NOVEMBER 15, 1914 



keepers who could have gleaned a respecta- 

 ble harvest of the extracted product have 

 had a heavy loss waiting for sections to be 

 sealed that were never finished. One of our 

 largest comb-honey producers told me re- 

 cently that he lost not less than twenty tons 

 of honey by running for comb instead of 

 extracted. This man is not discouraged, 

 however, as he is a comb-honey man by 

 preference, and will succeed in the end. I 

 would not advise those who are producing 

 comb honey to quit if they are comb-honey 

 men. There are some, however, who are 

 producing a poor grade of comb honey who 

 might better be extracting; while on the 

 other hand some of our dainty producers 

 could make a tremendous hit by producing 

 comb honey. One should be prepared for 

 both, that he may be able to shift with the 

 season, and salvage a part of a crop. There 

 is always a good demand for a good grade 

 of comb honey in our local markets, while a 

 poor grade is not wanted. It behooves the 

 man who takes up comb-honey production 

 to put out a fancy article or lose in both 

 ways. Those who are not cleanly enough 

 to put up a palatable grade of extracted 

 have no business trying to produce comb 

 honey. On the other hand, some of our 

 neat, over-particular beekeepers who take 

 delight in a nice article, could, without 

 doubt, make comb honey pay and pay big. 

 « * * 



Mr. Doolittle says, page 578, Aug. 1, 

 " But I am satisfied that stimulative feeding 

 does not pay. Do not misunderstand me. 

 I do not say it is of no benefit, but that it 

 does not pay." This may be entirely correct 

 in Mr. Doolittle's locality ; but in California 

 outside of alfalfa districts and a few other 

 favored places, there are times when feed- 

 ing is of great value as a stimulative agent. 

 This is especially true following our long 

 dry seasons, when brood-rearing has been 

 practically at a standstill through the hot 

 summer months and the force of bees has 

 run low. Besides being low in numbers, the 

 bees are too old to depend on to carry the 

 colony through the winter with sufificient 

 force to permit the rapid breeding-up early 

 in the spring, which is an absolute necessity 

 in this locality. Seasons like the one just 

 past require no stimulative feeding, for 

 bi'eeding has not ceased since early spring, 

 and hives are well supplied with young bees 

 for spring breeding. The summer of 1913 

 was one of the trying ones. One could 

 hardly imagine a season of less activity in 

 our foothill apiaries. A small cluster of old 

 bees was all we had to depend on to get our 

 colonies through the winter and start them 

 in last spring. No honey was coming in, 



and many colonies were short of stores. 

 To encourage the starting of a large amount 

 of brood meant additional stores to feed the 

 brood, so the question naturally presented 

 itself as to how und when feeding should 

 be done. If feeding to increase stores is the 

 object it should be done inside the hive, and 

 given as rapidly as possible to avoid brood- 

 rearing to an extent that would largely 

 offset the object of feeding. If for the 

 purpose of encouraging brood-rearing I 

 much prefer outdoor feeding, using a ten 

 to fifteen per cent syrup. The gi-eat ob- 

 jection to outdoor feeding is that much of 

 it is taken up by bees from neighboring 

 yards if there are such. This may be over- 

 come to a great extent by feeding early in 

 the morning an amount that can be cleaned 

 up by mid-day. In practiidng outdoor feed- 

 ing it is a good plan to draw combs from 

 several hives with adhering bees which are 

 to be shaken on to the feeding-pan to get 

 them started quickly. 



Brood-rearing in response to stimulative 

 feeding will not be equal in all colonies. 

 Some will respond readily while others will 

 require several days. My experience has 

 been that the response is much more rapid 

 where the colony has a good supply of 

 stores in the comb, especially when there is 

 some pollen coming in. Bees well supplied 

 with stores are, as a rule, the first to begin 

 breeding to their full capacity, whether 

 through stimulating or natural inclination ; 

 and a colony well supplied with stores will 

 breed sufficient to keep up the strength of 

 the colony. A co'ony poorly supplied will 

 dwindle much more rapidly. Pollen is a 

 great factor in breeding, as I have pointed 

 out in previous articles; and unless there is 

 a supply stored in the combs, or a source 

 open for gathering, it Avill be very difficult 

 to force breeding to any great extent. The 

 stimulating that I have had in mind is for 

 the fall, to augment the force of bees for 

 early spring breeding. But there is occa- 

 sionally a spring when stimulative feeding 

 is of great importance. Once in a while 

 our rainfall does rot begin until the month 

 of March, after which we must await the 

 gi'owung and blooming of filaree and other 

 of our early deioendeneies. By the time 

 these are a source of aid, the season is too 

 far advanced to allow the bees to build to 

 a surplus-gathering strength in time to 

 catch the usual ihort flow that follows. In 

 a case of this kind it is desirable to stimu- 

 late from the time the late rains begin fall- 

 ing until natural sources relieve the situa- 

 tion. There is seldom a time in the foothill 

 region when there is not some pollen avail- 

 able. 



