1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



19 



The Washington Short Course 



In all, 118 registered for the course, 

 many of them were from quite a dis- 

 tance. Fifteen counties in \yashing- 

 ton were represented, three in north 

 Idaho and two in Oregon. Many were 

 there from the Cascades, and three 

 from Vancouver, B. C. 



Between 9,000 and 10,000 colonies 

 were reported by those present, with 

 a production of close to half a mil- 

 lion pounds of honey for the past 

 season. 



Dr. E. F. Phillips took up the be- 

 havior of bees, beginning with the 

 fall, and carrying them through the 

 year to the end of the honey flow the 

 following summer, and explained in 

 detail the behavior of bees under fa- 

 vorable and unfavorable environ- 

 ment, and the management worked 

 out and proven best by their experi- 

 ments at Washington. 



Mft George S. Demuth followed Dr. 

 Phillips, each session, on beekeeping 

 practices, and in his clear, logical 

 way gave the cream of all that their 

 investigations have proven to be the 

 best practices. 



Mr. Sturtevant gave a perfectly 

 wonderful course, beginning Wednes- 

 day with the Bacteriology of Bee 

 Diseases, following up with the diag- 

 nosis and treatment. His descrip- 

 tions of the brood diseases and mi- 

 nute detailed comparisons were so 

 clear that it would seem almost im- 

 possible to make a mistake in the 

 gross diagnosis at home. 



Mr. Scullen, Field Agent in Wash- 

 ington, talked mostly on general con- 

 ditions and practices in Washington 

 and, on Friday, gave a talk on the 

 distribution of disease, illustrated by 

 chart. Washington beekeepers are 

 fortunate in having such a live wire 

 as their Field Agent. 



On Wednesday evening we enjoyed 

 a bountiful dinner at the M. E. 

 Church, followed by a very fine lec- 

 ture by Demuth on the Evolution of 

 Beekeeping Practices. 



Thursday evening we were given 

 a rare treat by Dr. Phillips in the 

 shape of a stereopticon lecture, "Vis- 

 iting With Beekeepers." He took us 

 all over the country, even to Porto 

 Rico and Honolulu, and introduced 

 us to some of the big beekeepers of 

 the past and present, not forgetting 

 Dr. Miller, whom we all love so 

 dearly, though few of us ever had the 

 pleasure of meeting him. The ap- 

 plause was instantaneous when he 

 appeared upon the screen. 



Beekeepers can't afford to miss this 

 course. It is worth many times its 

 cost to beginner or big producer, 

 and it is worth going a long way to 

 hear. 



This is not the opinion of the 

 writer alone, but the voice of prac- 

 tically every man and woman pres- 

 ent. Such expressions as, "I wouldn't 

 have missed it for many times the 

 cost," and "Any single lecture is 

 worth the trip," etc., were common. 

 At the close of the course a resolu- 

 tion was read by Dr. Harmeling, of 

 Vashon, thanking the "Three Wise 

 Men from the East," and also the 

 Commercial Club for the use of the 



club rooms. Then each of the in- 

 structors was presented with a little 

 token of remembrance from the en- 

 thusiastic audience. 



DR. CHARLES E. SHELDON. 

 Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. 



Winter Feedbg 



By A. C. Miller 



THIS is a problem now confront- 

 ing many beekeepers, if one 

 may judge by the numerous in- 

 quiries as to where to get sugar, and 

 the best way to supply the food. 



Don't give them syrup, now nor any 

 other time after they have settled into 

 their winter cluster. First, it is diffi- 

 cult to get the colony warmed up 

 enough for rapid work; second, it is 

 difficult and expensive in labor to get 

 the whole interior of the hive suffi-^ 

 ciently warm so the bees can store it; 

 third, the moisture given off con- 

 denses on all cool surfaces and makes 

 the interior of the hive damp; and 

 fourth, and most important, it puts an 

 extra strain on the vitally of the bees 

 when they can least spare it. 



Even if by means of hot bricks, jars 

 of hot water, etc., the hive is so 

 warmed that the bees break cluster 

 and spread out as in summer, it is dif- 

 ficult to maintain the heat long 

 enough to enable the bees to get all 

 the syrup properly stored, and still 

 more difficult to let the temperature 

 down so slowly — a matter of days — 

 that all the bees can get back into a 

 cluster. Even if all this is accom- 

 plished, brood rearing is also started 

 and will keep up indefinitely, and this 

 in itself is most harmful to the colony. 



If your bees, are packed as thor- 

 oughly as advised by Dr. Phillips, you 

 may be able to feed syrup, but at the 

 expense of much labor to yourself 

 and also start brood rearing. 



Candy is the safest and most eco- 

 nomical way to feed bees in cold 

 weather. Also it is much less labori- 

 ous than any system of syrup feeding. 

 Forget all about the elaborate receipts 

 for soft candies and make the sim- 

 plest sort of hard candy, using pure 

 granulated sugar. 



Like the famous receipt for rabbit 



pie, "first catch your rabbit," so first 

 get your sugar. In most of the New 

 England States the State Agricultural 

 Departments are securing sugar for 

 beekeepers, the latter writing in their 

 requests to the Secretary of the 

 Board of Agriculture, stating how 

 many colonies they have, how many 

 need food and how much sugar is 

 needed. Unfortunately, in most 

 cases the authorities have been so 

 late in getting it that it is too late 

 to feed it in the syrup form. 



To make the candy, melt up the 

 sugar with as little water as possi- 

 ble, just enough to keep the sugar 

 from scorching, boil it until a little 

 dropped into cold water chills into a 

 hard lump, and it is done. If you 

 are not skillful at it, get your best 

 girl to do it for you, be she wife, 

 sister or sweetheart. If you have 

 neither of these, poor chap, borrow 

 one for the occasion. 



Pour the finished candy into shal- 

 low cake or bread pans, filling them 

 to within one quarter inch of the top. 

 Do not grease the pans, because it is 

 desirable to have the candy stick to 

 them. Cheap pans one-and-one-half 

 inches deep, are excellent. 



As soon as the candy is hard it is 

 ready for use. For best results in 

 getting the bees started on it, pour 

 onto the surface of each cake of 

 candy a few drops of warm honey 

 and with the fingers, or any con- 

 venient thing, spread it over the sur- 

 face of the candy. Invert one or 

 more of the pans of candy on top of 

 the brood frames and cover up with 

 plenty of packing. The bees will 

 soon cluster against the under sur- 

 face of the candy ana slowly lick it 

 away. It does not create undue ex- 

 citement in the bees nor start brood 

 rearing. 



The reason for leaving the canc'y 

 in the pans is to prevent the acces.s 

 of moisture to the tops and sides of 

 the cakes, where it would be ab- 

 sorbed, softening the candy and per- 

 haps making it run down among the 

 bees, often with fatal results. Such 

 moisture as collects on the under 

 surface is licked away by the bess 

 and is an advantage. 



The foregoing described candy and 



The Dicmers visit Conaway's apiary. 



