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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



nud as often as the bees can properly 

 occup3" and fill them without danger of 

 chilling the brood, or checking its de- 

 velopment. By this method, with a 

 strong colony of bees and proper care, 

 brood and combs will be produced rap- 

 ridly in the spring, particularly during 

 fruit blossoming. By this means, the 

 colony may be made very populous, 

 kept from SAvarming, and the largest 

 ])Ossible amount of honey secured from 

 the hive. If honey in the comb is pre- 

 ferred, then at the close of the main 

 honey season feed the bees the extract- 

 ■ed honey, or good sugar sja-uy), giving 

 them all they will use while being fed. 



A. T. Wright. 

 Kokomo, Ind. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Review of the January Number. 



Whilst reading the article on " Feed- 

 ing Bees," page 7, I notice that the 

 ■writer recommends the "most refined 

 grades " of sugar. Now in this I beg 

 leave to differ with him for the folio w- 

 ang reasons : In past years we have fed 

 nearl^MxU the various grades of sugar 

 i)i the market, watching the result 

 closely, and find that the "most refined 

 grades," such as coffee A, loaf-sugar 

 and crushed, are too much inclined to 

 crystalize in the comb-cells and on the 

 -vessel M'herein the syrup is used, and 

 not one of the grades named seemed to 

 be an}' better than coffee C, which, in 

 fact, is better for bees, because less in- 

 clined to crystalize ; it also costs less, 

 is more readily dissolved, and readily 

 taken by the bees. The various grades 

 'Of brown sugar should not be fed, as the 

 syrup is more liable to ferment. The 

 writer further says : " Molasses or sor- 

 ghum should never be used." I see no 

 objection to the bee-keeper using them, 

 but I have so far failed to induce my 

 bees to use them in an}^ shape. 



Not too much can be said in favor 

 and on the manner of spring feeding to 

 stimulate breeding; many overdo the 

 thing and have the brood-cells stored 

 with syrup. Another portion of bee- 

 Iceepers underrate the value of sup- 

 plying their bees with meal or flour, 

 and many of our western bee-keepers 



express their willingness to supply 

 meal, did not our high winds blow it 

 away. Again the want of water in the 

 hives, when cold days prevent the bees 

 from getting it. causes a check in breed- 

 ing, and very frequently the young 

 worm, just hatching, perishes because 

 the nursing bees cannot obtain the ne- 

 cessary water to prepare the food foi- 

 the larvfe. To obviate this we have ex- 

 perimented for years to produce a feed- 

 er that will enable us to furnish bees in 

 their hives, with syru]), water, or meal, 

 until we have at last succeeded in per- 

 fecting it. 



On page 8, we find a desci-iption of 

 "Adam Grimm's Bee-feeder." As that 

 article might lead some of its readers 

 into trouble, it may not be amiss to 

 state that the feeder was patented May 

 6, 1873; the perforated screw cap, and 

 projecting rim foi'ming specific features 

 in said patent. If the patent was all 

 owned by myself the "trouble " above 

 named would not be very serious ; but 

 over one-half of it has passed into other 

 hands. 



As a contrasting item on " The Wings 

 of Bees," page 9, I would say that I 

 have an imported Italian queen bee 

 that has had both of her wings clipped 

 close to her body as a special mark, and 

 this for /ye seasons ; and last year she 

 was one of the most prolific queens in 

 my yard. If she lives another year she 

 will do well as a specimen without lungs. 

 But what is the use of lungs or their 

 equivalent, if bees can live without air, 

 as Mr. Adair stated some years since ? 



Cobui-g, lOAVa. E. KllETCHiMER. 



Care of Honey Bees in Winter. 



Many successful apiarians contend 

 that there is no better way. to winter 

 honey bees, than to allow the hive to 

 remain isolated in the yard where the}' 

 have been kept during the summer and 

 autumn; and they point to their success 

 in many years past for reliable evidence 

 to cori'oborate the correctness of their 

 assertion. The fact that honey bees 

 have been kept satisfactorily in the fore- 

 going manner, does not prove that such 

 a practice can be recommended as the 

 best under all circumstances; for hun- 

 dreds of apiarians have attempted to 



