1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAI« 



163 



fed to them at this season it is not at all lost, tho it would be 

 an error to crowd them with a surplus at a time when the crop 

 is so near. 



Let us watch our bees at all times, but mostly when they 

 are the nighest to a bountiful crop. It a fair allowance has 

 been left for winter, they will still have plenty when the snow 

 disappears. But for awhile after that you will see them car- 

 rying in pollen and water, and so little honey that it is a won- 

 der that their stores do not diminish more rapidly. 



There are plenty of seasons, tho, when instead of being 

 short they increase their surplus out of every bloom. If the 

 winter is fair, the weather propitious in the spring, they may 

 begin to put honey In the supers even out of fruit-bloom. But 

 such seasons are exceptional. 



Strange as It may seem we have lost more tees from 

 starvation in June, within a week of the opening of a good 

 flow of clover, than at any other season, winter included. But 

 (n June, as in winter, if the bees starve it is the apiarist's 

 fault. Rainy, cloudy weather, if protracted for four for five 

 days, will often reduce the very finest colonies to the verge of 

 starvation. 



WHAT TO FEED TO BEES. 



In the fall when the bees have to be put into winter quar- 

 ters, and they need a supply, our aim is to give them this food 

 as fast as possible, so they may not consume too much of it 

 (n breeding. The food is also wanted to be as compact as pos- 

 sible. If first-class honey is not at hand, the very best pos- 

 sible feed may be prepared with granulated sugar diluted with 

 half of its weight of hot water and raixt with about one-fourth 

 or one-third of the Quantity of good honey to keep it from 

 crystallizing in the cells. This feed is even better for the bees 

 than average honey, and some of our over-zealous theorists at 

 one time advised the removal of all the honey from the hives 

 and replacing it with this feed. But it is bad enough to have 

 to feed when your bees are short without giving yourself the 

 trouble of removing the honey for the problematic and uncer- 

 tain gain that might be realized from feeding back sugar 

 syrup. 



Bees wintered in the cellar may very well be fed through 

 the winter with cakes of ordinary sugar-candy laid over the 

 cluster. But the most important feeding Is at this season of 

 the year, between spring and clover bloom, for on it a great 

 part of the success depends. If our colonies are rich in stores 

 U is well, but they should breed plentifully, and we must urge 

 them to this. A spoonful of w arm feed is often very stimulat- 

 ing. The feed should be thinner than in the fall, for water is 

 needed to rear brood, and they can use much thinner honey 

 than in the winter. The nectar that they harvest from the 

 blossoms is often thin enough to run like water from the 

 combs when they are handled, and the feed given to them 

 may well be as watery as this. 



In the spring feed little, but feed often. It Is better to 

 keep them breeding by repeated feeding, but the quantity 

 should be small, so they may not fill their cells with food that 

 should be occupied with brood. Do not overfeed your bees, 

 but be sure they have enough to keep on breeding all spring. 



HOW TO FEED THE BEES. 



We use the Hill atmospheric feeder. It is simple and 

 good. An inverted can with a cover pierced with little holes 

 Is placed right over the brood-combs. The bees do not have 

 to displace themselves to reach their food, and can get it in 

 any kind of weather. Much or little can be given, and it is 

 away from the entrance where robbers are prone to lurk. 



The worst feeder of all is an out-door feeder in which you 

 feed your bees and anybody's bees that may be about. The 

 next worst is an entrance-feeder. Hancock Co., III. 



Working Up an Appetite for Honey. 



BY A. F. FOOTE. 



I am a farmer, and began keeping bees about 1.5 years 

 ago with only the idea of supplying my own table with that 

 most exquisite of all sweet — honey. Without the aid of any 

 bee-literature, I have been successful beyond my most san- 

 guine expectations ; and now, that I have arrived at an age 

 when physical labor, on the farm, is practically out of the 

 question, I find easy, pleasant and quite remunerative employ- 

 ment with my bees. Having noticed several articles on 

 " marketing honey," I would like to give my method, which 

 has always exhausted the supply ahead of the demand. 



In the first place, I keep a " guide-board " by the road- 

 side, informing the passer-by (who, by the way, on account of 

 it, does not always pass by) that I have honey to sell, some- 

 times giving the price and sometimes not, as I think best. 



This brings a good many customers outside the immediate 

 neighborhood, and for whom, of course, it is intended. With 

 this class, and my neighbors, I always let the scales tip in 

 favor of the customer, who is always sure of good weight. 



We have a good deal of company, and the very best honey 

 is always on the table at meal-time. I will not say that there 

 is not a little "policy" in this, too, as a visitor frequently 

 says before leaving : "I think I will have to take a dollar's 

 worth of that honey ; it is very fine." 



I keep two or three stores in as many villages supplied, 

 taking goods in exchange, the merchants buying it outright, 

 and sell it for the same price they allow me, making their 

 profit on the goods I take. 



Again, I work a little advertising scheme once or twice a 

 year with the church socials, in which I am not the loser at 

 least. It is given out as extensively as possible, that a certain 

 evening "There will be a ' Honey Social' at the residence of 



Mrs. . Supper, 10 cents. Warm biscuits and honey 5 



cents extra." I furnish the honey, and the proceeds all go to 

 help pay the minister. 



My aim from the start has been to " work up an appetite " 

 for my honey, even if I have to give away a section or two 

 here and there. The result is that I am not able to supply 

 the home demand, notwithstanding there are four or five 

 other quite extensive apiaries within a few miles. 



Mitchell Co., Iowa, Jan. IS. 



The Bees, Not the Oueen, Order the "Walk- 

 Out "—Stores for Winter. 



BY B. T. STONE. 



In 1894 a bee-keeper in Florida askt the following ques- 

 tions in the American Bee Journal : 



" When bees swarm, which order the walk-out, the queen 

 or the workers ?" 



I was not one of the many that answered this question, 

 but I can now answer it to the complete satisfaction of any 

 person. July 19, 1897, I opened a 10-frame hive to examine 

 it for a disease that closely resembled foul brood, and I re- 

 moved three of the middle frames, placing these in an empty 

 hive fully 4 feet from the hive that I was going to examine, 

 and after I had them nicely placed in the empty hive, I then 

 commenced to examine the remaining seven frames, and to my 

 great surprise a swarm commenced to issue from the three 

 frames in the empty hive, and while the bees were swarming 

 from the three frames, the bees on the seven frames, fully 4 

 feet away, remained quiet ; but after they had all swarmed 

 from the three frames, the bees on the seven frames caught 

 the excitement, and they rolled out of the hive by the thou- 

 sand. 



Now, I am positively certain that the bees on the three 

 frames ordered the walk-out, and I am equally certain that 

 the queen was not on either of the three frames, for I exam- 

 ined them carefully before I placed them in the empty hive, 

 and after the swarm was in the air I again examined the three 

 frames, and not a queen was to be seen. I quickly returned 

 the three frames to the hive and closed it, but I did not get it 

 more than closed when the swarm returned to the hive. As 

 quick as the swarm returned, I opened the hive, this time to 

 look for the queen, and I found her on the outside frame. 

 This experience will forever convince me that the bees order 

 the walk-out, and not the queen. 



In 1896 I had a colony to cast a prime swarm at 4:30 

 a.m. It was so dark and cloudy the swarm could not be seen 

 100 feet away. I have been a bee-keeper eight years, and I 

 have only lost five colonies during the winter. I know now 

 how to winter bees without the loss of a single colony. Bees 

 will winter far better on good, thick syrup, made of granulated 

 sugar, than they will on the best of honey. I have had colo- 

 nies in October robbed of the last drop of honey, and would 

 feed them good, thick syrup, and these colonies would come 

 out in the spring and do better in every way than colonies 

 wintered on the best of honey. Preston Co., W. Va. 



Complete Volumes ot 1897.— We have on hand 

 about 30 complete volumes of the American Bee Journal for 

 1897, which we will mail to any one upon receipt of 60 cents. 

 We also have about the same number of the first six months' 

 copies of 1897, which we will mall for 30 cents. As there 

 were 832 pages of the Bee Journal last year, here Is a chance 

 for our new subscribers to get a good deal of valuable reading- 

 matter for a very little money. Better order at once, before 

 they are all gone. 



