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THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



gather honey from any poisonous 

 plants ? 



4. How may any one determine 

 Avhether honey is at all poisonous, 

 without first eating some of it, thus 

 jeopardizing his life ? 



Ans. To the 2nd, 3rd and 4th 

 questions we can make no reply, and 

 do not think any one can be found 

 who can give the desired information 

 to such questions. 



5. Admitting that certain plants 

 do yield poisonous honey, would it 

 not poison the bees when they col- 

 lect it, or whenever they might eat 

 any of it ? 



Ans. If bees gathered poisonous 

 honey, it would without doubt kill 

 them, more especially the immature 

 brood ; therefore, this fact alone is 

 sufficient proof that bees do 'not 

 gather poisonous honey. 



Orange, N.J. 



QUESTIONS BY R. F. HOLTERMAN. 



Speaking from actual experience 

 is it injurious or beneficial to stimu- 

 late by feeding two or three ounces 

 of sugar syrup per day to a colony 

 before they are able to fly regularly. 

 What is the opinion ? 



How long before the bees take 

 their last fly in the fall should all 

 stimulative feeding cease? Why? 

 Is the decision from discussion or 

 is it the result of experience ? 



Ans. Bees should not be fed nor 

 disturbed at all until the season is 

 so far advanced that they can take 

 a flight two or three times a week. 



The proper time to feed to pro- 

 mote brood-rearing is wlien the bees 

 begin to gather pollen. The fact 

 that the bees are gathering pollen in- 

 dicates their readiness to commence 

 the season's work. A few ounces 

 of syrup fed to a colony each day 

 will be beneficial. 



Feeding late in the fall would 

 certainly be very injurious. It never 

 should be attempted to promote 



brood-rearing later than Sept. 20. 

 If any of the syrup fed in the fall is 

 left unsealed, it would certainly sour 

 before spring, and the result would 

 be disastrous to the colony. These 

 answers are not guesses, but actual 

 facts gained from experience. 



LETTER BOX. 

 Mk. EDnou : 



Wliat causes our bees to die in the 

 winter? I liave kept bees some thirty- 

 five years most of the time. Now, 

 years ago we kept them iu a thin sin- 

 gle hive or in a half barrel. I have 

 known thein to winter in a nail cask, 

 and in cold bleak places out of doors 

 and lost but a few bees. It was sup- 

 posed that bees would not freeze. 

 Now we have double hives, and down 

 here in Maine we sometimes pack out- 

 side of that, but still we lose in the 

 winter at least two colonies where we 

 lost one fifty years ago ; and when 

 they have a plenty of honey. There 

 must be a cause, and if there is a 

 cause what is it, and what is the rem- 

 edy? Now we have lots of science 

 given us in regard to beekeeping. A. 

 J. Cook gives us lots of it and he has 

 a good chance to apply it to beekeep- 

 ing; but still the bees die in the win- 

 ter. I think we want more of the 

 practical witli the scientific. Again is 

 the houey gathered by bees now the 

 same that it was when the country was 

 new? They tell me that bees do not 

 winter-kill in new territory, as far 

 noi-th as Maine. 



Will some one give us the facts? 

 Will some of the scientific ones, Mr. 

 Cook for instance, tell us if the honey 

 lias changed, chemically? Science 

 tells us that when honey candies it 

 forms grape sugar, and science says 

 it contains sulphuric acid. Is there 

 more of it in honey gathered in old 

 territory than there is in new territory 

 and will the acid kill bees ? 



Bkkkeepkr. 



KespectfuUy referred to Prof. Cook. 



Mk. Editou : 

 lias Mr. G. W. Demaree stole my 

 fi-ame or have I stole his? I made iu 

 the winter of 1885, a frame just like 

 the one he describes with this differ- 

 ence ; my slotted bar is one and one- 

 half inch wide, the other parts of 

 frame are one inch wide; my comb bar 

 is split in the middle. In setting up I 



