188 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



indicate that there was any safety in 

 neglecting bees so that they would 

 need feeding in the winter. The wise 

 beekeeper will never allow this to 

 happen. I have been asked if grape 

 sugar might not be used in such an 

 emergency. I have tried it and the 

 bees died while clustered upon it under 

 a warm mat. I am glad to be able to 

 say that my experience, as well as that 

 of our best beekeepers generally, 

 seems to prove that the use of glucose 

 or grape sugar is not safe or desirable 

 in arvj way in connection with our 

 pursuit. 



Bees that are short of winter stores 

 should be placed in warm winter quar- 

 ters, so as to economize food and to 

 render it favorable to feed. They 

 should be conflned to as few combs as 

 they can cover. I would then prepare 

 a syrup of C. sugar using one quart of 

 water to five pounds of sugar. This 

 I would put into the combs as directed 

 in "Quinby's New^ Beekeeping," page 

 209, and set the comb containing it at 

 the outside of the cluster in the hive. 

 If the room containing the bees is 

 sufficiently warm, they will use such 

 food to advantage. Any plan of win- 

 tering where the bees must be dis- 

 turbed is faulty, and liable to result in 

 failure. 



ANSWKIi BY GKO. W. HOUSE. 



Yes; colonies short of stores for 

 winter or those having no honey at all 

 when put in winter quarters can be 

 wintered as successfully as those hav- 

 ing plenty of honey, such colonies are 

 best wintered in a cellar or bee house 

 with a temperature above 50°. I pre- 

 fer good honey in such cases; frames 

 of sealed honey laid flatwise over tops 

 of frames is best. Next best is granu- 

 lated honey cut in cakes and placed on 

 tops of frames. If honey is not at 

 hand, drop a few tablespoonfuls of best 

 sugar syrup on the cluster between the 

 combs, each day. 



For out-door wintering I would rec- 

 ommend bricks made of granulated 

 honey, or by mixing sugar syrup and 

 flour together in the proportion of four 

 parts syrup to one of flour or perhaps 

 less. Such colonies should be securely 

 packed, and heavy quilts should cover 

 the bricks. 



If all frames are of same dimen- 



sions — as they should be — and you 

 have such filled with honey, insert one 

 or two at the side of cluster of bees. 

 This can be done at any time during 

 winter when wintered in-doors. 



Fayetteville, N. Y. 



ANSWER BY D. A. JONKS. 



In feeding bees in winter that are 

 short of stores great care must be 

 taken not to disturb them more than is 

 absolutely necessary, for a very slight 

 disturbance causes them to gorge 

 themselves. They may be wintered l)y 

 feeding liquid food, but the risk is too 

 great. I have always found best gran- 

 ulated sugar to answer the best and it 

 must be boiled, and sugared off when 

 it is boiled hard enough. This can be 

 determined by putting a few drops on 

 ice or some other cold substance. It 

 soon cools and the surface looks wrink- 

 led and if it breaks when you attempt 

 to bend it, it will be brittle enough. 

 It should not be boiled too brittle — if 

 it just barely breaks it is better. It 

 should th« n be poured into tin or iron . 

 dishes to cool, and they should be set 

 in cold water or ice so it will cool 

 quickly and not have time to grain. 

 Thus you have a hard cake, and yet it 

 is waxy and is more easily managed by 

 the bees, as it contains more moisture. 

 These cakes which are from one to 

 two inches thick, and of a size suitable 

 to cover the cluster, may be placed on 

 top of frames and covered so as to 

 retain all the heat. The quantity 

 necessary to winter the colony safely 

 may be put on at once, I have tried 

 placing it at side of cluster by having 

 it caked in the frame itself and hang- 

 ing it in the hive, but in the case of 

 putting itin the body of the hive I would 

 prefer to take frames filled with comb, 

 cut out the top part of the comb, then 

 invert the frame, clamp boards on 

 each side, aud pour in the syrup(made 

 as above described). Let it cake and 

 then remove the boards. Now what 

 have you got? A frame with comb in 

 the lower part and with stores above. 

 The bees have the comb to cluster on 

 with their stores immediately above 

 them. With such stores bees should 

 always be wintered in bee-house or 

 cellar, or else be very warmly packed. 



Beeton, Out. 



