308 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



gnawed through the skin of a grape, or an 

 apple. 



The cultivation of sorghum is on the 

 decline, so there is decreasing danger from 

 that quarter ; besides the bees only take its 

 juice as a matter of last resort. So if there 

 are fall flowers in reach, even but a few, 

 the bees will not take this juice. 



The grape juice only lasts four or five dnys 

 before the injured grapes dry up, or turn 

 sour, when the bees no longer seek to take 

 up its juice. Knowing the remedy, we can 

 avoid the danger, by setting the bees in a 

 dark cellar during this brief interval. Or if 

 only few grapes are cracked open, the dan- 

 ger is so trifling, that we may pass it by 

 with indifference. 



SPRING TREATMENT. 



If in the spring a colony is found to have 

 dwindled down to a little cluster insuflHei- 

 ent to keep up the heat necessary to rear 

 brood, a brood comb should be given them 

 from your strongest stock, with the young 

 bees just issuing,provided there is a healthy 

 queen in the weak colony. Any weak 

 colony should be strengthened in tliis man- 

 ner, provided we wish to save them; othei-- 

 wise unite them with another colony, re- 

 serving the best queen for the united col- 

 ony. 



But we will now suppose that it is the 

 first day of April, and the bees are all upon 

 their summer stands ready to begin anew 

 their season's work; but there are no 

 flowers and not likely to be any for 4 or 5 

 weeks yet. The weak have been strength- 

 ened, the hungry fed, and all crevices se- 

 curely stopped up, except the fly-hole in 

 front, but 



THE SEASON OF DANGER AND CARE IS NOT 

 THEREFORE PASSED. 



Indeed a very large proportion of the col- 

 onies which die, perish between this date 

 and June 1st. But it is not only our object 

 to keep them from perishing, but to make 

 each one a strong, first-class colony. How 

 shall this be done? A little syrup given 

 each day (as above directed) or, every other 

 day, will not only keep from sttirviyifj, but 

 stimulate to rapid brecdhig. We have now 

 —April 1st— just time for the hatching out 

 of two broods, and 15 days over for the ma- 

 turing of the last brood, before the. bloom- 

 ing of white clover. 



All the eggs laid on or before the 1st of 

 April will issue on the 20th. If the combs 

 are again filled about the 20th, the next 

 brood will issue about May 10th. These 

 last will be ready to go forth as honey gath- 

 erers on the 2,5th, just about the time that 

 white clover begins to open its first blos- 

 soms in the latitude of New York. 



Let the process then of feeding begin, in 

 about sixty days before the bloom opens 

 which is exi)eeted to yield the largest su))- 

 ply of surplus honey; and your bees will be 

 in the best jwssible coiKiition to gather it. 

 For every ounce judiciously fed before ap- 

 ple blossoms appear, a i)"ouiid of honey 

 might be expec^ted as the increase. Thus a 

 gill once in two days, in the absence of 

 lioney-yielding flowers, will insure against 

 starvation and il double yield of honey at 

 the same time. Also a frame of emi)ty 

 worker comb, from the outside, mav be in- 

 serted, once ill a few days, as the cliister in- 

 creases, into the middleof the combs con- 

 taining brood; but we must be careful to 

 have no more combs there than the bees can 



cover, else the brood would perish if a cold 

 spell should occur. 



If the bees are then brought safely to the 

 commencement of the blooming of clover, it 

 may be said of them, the season is passed 

 and the (old) harvest is ended, and our bees 

 are fairly saved. 



Henceforth, the weather, the kind and 

 Quality of bloom, the skilful handling, of 

 colonies, as to surplus honey, and multi- 

 plication of swarms, must determine their 

 fate, and the yield of profits in dollars and 

 cents, or golden nectar. 



For the present my task is done, and I 

 close by wishing all manner of sweet and 

 blooming flowers yielding the same,to cover 

 the lawns and meadows over which the 

 busy bee may roam with its musical hum: 

 and also to all bee-keepers who truly love 

 its pleasant appearing, the joys of 'sweet 

 smiling plenty in lands where "milk and 

 honey flow," in ample abundance, both here 

 and in the great hereafter. 



How to Keep Bees Successfully Dur- 

 ing Winter and Spring. 



AN ESSAY BY DR. RUSH, HEAD BEFOBK 



THE NATIONAL B. K. ASSOCIATION, 



OCTOBER 26, 1876. 



How to keep bees seems to be a rather in- 

 significent query, for many times they keep 

 themselves without the aid or attention of 

 man. But to keep bees succcssfuUy, is the 

 desired object, and the goal to which all 

 aspire. With all our noted apiarians, such 

 as Langstroth, Quinby, Tupper, and others, 

 as leaders in apicultural science, we yet 

 find difliculties to encounter, that their wis- 

 dom has not sufficed to lead us to that desir- 

 ed haven — "perfect success." 



Their advice has kept us from being 

 dashed against many a breaker, they have 

 given us light in many dark places, opened 

 up new ideas, settled doubts, and added 

 much to the accumulating fund ot apico- 

 logy. While a Huber has given us a bar 

 hive, Langstroth the frame hive, Italy a 

 superior race of bees, America the honey 

 extractor — with all our knowledge, experi- 

 ence, experiments and useful appliances, 

 the cry is still for greater "success." Man 

 is not satisfied, but still grasping, until like 

 Alexander the Great, who after he had con- 

 quered all nations, wept that there was no 

 more to conquer. 



We have acconipllslud a great deal during 

 the pasttwcMity years, and our results have 

 been veiy successful, ('()m})ared with the 

 other products of vegetation, it being 

 governed by the atmosphere and climate, 

 none of wiiich are invariably successfui. 

 Our knowledge of bee-keeping is not yet 

 perfect and we have much yet to learn, but 

 to suppose that we are to reach a point of 

 perfect success is not admissable, for the 

 various conditions that a colony of bews is 

 subject to does not admit of it. liut that 

 we may attain a greater success is the des- 

 sideratum ot our essay. 



liefore wintering we must first prepare 

 for it; certain ((oiulitions are requisite to 

 enter upon that season of storms, snows, 

 freezes, etc., which interests a Southern 

 bee-keeper but little, bee moths are his 

 storms, and the lack of honey his freezes. 

 Then first we will consider 



