694 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



The first lot of feeders were put in cold. The 

 result was that the thinner syrup.s, compared with 

 tlie candy, were forced out. The thinnest of all, 

 which would pour freely at 60 degrees, was all out 

 of the feeder, but the bees had taken up all but a 

 little which remained on the bottom-board. Part of 

 the next batch was still in the jar. and there was a 

 stream of the candy on the comb. In the case of the 

 third, some had been forced out by the change in 

 temperature, and was on the frames; but the top of 

 tlie cap was well cleaned off, and the bees were busy 

 feeding. 



Tlie other two had been put in cold ; but while a 

 portion of the candy was gone from each jar there 

 was none on the frames, and the caps were clean. 



I at once repeated the experiment, but put the 

 feeders on warm. No. 1 again ran out and mussed 

 up the frames; No. 2 did not, but the candy hung 

 down in thin threads, and might in a little longer 

 time have mussed up the frames. The bees were 

 busy on the three, and the caps were clean. 



Being curious to see how the bees acted toward 

 the candy I made a dish of it and put it in the bee- 

 \ard. The bees soon found this, and went to work 

 on it. There was no excitement, no stopping to clean 

 up after feeding, no .scrambling over each other, and 

 no tendency to excite to robbing; therefore I think 

 that a mixture of sugar and water, with a little acid 

 or cream of tartar to hasten inversion, and boiled to 

 make a mass which will barely crawl at 60 degrees 

 l'\, gives a feed which is available for stimulative 

 purposes inside the hive or out. It does not induce 

 robbing, or else my bees are naturally not inclined 

 that way. It saves a great deal of time and labor, 

 and will "stimulate" just as well as 4 or 6 ounces 

 lalioriously given the bees at frequent intervals. 



I am inclined to think that a gallon pail tilled with 

 this near candy, and inverted over a hole in the 

 .super cover in the fall, would be a fine manner of 

 feeding for winter and early spring, in connection, 

 of course, with a reasonable amount of sealed stores. 

 It would do away with the necessity of opening the 

 hives in the early spring by those who winter out of 

 doors ; and those who winter in cellars could put on 

 a one or four quart tin bucket, and then they would 

 nut need to look into the hive again until they 

 thought the candy was gone. I think that, if the 

 jars were put on quite warm, and well packed, the 

 temperature would equalize, and the supply of feed 

 would be constant and unchanging until the last 

 ounce was gone. 



Up to date my last trial was made with a ten- 

 pound friction-top pail, in the cover of which I 

 punched ten very small holes. Into this bucket I put 

 five or more pounds of a candy which at 65 degrees 

 found its own level in half an hour. I do not think 

 a variation of 10 degi-ees either way in this mass 

 would make any difference in the result. At the end 

 of ten days this pail had lost weight, but I neglected 

 to weigh it. However, the bees were doing well, and 

 there were four frames with brood in them. I pur- 

 posely chose one of my weaker colonies to experiment 

 with. 



Buck Grove, Iowa. Dr. A. F. Bonney. 



Beginner Increases from Two Colonies to 

 Eight 



In May, 1912, I bought a .small swarm of bees, 

 and had them hived in a moveable-frame hive which 

 I made myself. I ordered a smoker, a bee-veil, a 

 pair of gloves, etc., and as I didn't know any thing 

 about bees they all seemed a curiosity to me. Then 

 I ordered an Italian queen, which I succeeded in 

 introducing more by luck than by my knowledge of 

 the science. It was a very poor season that year, 

 and my little swarm did not increase very much, 

 although I managed to get them through the winter 

 in good condition by feeding them in the fall and 



packing the hive in leaves. However, when I opened 

 them (lie next spring they were queenless, and so I 

 wrote to a breeder concerning their condition, and 

 ordered a queen which arrived here promptly. Of 

 course there wasn't any trouble in introducing this 

 one, as the colony was just crying for a queen. 

 After finding that my colony of bees was going to be 

 so late getting a start, I bought a colony of Italians 

 from one of my neighbors for .$7.10. I have now 

 increased the two colononies (ona of which was a 

 nucleus) to eight good colonies, raised my own 

 queens, and have them in good condition for winter, 

 and have taken 210 pounds of comb honey from 

 these colonie.s. I sold the most of it at 20 cts. per 

 section. 



Stockton, Va. F. W. Gravely. 



Old Hat-crown Sewed Inside of the Alexan- 

 der Veil 



On page 305, April 15, an improvement on the 

 Alexander bee-veil is shown. I have an improvement 

 which I think is better than the one described. I 

 take an old hat-crown, and fasten it inside the veil 

 by sewing through the center of the crown and the 

 center of the top of the veil. This keeps the veil in 

 position, and acts as a pivot so that the head may be 

 turned in any direction without twisting the veil. 



NcNabb, 111., May 9. Edwin O. Gunx. 



Melting Candied Honey in Bulk 



1 just came across Mr. Bolton's account, p. 445, 

 .luly 1, of his trouble to get honey out of a large 

 lank iu which it had candied. He says, " For two 

 weeks or more two boys had to get into that tank 

 and dig out the honey in dishes and pass it out to 

 me to melt." 



Several times I have been stuck with a tank of 

 candied honey. I use the ordinary square iron 400- 

 galloii tank which holds two and a half tons. The 

 first lank worried me. I did not know what to do 

 with it at all . Eventually I built a small log fire 

 1 ack and fr(mt, but it took two days' heating by this 

 means before it would pass out of the tap. Subse- 

 qui n(ly I found a better way. 



Generally the honey is not candied throughout. 

 There is a small part, perhaps an inch thick, nearest 

 the tank walls, which will run. Draw off as much 

 of this as possible into open buckets, and heat it in 

 a boiler. When this honey is thoroughly hot, pour it 

 in at the top of the tank, and work it about into 

 the solid honey. Repeat this performance, and in a 

 very little time the whole mass will get thin enough 

 to run. 



If no honey will run out of the tank in the first 

 place, dig some out with a long-handled shovel; or 

 if the tank is not quite full heat some other honey, 

 and pour in. 



Of course the honey should not be allowed to re- 

 main in the tank to candy in the first place, but a 

 lot of things happen which should not. Some of our 

 honey candies very quickly. Some of our ti-tree 

 honey, for instance, not all of it, will candj' in fortj'- 

 eight hours. We get this honey in the autumn, and 

 it is our last yielder. It is a dark, strong-flavored 

 honey, and I was wondering if you had the same 

 thing in Florida, as I noticed you mentioned that the 

 bees you had sent there would be just in time for 

 the ti-ti. Correct name for our honey is ti-ti, but it 

 is generally called ti-tree (pronounced tea-tree). 



Major Shallard. 



S. Woodburn, N. S. W.. Australia. 



[It is more than likely that your ti-tree is the 

 same as the ti-ti of Florida. Ti-ti honey has a red- 

 dish color, strong flavor, and it graniilates very rap- 

 idly. It also causes any honey with which it is mixed 

 to granulate, even the tupelo.- — Ed.] 



