NOVEMBEE, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



candy is reached when the ball stands up 

 with very little flattening at the bottom. 

 The usual proportions will be one part of 

 honey to two and one-half parts of pow- 

 dered sugar. It usually happens that after 

 a few hours or a day or two the candy be- 

 comes softer, in which event more powdered 

 sugar must be kneaded into it. The secret 

 of the failures of the past seems to lie in the 

 application of heat during the making. 

 Boiled Honey Objectionable. 

 Since boiled honey is not especially de- 

 sirable as a food for bees during a period 

 of confinement, probably due to the prod- 

 ucts of decomposition contained therein, it 



is perhaps safest for the queen-breeder to 

 use only commercial invert sugar in the 

 making of his soft candy. It will in some 

 cases be found that this softens with stand- 

 ing more than does the candy made with 

 honey, and if this occurs more powdered 

 sugar should be added. In case commercial 

 invert sugar is used, it must be an invert 

 sugar which is made by the inversion of 

 cane sugar. Queen-breeders whose apiaries 

 are found free of disease by state inspectors 

 will get the best results by usin? unboiled 

 honey. A soft candy, made by the meth- 

 ods described, can bo used as a delicious 

 confection by adding nuts. 



WINTERING IN CELLARS 



WHEN bees 

 are win- 

 t e r e d in 

 the cellar they 

 must be pre- 

 pared before- 

 hand the same 

 as for outdoor 

 wintering, by 

 seeing to it that 

 every colony has a queen not over two years 

 old. Young queens are better, but not al- 

 ways necessary. Old queens are unreliable. 



Stores and plenty of them we must have. 

 Altho I fought against sugar-feeding for 

 years because it led people to believe that 

 honey was adulterated, I wish every bee- 

 keeper would feed every colony ten pounds 

 of cane sugar syrup as late as this can safe- 

 ly be done before putting the bees into the 

 cellar. I have always had the best results 

 by feeding two parts of sugar to one part of 

 water. Have the water hot, then stir in the 

 sugar, stirring until the mixture is clear, to 

 be sure the sugar is thoroly dissolved. I 

 add 20 to 25 pounds of extracted honey to 

 every 100 pounds of sugar, but if there is 

 danger of disease don 't use honey, just 

 sugar. I've tried putting in acid but could 

 sees no difference in the stores. 



I think that early-cellared bees winter 

 better than when put in late. Here they 

 should be put into the cellars Nov. 10 to 17 

 as a rule. We always get better results by 

 cellaring at this time than to wait until De- 

 cember. We do not put the bees nearer the 

 cellar floor than 6 inches if we can help it. 

 We leave the %-inch entrance open unless 

 the cellar is so we cannot keep the mice and 

 rats out. Then we put on coarse wire 

 guards having not less than i/4-inch mesh. 

 But the mice and rats in cellars annoy the 

 bees anyway, so the cellars should be built 

 mouse and rat proof. 



I slide the cover on strong or normal colo- 

 nies one eighth of an inch ahead for venti- 

 lation. I think that this ventilating of 

 hives is the best way to keep the bees dry 

 and healthy. Even in damp cellars it keeps 



Ten bounds of Sugar Syrup Fed 



Late Has Given ^est Results in 



this Beekeeper's Experience 



By Geo. B. Howe 



them dry and 

 clean. Without 

 this ventilation 

 they would be 

 almost ruined 

 with mould. If 

 the cover is slid 

 forward even i/^ 

 inch it does no 

 harm except that 

 the bees can get out, and it makes it bad 

 when we put them out of the cellar in the 

 spring as they will cluster out on the back 

 of the hive. I put the bees out in the spring 

 as soon as they can have a good cleansing 

 flight, and since they are healthy they do 

 not dwindle like poorly wintered bees do. 



The cellar should be ventilated so that 

 the air is pure. More bees are ruined by 

 not getting fresh air than by cold. They 

 may seemingly winter perfectly, but bees 

 that dwindle in the spring have not win- 

 tered well, and will not build up as they 

 should. I pile the hives in tiers as high as 

 six in a tier, but I prefer them not higher 

 than four or five. I have piled them in very 

 close and had good wintering, but there 

 should be ample room if possible. 

 _ Let those who prefer to winter bees out- 

 side do so. but after 35 or 36 years' experi- 

 ence in cellar wintering, I can see no reason 

 for changing. 



Sackets Harbor, N. Y, 



[If the combs become wet and mouldy 

 when the covers are sealed on tight, this 

 can be remedied by raising the cellar tem- 

 perature a few degrees so that the walls of 

 the hive and the combs outside the cluster 

 are not cold enough to condense the moisture 

 given off by the bees before it can escape 

 from the hive thru the entrance. A higher 

 cellar temperature, if not too high, also 

 reduces the activity of the bees especially 

 during the early part of winter, which re- 

 sults in less moisture being given off. As a 

 rule the bees will remain quiet at a higher 

 temperature early in the winter than during 

 the latter part of confinement. — Editor.] 



