SEPTEMBElt 1, 1914 



671 



The difference of opiuion concerning the 

 relative value of sealed covers and absor- 

 bents is due to the fact that all do not rec- 

 ognize the importance of a deep space under 

 the combs and wide entrance, both of which 

 are imperative with sealed covers. In all 

 operations with bees, the closer we imitate 

 nature the greater will be our success; and 

 since bees are very careful to stoj) all up- 

 ward ventilation at the approach of winter 

 it is the part of wisdom to assist nature by 

 providing thin covers which are easily and 

 economically sealed by the bees, instead of 

 ])utting them to the extra labor of giimming 

 and propolizing quilts to render them im- 

 })en'ious to upward ventilation, which is 

 abhorrent to bee nature. The beehive archi- 

 tecture of to-day is sadly at fault because 

 of inetfieiency of wintering service along- 

 economical lines. There is no valid reason 

 wliy every hive sliould not be a perfect win- 

 tering repository with all the advantages 

 just mentioned, positively at present sum- 

 mer-hive prices. The hive that is the em- 

 Iindiment of this principle is already in 

 operation under the appropriate cognomen 

 of the " Sweet Sixteen " convertible hive. It 

 is designed, constructed, and manipulated 

 along strictly economical lines, that actually 

 cut the present cost of honey production in 

 (wo, and furnish the correct solution of 

 the wintering problem. 



CKLT;AR V^INTERING. 



The cellar wintering of bees is a subject 

 that I would feign pass by because of the 

 knowledge that much that I say will conflict 

 with the opinion of many who read it. The 

 fact is, I have served my apprenticeship at 

 cellar wintering, and have no further use foi' 

 it, simply because it is an open violation of 

 nature's laws, and we cannot violate her 

 laws Avitli impunity. The penalty for the 

 violation of nature's laws by the compulsory 

 i-etention of fecal matter during long con- 

 finement, often at a temperature at which 

 bees outdoors would void their excrement in 

 a cleansing flight, is usually distended abdo- 

 mens, and dysentery, followed by paralysis, 

 spring dwindling, and general debility, fre- 

 quently terminating in European foul brood. 

 Bees love to revel in God's pure air and 

 bright sunshine, hence an enforced confine- 

 ment for four months in total darkness, 

 often in. damp ill-smelling cellars, is not 

 conducive to health, and certainly not to 

 their happiness, as is frequently attested by 

 noisy expostulations and roaring; and many, 

 unable to endure confinement longer under 

 such umiatural conditions, will leave the 

 hives and perish; hence the amount of dead 

 bees on the cellar bottom is frequently out 

 of proportion to the live ones in the hives. 



Is it any wonder that it is costing thou- 

 sands of dollars annually to prevent the 

 spreading of disease? Is it any wonder that 

 fifty per cent of the colonies in the Northern 

 States are not in condition to enter the su- 

 pers at the beginning of clover bloom? I 

 make no positive statement ; but science and 

 common sense agree that a weakened and 

 debilitated organism is very susceptible to 

 disease, either by infection or contagion, 

 wliile a vigorous constitution and strong 

 vitality are practically immune to disease. 

 Viewing it thus, it is evident that if bee- 

 keepers would practice sanitaiy methods of 

 wintering, and see that their bees are always 

 liberally supplied with healthful food, foul 

 brood and kindred diseases would lose their 



leiTors. 



FEEDING SUGAR SYRUP. 



Any thing having a direct influence upon 

 the liealtli and vitality of bees has an impor- 

 tant bearing upon the wintering problem; 

 hence sugar-syriip feeding is always a time- 

 ly topic in connection with wintering. The 

 oft-repeated statement that sugar syrup well 

 ripened is the equal of honey, pound for 

 jiound, as food for bees, is misleading in 

 several directions. First, it fails to mention 

 the lost vitality of the bees that ripened it, 

 which is greater than many suppose; sec- 

 ond, it does not state that a honey-fed colony 

 will usually show fifty per cent more brood 

 early in the season during a dearth of pollen 

 than one of equal strength fed on sugar 

 syTup. Since there is no labor that exhausts 

 the vitality of bees so rapidly as the ripening 

 of thin sugar syrup, it should be fed only 

 as a last resort, and not thinner than two 

 ])arts of sugar to one of water. Personally 

 I regard solid combs of capped honey as the 

 cheapest and best winter and spring tood. 



[The fact that honey contains pollen and 

 .sugar sjrrup does not make it necessary per- 

 haps tO' provide more combs of pollen when 

 sugar syrup is relied upon for winter stores 

 — just how much more we cannot say ; but 

 since the pollen in honey is almost micro- 

 scopic, it would seem that the amount con- 

 tained in honey could not go far in actually 

 providing food for brood. That it stimulates 

 brood-rearing, there is no doubt. 



We do not believe that it is any harder 

 on bees to evaporate sugar syrup, especially 

 if thick synip is fed, than to evaporate 

 natural nectar. Hence, if bees rely on late 

 nectar for stores it seems to us that the 

 evaporation and inversion necessary would 

 be little if any less than if sugar syrup were 

 fed. Certainly thousands of colonies are 

 successfully wintered every year on sugar 

 syrup. See what L. W. Wells says, page 

 681, of this issue.— Ed.] 



