the subject^of this sketch. From his 

 earliest youth, Mr. D. has been an ad- 

 mirer of the busy bee, taking great in- 

 terest in them when kept by his father. 

 Later on, nearly all the bees in his sec- 

 tion of country perished with foul brood, 

 so that from 1856 to 1862 a colony of 

 bees was a rarity. After this the disease 

 seemed to abate, so that, in 1868, bees 

 were quite common again. 



As 1868 was a splendid honey season, 

 bee-talk was rife in his locality, which 

 again brought to life old ambitions which 

 had been crushed out by the former loss 

 by disease among the bees, so that the 

 spring of 1869 found Mr. D. with 2 col- 

 onies of bees of his own, as the starting- 

 point to his present apiary. Wishing to 

 know for himself all of the minutiae of 

 this (to him) interesting pursuit, he pro- 

 cured nearly all the bee-books of that 

 day, and subscribed for the bee-papers. 

 As his ambition led him toward the 

 practical side of bee-keeping, Quinby's 

 " Mysteries of Bee-Keeping Explained " 

 was his favorite, the pages of which 



