a I. K A KINGS IX P. K R U T. T U R E 



September, 192n 



of course, let the beos liave their natural 

 food. It will be admitted, probably, that 

 sugar syrup is the e(|ual if not the superior 

 of good honey during the coldest part of 

 the winter when there is no brood-rearing; 

 but after that starts in February and March, 

 for outdoor-packed hives, honej- is unques- 

 tionably better. Honey, as we 'now know, 

 contains vitamines and other essential ele- 

 ments that neither sugar syrup nor even 

 combs of pollen contain. (See page 538.) 

 Every practical beekeeper knows that bees 

 will breed better in the summer on honey 

 than on sugar syrup; and why not in early 

 spring or late winter? 



The Editor has just come from a series of 

 field meets in the various parts of the coun- 

 try where the winters are long and severe, 

 and the general consensus of opinion among 

 the large beekeepers is to the efi'ect that 

 good honey, especially where the bees make 

 their own winter nests, is superior to sugar 

 syrup — not for midwinter, but for late win- 

 ter and early spring. Bees may do all right 

 on syrup, provided the spring is favorable; 

 that is to say, if they can get a little fresh 

 ])ollen and nectar in March and April. 



We have one report on hand of an exten- 

 sive beekeeper who fed one portion of his 

 liees sugar syrup very heavily the preceding 

 fall. There was another lot he let have their 

 natural stores — aster, goldenrod, milkweed 

 — everything under the sun; but it was all 

 sealed" in the combs. Both lots of bees, 

 packed the same, came thru in splendid con- 

 dition up to the first of March. The spring 

 was exceptionally bad, and the bees were 

 unable to fly for a month or six weeks. The 

 sugar-fed bees died out almost entirely, 

 while the bees with the natural stores came 

 thru in fine condition. The reason was that 

 the sugar-fed bees could not breed to furnish 

 young bees to take the place of the old ones. 

 The latter died off, or, as we commonly say, 

 spring-dwindled. Scores of the most exten- 

 sive beekeepers of the country have told the 

 Editor that our slogan of "honey in the 

 place of sugar for winter food ' ' is safe and 

 sane doctrine. It is no new thing, because 

 old veterans like Dr. Miller have been talk- 

 ing this same thing for years; but now that 

 sugar syrup is higher than honey there is 

 all the more reason why we should use honey 

 this fall. 



Sometimes beekeepers have found that 

 bees in modern double-walled hives have 

 died after a severe winter and spring, while 

 bees in poor box hives, with no protection 

 whatever, would come out in good condition. 

 The reason is plain. The last-named bees 

 would have natural stores and a winter nest 

 without any tinkering of the brood-nest, 

 while the other bees would have sugar syruj) 

 and a brood-nest manipulated "according to 

 the latest ideas. ' ' 



The foreman of our apiaries says that this 

 year when honey has been coming in almost 

 every day for two months, our bees ha\t' 

 V)red up better than ever before; that there 

 is more brood per colony ami more young 



bees than he has ever had before at this time 

 of the 3'ear. Other years we have fed sugar 

 a. little every day for the same period, but 

 while we secured increase the results were 

 far below those of this year. Others have 

 had the same experience. It simply proves 

 that honey is a natural food and of course 

 the bees do better on it. 



Some years ago the Editor, together with 

 some of our best beekeepers, advocated sug- 

 ar syrup as the best stores for winter and 

 spring, but he will never do it again. 



There is just one more consideration: that 

 whenever a beekeeper takes good honey out 

 of his hives and substitutes sugar syrup he 

 is making his own honey a competitor of 

 himself and boosting the sugar business. At 

 the same time he is helping the canard that 

 beekeepers feed sugar to their bees and 

 then sell that syrup to their patrons as hon- 

 ey. Of course, this can not be done profit- 

 ably, even with cheap sugar. 



We admit that beekeepers need sugar. 

 Sometimes honey is infected with foul brood 

 and can't be used. Some seasons are fail- 

 ures or partial failures. It is then necessary 

 to use sugar syrup; but no beekeeper should 

 extract too close and then make up the de- 

 ficit with sugar syrup. The wise beekeeper, 

 when the season is good, will reserve combs 

 of good honey, if he has no foul brood, and 

 then if he runs short in the fall on account 

 of the failure of buckwheat, goldenrod, as- 

 ter, or milkweed, he will make up the de- 

 ficiency with these reserve combs. He will 

 likewise give those reserve stores early 

 enough so that the bees may form a winter 

 nest. He will go further. He will give the 

 colonies a sheltered location and put them 

 in packing cases or double-walled hives. The 

 more protection the bees have, the less stores 

 thej^ will consume. Then as the cold weath 

 er comes on he will contract the entrances, 

 making sure that they are kept free during 

 the winter. 



Later: This article was submitted to A. 

 I. Eoot. After reading it carefully he said 

 it is safe and sound doctrine all thru, and 

 then he said: "You might have added there 

 is a big loss of syrup when you compel the 

 bees to recap their sugar stores. There is a 

 loss also in transmitting the syrup from the 

 feeder to the combs, because the bees will 

 consume some of the syrup when they <lon 't 

 need it. ' ' The early editions of his ABC 

 of Bee Culture make this very clear. 



THERE NEVER was a time in the history 

 of beedom when the future looked brighter 

 for the beekeeper than 

 A Hopeful now. This does not nec- 

 Future for essarily mean that he 

 Beekeeping, will get higher prices 

 than were realized dur- 

 ing 1919 (he may get lower), but it does 

 mean that the business of honey i)roduction 

 will be on a more solid foundation than it 

 ever has been before. 



While the market on hoiiev, according to 



