174 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



SUGAR FEEDING. 



Septemb< 



EVILS RESULTING FROM THIS AND KINDRED PRACTICES. 



Bv ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



IN THE AUGUST BEE-KEEPER 

 Mr. F. Greiner expresses surprise 

 at learning that sugar is "being 

 used largely in producing comb 

 honey." I do not know that I put 

 the matter in just those words which 

 imply that the masses of bee-keepers 

 deliberately supply sugar syrup for 

 the purpose of having the bees put it 

 in the sections. Such an implication 

 would be unjust to the majority of 

 bee-keepers. The point I have en- 

 deavored to emphasize is that much 

 of the sugar syrup fed to bees gets 

 into the surplus honey. 



Those bee-keepers who practice 

 stimulative feeding or who try to have 

 the brood nest packed with syrup be- 

 fore the honey flow opens are sure to 

 have more or less syrup in their sur- 

 plus honey. ]Mr. Boardman has long 

 practiced filling the brood chambers 

 with syrup before the honey flow, "so 

 that when the latter comes the honey 

 will all go into the supers." He fur- 

 ther states that before he adopted this 

 practice his "crops of honey were very 

 uncertain." In other words, so long 

 as the sugar syrup is to be had the 

 bees will put up a surplus. Mr. Board- 

 man bears an excellent reputation and 

 I do not believe for an instant that he 

 feeds the syrup to have it put into the 

 supers. But into supers more or less 

 of it always goes under such con- 

 ditions, and there can be bought in 

 the open market to-day comb honey 

 which is unmistakably largely sugar 

 syrup. The Gleanings people in their 

 zeal to push what seemed to them a 

 good thing spread the Boardman doc- 

 trine far and wide and incidentally 

 they make mention of sundry feeders 

 which they manufacture and will per- 

 mit the public to acquire for a modest 

 consideration. Both ]\Ir. Boardman 

 and the Gleanings people deny that 

 the syrup goes into the supers, but 

 they cite no proof, it is just a comfor- 

 table belief. 



That excellent authoritj', Mr. J. 

 Green, of Grand Junction, Colorad 

 says in Gleanings for August ist. : ' 

 great deal of the honey stored in t 

 super has first been stored in t 

 brood-combs, in many cases at leas- 

 Gleanings' favorite authority, IS/. 

 Doolittle, says that bees once start 

 in the sections, the honey stored 

 the combs below will be carried to t. 

 sections as fast as the queen needs t 

 room for egg-laying, and further tV 

 within fifteen days after the bees c 

 cupy the sections, the brood chamb 

 is packed with brood except for a 1 

 tie pollen and honey in the extrei 

 upper corners of the frames and t 

 sections are well filled with honi 

 Scores of such statements might 

 quoted if it were necessary, but it w 

 suffice to add reference to the we 

 known advice to extract just befc 

 the honey flow all dark honey frc 

 brood combs so the honey in the si 

 ers will not be discolored. 



Regarding the practice of feedi« 

 sugar to the bees at all, that sterli- 

 and upright man Mr. L. C. Root, 

 Stamford, Ct., has said: "We are ter 

 ing more and more each year to t 

 practice of feeding honey only to c 

 bees, and I shall welcome the day wh 

 this will be the exclusive practice, tl: 

 avoiding the appearance, even, of a 

 possibility of fraud in the quality 

 our surplus honey" and "in this as 

 the use of comb foundation for box 

 I am disposed to take radical grou 

 and protest against anything tl 

 gives the color of suspicion to c 

 products." 



Twenty years ago he gave tl 

 warning, but, save for now and ther 

 faint protest, the practice of feedi 

 and the use of comb foundation in t 

 sections has been constantly a 

 steadily urged. Langstroth sa 

 "The prudent apiarian will always : 

 gard the feeding of bees, except t 

 little given to them by way of e 



