THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



291 



short of lioney for full ones takt'ii from 

 colonies that can si)art' tlicni. This can he 

 more safely done in the spring tiian in the 

 fall. A popiilons colony ought to have in 

 October at least 25 Uis. ot' honey, in order to 

 be sure of a winter supply." ISugar will 

 winter bees as well as honey; hut either 

 ought to be fed early enough to allow the 

 bees time to seal over the cells before cold 

 weather comes. In feeding in the cai)s of 

 the hives, it is best to feed about sundown, 

 so that the bees of your other hives will not 

 be attracted. If you begin early, a pound a 

 day is enough to give them. Always feed 

 in "mild weather, when the bees will" not be 

 chilled by remaining in the supers all lught. 

 In using new tin feeders. I recomnu'iid rub- 

 bing some melted beeswax upon their out- 

 sides, as the bees often fimfit dirticult to 

 walk upon the slippery tin. A very little 

 wax suffices. 



What bee-keepers now need is a feeder 

 that can be placed directly in front of the 

 entrance of a liive; admit the bees freely to 

 it at any season of the year when they fly 

 out; not obstruct their passage in and out 

 at all, and not attract the bees of other hives 

 in the apiary to the feed. Such a feeder 

 would save a great deal of labor, in opening 

 hives, lifting off their roofs, etc., besides 

 enabling one to feed liis bees in the winter 

 season, in mild weather, if standing out, 

 whicl) could not be done in the supers, as 

 they would (or should) be covered by some 

 winter protection. T. B. Miner. 



Maury Co. (Tenn.) B. K. Society. 



The above society held their regular an- 

 nual meeting on Saturday, Oct. 7, at the Re- 

 corder's office, Columbia. Tenn. 



I'resent: W. S. liainey. President; C. C. 

 Vaughan, Vice-President; Wm. J. An- 

 drews, Secretary and Treasurer. S. D. Mc- 

 Lean, Travis McLean, T. J. Perry, J. C. 

 Moore, E. C. Overton, D. Staples, J. M. By- 

 ers, R. H. Caskey, J.J. Jones, A. Bowen, 

 and others. 



The minutes of the last meeting were read 

 and adopted. 



The President stated that before proceed- 

 ing to the regular business he would be 

 pleased to have an expression of the views 

 of the members on the propriety of feeding 

 sorghum molasses. 



S. D. McLean — Had no experience In 

 feeding sorghum, but was of the opinion 

 that they would not take it very readily. 



W. J. Andrews— Had fed some to his 

 bees, but did not regard that which he had 

 been feeding as a good article. It was very 

 dark, and he thought sliuhtly scorched in 

 making. Some of his colonies ])artook of 

 it very freely while others would not take it 

 at all. He had mixed some with honey,and 

 when so mixed they partook of it very free- 

 ly. What the result would be from it he 

 could not say. 



C. C. Vaughan— Had also fed it mixed 

 with honey, and they took it freel}'. 



W. S. Rainey— Had fed it, and noticed 

 that at times they partook of it freely, and 

 that at other times they would not toucli it. 



R. H. Caskey— Thought that when they 

 partook of it they were unable to gather 

 honey; but when able to find honey in the 

 fields that they would not touch it. He 

 had fed honey, and at times they would not 

 touch it, and he attributed it to that cause. 



D. Staples— They will take it, and they 

 will not starve as long as they can get it- 

 He thought that the nuison they took it at 

 one time antl refused it at others, was ow- 

 ing to the weather; that when the weather 

 was cool it l)ecame too thick. That if fed 

 to them warm they would j)artake of it free- 

 ly. He thought e(|ual parts of honey and 

 sorghum made a good feed. Did not think 

 it advisable t^) feed much of it when they 

 were confined to the hive for a long time; 

 but in our latitude, where they are able to 

 have a fly every few days, did not think 

 there would be any bad results from feeding 



W. J. Andrews— If exciting to a robbing 

 mood the^ would take it hurriedly. 



C. C. ^/ aughan— Thought they might be 

 induced to take it by feeding on honey for a 

 while; but would not advise the feeding of 

 sorghum. 



R. H. Caskey— Had fed a colony on sor- 

 ghum last spring, but did not think it did 

 them any good. 



J. M. Byers — Had a swarm to come out 

 that was entirely destitute of supplies. He 

 fed them sorghum from a bottle; they.were 

 slow to take it at first, but did so. He fed 

 them nothing else. It stimulated them, and 

 they soon commenced gathering honey. He 

 was told that the queen was the easiest 

 killed by food that would not agree with 

 them. In this case the queen was not kill- 

 ed from eating it, and she had nothing else 

 to subsist on. 



J. J. Jones— Thought to make a thorough 

 test of the matter, they should be fed on it 

 when it was impossible for them to get any- 

 thing else. 



W. J. Andrews— Moved that the next ex- 

 periment be "Feeding Sorghum," adopted; 

 and the President ai>pointed A. Bowen, J. 

 J. Jones and C. C. Vaughan as the commit- 

 tee to make the experiment. 



W. J. Andrews— Had the question recent- 

 ly put to him as to the quality of honey 

 gathered from pea blooms, and'would like 

 to know if any of the members could give 

 any information concerning it. None knew 

 anything of it. 



Mr. J. J. Jones then read the following 

 essay: Mr. President <tnd Fellow Bee- 

 Keepers:— At the June meeting of this so- 

 ciety,it conferred on me the duty of address- 

 ing you on the subject of honey. 



HONEY PLANTS. 



We have a vast number of plants in our 

 locality that yields honey— some more and 

 some less— the pojilar and the linden being 

 the source from which we get our greatest 

 yields of honey. 



GATHERING HONEY. 



Bees gather, but do not make honey, as- 

 many suppose; hence the great variety of 

 honey— each variety unerringly telling the 

 expert from what jilant it was gathered. 



IIONKV. 



Webster says that honej' is composed of 

 mucilage, sugar and acid — mucilage tlie ad- 

 hesive part, sugar the sweet part, and acid 

 the sour part of honey. Some honey have 

 more and some less acid in it. For in- 

 stance, I think our linden honey has more 

 acid in it than any other kind of honey we 

 can get; and owing to this fact the unedu- 

 cated are sometimes led into error. 



For instance, a sick man sent to me one- 

 time for some honey, and I sent him what 

 I thought to be as fine linden honey as L 



