132 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



May 



Feeding, Paralysis, Etc. 



BY CHAS. H. THIES. 



Last month a bee keeping friend 

 asked my advice in regard to feeding 

 bees, when to feed, etc. I tried to give 

 a full and complete answer but possi- 

 bly not so complete as I could have 

 done had T not been so cramped for 

 time. This reply, however, was not 

 published but was by letter. Well, I 

 trust that by the time this article is 

 in print bees will be gathering honey 

 enough, at least for the time being, 

 that they will not need feeding. 



There was a time when I thought 

 spring feeding a grand thing, ev.en if 

 there was lots of honey in the hive, 

 but with years of experience I have 

 concluded that it is of no value and 

 often a great injury. To be sure if a 

 colony is without sufficient stores, 

 feed by all means, but if you have 

 frames of sealed honey feed that. 

 Bees will of nature breed as exten- 

 sively as practicable in the spring of 

 the year, and if plenty of honey is in 

 the hive they will breed up all right, 

 provided other matters are in proper 

 shape. Daring the summer mouths 

 when no honey is coming in and the 

 stores are about exhausted, I think it 

 pays to feed some, so that when the 

 fall flow arrives we may have a good 

 supply of young working bees ready 

 for the harvest, and sufficient bees to 

 go into winter quarters with. From 

 experience 1 have concluded that a 

 good number of young bees to go into 

 winter quarters with is a grand thing. 

 To be sure I don't want them too very 

 young, nor do I want young bees, i. e., 

 very young bees only. 



In regard to paralysis, I can't say 

 much as I have had little experience, 



particularly of late years. I believe, 

 however, that dampness encourages 

 this disease, if it is not the cause. If 

 I remember correctly paralysis appear- 

 ed with me only in a very damp 

 spring and disappeared when dry 

 weather arrived. I don't believe that 

 it is dangerous in this part of the 

 world, neither do I believe it contag- 

 ious. I have arrived at this conclu- 

 sion from experiments that I have 

 made. I have repeatedly taken queens 

 from a colony affected with paralysis 

 and introduced them to a healthy col- 

 ony and have never found the disease 

 transmitted, however I prefer to have 

 no paralysis among my bees and rare- 

 ly have a case of the kind. I try to 

 keep my colonies dry from above and 

 below. I don't Avant my bottom board 

 flat on the ground, and if no attention 

 is given they will settle to that posi- 

 tion during the winter, after the 

 erround has frozen and thawed a few 

 times. 



Steele ville, 111. 



The Future of Bee Keeping, or 

 a 20th Century Apiary. 



BY M. W. SHEPHERD. 



What will be developed on bee 

 keeping lines within the next century 

 is a question of considerable interest 

 and subject to considerable conjecture. 

 What has been the results arrived at 

 within the last century? We well 

 know that the science or profession of 

 bee keeping has been revolutionized 

 within a comparatively few years. 

 The moveable frame hive was one 

 great step, and the introduction of 

 foundation was another, and we might 

 mention the fact that some of the 

 brightest minds have trended toward 



