THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



293 



For the Amerlciin Bee Journal. 



A Sorghum Mill Death to Bees. 



On the first of Soptt-mber (last luouth) I 

 hatl 165 strong stocks of native bees, full to 

 overflowinjj, and from one quart to a hat- 

 full lying around the entrances of each 

 hive. They were populous colonies with 

 full stores. 



A neighbor, within a quarter of a mile, 

 put a sorghum mill in operation. The third 

 day a person told me tliat the mill would 

 soon use up mv bees. I took no notice of 

 it, as I thought"if it did kill 8,aX) or 1(),(K)0 it 

 would not matter, as I had plenty, and to 

 spare. On succeeding days the news came 

 to the same effect. At the end of the first 

 week since the mill was started, I noticed 

 that my bees were all gone inside the hives 

 or elsewhere. I examined them and found 

 48 stocks had only about a pint of bees left, 

 and the remaining 53 contained about a 

 quart each. 



On going down to the mill, I discovered 

 that the destruction had been immense dur- 

 ing the previous week. Two barrels, hold- 

 ing 61 gallons of juice each, were covered 

 with coarse sack or gunny bag cloth, for 

 straining the juice. On one side was a hole 

 as large as an egg, where my bees had 

 entered almost en masse, and about two 

 good swarms were drowned in these barrels 

 every three or four hours. On one side of 

 .the boiler is a tub to receive the boiling 

 scum or foam; this attracted the bees, 

 about as much as the barrels, and thousands 

 perished by scalding every hour. 



The workmen haci to be protected, as they 

 had been stung by the bees,and their hands, 

 arms and feet were much swollen. I sup- 

 pose there is no help for it— as this is a free 

 country. 



If I had only a few stocks I could move 

 them, but it is quite a task to move so 

 many, and it is hard to see them murdered 

 in this way. 



In Quimby's Mysteries of Bee-Keeping, 

 he says: "For a man to see 100 stocks or 

 bees starving at one time is rather discour- 

 aging to a sensitive mind. It will be well 

 for him to lay up a stock of fortitude in 

 prosperous times, large enough to last him 

 through such seasons of discouragement." 

 This suits my case; though mine were not 

 starved but murdered, it needs just as much 

 fortitude to last through this season of dis- 

 couragement. 



I have used my honey market-boxes for 

 feed boxes. I had a number of them made 

 of tin. I cover the bottoms about one inch 

 deep with syrup and put in small laths as 

 floats. 



I have tried a new way of feeding my 

 bees. I made a scatfold. laid tlglit, 8 feet 

 wide and 20 feet long, under cover. On this 

 I spread out every morning about 2 inches 

 thick of fresh ground apples and sprinkle 

 with a garden sprinkler a solution made 

 from 4 lbs. of sugar to 2 gallons of warm 

 water, each morning and noon. My bees 

 seem to like this kind of food. 



My bees have always made me a good liv- 

 ing as well as enough for themselves. My 

 hives are crowded now with full stores, but 

 my object in feeding is to stimulatt' them to 

 keep breeding to replace those destmyed at 

 the sorghum mill. Will it do to feed through 

 Nov. and Dec. for that purpose? 



At the time of writing this, it appears to 

 me that my bees are improving in numbers, 



and the hives were well filled with brood 

 when the old bees went to the sorghum 

 mill. J, E. Gad.sey. 



Willianson Co., Tenn. 



Do Bees Make Honey ? 



Prof. Riley, who asserts that bees do not 

 simply gather but actually make honey, is 

 met with the following from a correspon- 

 dent of the Scientific American. He says: 



Is it not astonishing to find that profes- 

 sors of this day state that bees make honey? 

 A good common stand of bees, having but 

 short distance to travel, will increase their 

 stock of honey from one to two pounds in 

 twelve hours' fair work. Whai, chance is 

 there here for a digestive process? Place 

 three pounds of loaf sugar syrup within 

 easy reach of such a stand at 8 p. m.; it will 

 all be taken up and stored away before sun- 

 rise next morning. I once thus experiment- 

 ed: After feeding to about forty hives, nine 

 barrels of Cuba noney, upon examination I 

 found no difference between that in the 

 comb cells and that in the barrels, only the 

 former was clearer from dirt. The honey 

 becoming exhausted, I then fed the bees 

 during the rest of the fall with loaf sugar 

 syrup. Upon examination next spring, I 

 found the comb cells filled solidly with 

 well-grained loaf sugar, precisely like that 

 I had dissolved to feed the bees with. Other 

 comb cells were partly filled with Cuba 

 honey and partly with ground loaf sugar. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Keeping Bees over the Winter. 



Again winter is upon us, and bee-keepers 

 look forward with anxiety to its results in 

 reference to his pets. 



Having very good success in wintering 

 bees of late, I thought I would append a 

 few notes in the way of giving my method 

 of preparing for winter. 



First, I raise the hive from the bottom 

 board by placing a frame three inches in 

 depth, and the size of the hive, between the 

 hive and l)ottom Ijoard, which gives a space 

 for filth, dead bees, &o.., to remain without 

 coming in contract with the combs. I am 

 now making hives with a tight bottom, and 

 giving a space of two-and-a-half inches- 

 under the frames. My reasons have been 

 given in the back numbers of The Jour- 

 nal. 



Second: I do not extract honey at the 

 close of a honey harvest, as I have found 

 invariably, that the bees will fill up empty 

 combs with pollen to an injury to the colony 

 for winter, as pollen is more susceptible 

 to dampness, and will sour sooner than 

 honey. 



Third: I strive to give my bees honey that 

 is gathered in warm weather. 



Fourth: I give no upward ventilation; as 

 I have found that the mortality was greatest 

 with those hives that the hoiiey board did 

 not shut tight. If I had upward ventilation 

 I should close the lower, as the bees in a 

 hive are more susec'ptible of change in tem- 

 perature where there is a draft through the 

 hive. I am now making hives with the top 

 perfectly tight. For the last two years my 

 bees in tight-top hives have swarmedifrom 



