304 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



It is not surprising to me that such 

 men as the one described " know it all ;" 

 and Dr. Miller's little book entitled " A 

 Year Among the Bees," is of not much 

 force to them. No ; if they had read it, 

 they would have known better than to 

 have been scraping sections on a hot 

 day. 



Coon Rapids, Iowa, Aug. 13, 1892. 



Bee-Feeling ani Bee-Feeders. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



Why bees shall be fed, when they 

 shall be fed, what they shall be fed, and 

 how it shall be done, are all points that 

 will bear discussion. There is no time 

 of the year when bees may not need 

 feeding to keep from starving. There 

 is one time of the year when it ought 

 never to be necessary to feed, and that 

 is in the winter. 



Modern bee-culture, with its small 

 hives, reversible frames, divisible, in- 

 terchangeable brood cases, contraction 

 of the brood-nest, and honey extractors, 

 has made it easy to rob the bees of their 

 hard-earned stores, that it is often over- 

 done, and then the act is followed by a 

 neglect to furnish, by feeding sugar, 

 enough stores to last the bees until they 

 can again visit " the flowers that bloom 

 in the spring." The man who is suffi- 

 ciently acquainted with himself to un- 

 derstand his failings in this direction, 

 ought to use large hives, and never take 

 a drop of honey from the brood-chamber. 



So seldom ought it to be necessary to 

 feed bees in winter, that Bro. Hill, of 

 the Guide, took me to task quite severely 

 because I told in "Advanced Bee-Cul- 

 ture," how the work ought to be done 

 when by some hook or crook the bees 

 had gone into the cellar short of stores. 



WINTER FEEDING OF BEES. 



The best method of feeding bees in 

 winter is to give them a frame of honey. 

 If all of the honey is in the hives, look 

 over all of the colonies, or a sufficient 

 number of them to find combs of honey 

 to give the starving colonies. It is well 

 known that all colonies do not consume 

 the same amount of stores, and the 

 variation is so great that it often hap- 

 pens that enough combs of honey may 

 be spared from those that have plenty 

 to supply the needy. 



If no honey is available, and some 

 colonies must be fed, a candy made of 

 granulated sugar is the best substitute. 

 It may be caked in shallow dishes, and 



the thin cakes laid over the bees and 

 covered with enameled cloth and two or 

 three thicknesses of old carpet. Or the 

 candy may be " run " directly into the 

 frames, and the frames hung in the 

 hives adjoining the clusters of bees. 

 "Good " candy is also recommended for 

 this purpose. Thin boards are tacked 

 to one side of an empty brood-frame, 

 thus forming a shallow tray. It is then 

 filled with candy, and the other side 

 covered with boards except a small 

 space at the top, which is left for the 

 bees to enter. 



SPRING FEEDING OF BEES. 



After the bees are placed upon the 

 summer stands it is better that there be 

 sufficient food in the combs so that feed- 

 ing will not be necessary until settled 

 warm weather has come. Right here is 

 where I believe that bee-keepers have 

 made their mistake in practicing stimu- 

 lative spring feeding — they feed too 

 early. All that the bees need is plenty 

 of food already in the combs, and pro- 

 tection from extremes of temperature. 

 Brood-rearing needs no encouragement 

 at this stage of the programme. The 

 vitality of the bees should be preserved 

 and reserved until it can be used to the 

 best advantage. 



If brood-rearing is commenced in 

 earnest in time to bring the colony up 

 to its maximum strength at the begin- 

 ning of the main honey harvest, it is 

 better than to have it reach this pitch 

 earlier in the season. After the season 

 has advanced until warm, pleasant 

 weather is the rule, and the first 

 "brood "has hatched out, and the bees 

 have commenced to boom, then is the 

 time to keep them booming by protection 

 and by feeding when there is not enough 

 honey coming in to do this. 



After brood-rearing has commenced 

 in real earnest, there ought to be no 

 check. On the contrary, it ought to go 

 on increasing, reaching its maximum at 

 the opening of the main harvest. Where 

 the harvest comes early, and is of short 

 duration, as is the case where it comes 

 from clover alone, there is no hope of 

 success unless the colonies are in prime 

 condition at the opening of the harvest, 

 and in all earnestness let me ask you, 

 are there more potent agencies in bring- 

 ing about this result than protection, 

 and feeding when necessary? 



STYLE OF SPRING FEEDERS. 



I am not sure what style of feeder is 

 best for spring stimulative feeding. By 

 the way, I do not like the word " stimu- 



