298 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



tration of his method each day during 

 a term of five months. 



The school was given up, because 

 one of its projectors now receives 

 students and teaches them practically 

 in his shop and apiary, and in a man- 

 ner which he considers far superior to 

 any school where theory alone is 

 taught. 



I was lately talking with a gentle- 

 man who had spent several weeks 

 with each of four different parties, 

 who take annually from 4 to 20 stu- 

 dents ; and his opinion was that some 

 of those who propose to teach the 

 business, seek in this way to get cheap 

 labor only, and give as little attention 

 as possible to the instruction of the 

 students ; giving some of tlie students 

 work in tlie apiary, and others work 

 in the shop, or, perhaps, even in the 

 office at matter entirely disconnected 

 with apiculture. 



As a matter of business, this may 

 be a good method ; but the other side 

 has rights which, in common justice, 

 we should consider. The moment we 

 accept the application of a student, 

 and he places himself under our in- 

 struction, it is our duty to him, to our 

 profession, and to ourselves, that he 

 is directed eacli day where to look for 

 instruction. If he is not already 

 familiar with the operations of the 

 apiary, and has not learned just what 

 he needs to know, and where and 

 when to And it, he will be just as 

 liable to spend the most important 

 part of the season in the shop, " driv- 

 ing sections,'" as out in the apiary, 

 learning to handle swarms. The fact 

 that he has placed himself under in- 

 struction is evidence of his ignorance 

 of the business, and our accepting, 

 him as a student binds us as an 

 honest teacher to instruct him in all 

 the blanches of the business, to the 

 best of our ability. The selection of 

 those who already know the most 

 about the business to do the work in 

 the apiary, and sending others who 

 have sonie mechanical skill, to the 

 shop, is an injustice to both classes. 



We believe that young men who 

 can spare the time, and who wish to 

 engage in apiculture as a vocation, 

 cannot do better than to spend a sea- 

 son with an experienced apiarist. 'We 

 would advise them, however, to be 

 sure they find one who will instruct 

 them in" all the details of the V)usi- 

 ness, at a fair price for such instruc- 

 tion, rather than to give their time 

 and labor for the crumbs that may 

 accidentally fall in their way. 

 Cleveland, Ohio. 



Read at the N. E. Micliig-an Com-ention. 



Cane Sugar for Winter Stores. 



w. z. nuTCHDsrsox. 



In so many instances have bees 

 died under circumstances in which 

 the cause of their death could scarcely 

 be attributed to anything except the 

 improper quality of their food ; diar- 

 rhoea has occurred under so many 

 apparently conflicting conditions, and 

 these apparent contradictions could 

 only be explained upon the hypothesis 



that the food was of an unsuitable 

 character ; and in so many instances 

 has the superiority of sugar stores 

 been demonstrated, that, three years 

 ago I began to experiment by extract- 

 ing the honey, in the fall, from the 

 combs of a few colonies, and feeding 

 the bees a syrup made from granu- 

 lated sugar." Some of the sugar-fed 

 colonies were left out-of-doors, some 

 placed in the cellar, and others buried 

 in a " clamp.'' 



The first winter all came through 

 alike. The honey of that season and 

 locality was exactly as good for win- 

 ter stores as was sugar. The same 

 experiments were repeated the next 

 season with marked results in favor 

 of the sugar. The only colonies win- 

 tered in the open-air that lived until 

 spring, were those having sugar 

 stores. All of the colonies in the 

 cellar, not having sugar for food, suf- 

 fered from dysentery, and fj of them 

 died ; while those having sugar stores 

 showed no symptoms of dysentery, 

 and were drv. sweet, and clean, even 

 the bottom-boards not being covered 

 with dead bees. The bees in the 

 "clamp" had wintered much the 

 best : 1.5 per cent, of those with nat- 

 ural stores had died from diarrhcea, 

 and most of the remainder, except 

 those with sugar stores, had suffered 

 more or less by the same disease. 



Last fall I removed all the honey 

 from about 20 colonies, and fed them 

 sugar. About 50 colonies were each 

 fed from 5 to lo pounds of sugar. I 

 theorized as follows : The bees will 

 store the sugar in the empty cells in 

 the centre of tlie hive, where they 

 will be most likely to cluster in the 

 winter; while the honey that is in the 

 upper part and corners of the combs 

 will not be consumed until spring, 

 when frequent flights will prevent 

 diarrhwa. About 15 colonies were 

 left with natural stores. 



If the 57 colonies in the clamp are 

 in the same condition as the 13 in the 

 cellar, they are in fair order. Fifteen 

 colonies were left out-of-doors; 10 of 

 them packed with chaff and sawdust 

 in large boxes, while 5 were left with 

 but slight protection. 



I have about decided that bees re- 

 quire protection of some kind. I 

 have, for several winters, left a few 

 colonies unprotected ; but in only one 

 winter, and that was a warm one, 

 have they wintered so well as those 

 that were i>rotected. 



So far this winter I have lost 2 col- 

 onies, and they were from among the 

 5 that were unprotected. Each had 

 been fed about 12 pounds of sugar, 

 and the remainder of their stores, 

 about S pounds each, was honey. One 

 of them starved to death. It was not 

 a very strong colony, and the con- 

 tinued, exceedingly cold weather pre- 

 vented the bees from moving along 

 in quest of food. There was not the 

 slightest sign of diarrhoea ; but the 

 other colony died of it, and for awhile 

 1 was puzzled ; but, at length, I re- 

 membered that this was the only col- 

 ony in which the bees had clustered 

 upon the upper part of the combs, 

 and, consequently, they had fed upon 

 natural stores. 

 Rogersville, Mich. 



Head at the N. E. Michigan Convention. 



Production of Comb Honey. 



L. C. WHITING. 



The first point aimed at is to have 

 the colonies strong in numbers and 

 in the right condition to spare the 

 field-bees to do their work. I have 

 seen no plan that suits me better than 

 the one recommended by Mr. Doolit- 

 tle, which can be found in the bee 

 papers of last year. 



Have your racks and sections ready 

 to be put on as soon as the flow of 

 honey commences. Have, if possible, 

 a few sections in each rack that are 

 partly built out. These can be ob- 

 tained by placing frames of sections 

 filled with foundation in the brood- 

 nest of strong colonies when fruit 

 trees are in bloom, removing them as 

 soon as they are well drawn out. 



Place them in your honey racks to 

 be ready for the main crop. Put the 

 sections over the brood -nest as soon 

 as you see a streak of white, new wax 

 being added to the top of the brood 

 frames between the combs. Then 

 open the hive and reduce the size of 

 the brood-chambers with a division- 

 board to the capacity of the colony, 

 or enough to crowd the bees into the 

 sections. If it is a small or weak 

 colony, put a frame of sections in the 

 brood-chamber behind the main part 

 of the brood, and keep one frame of 

 open brood behind the frame of sec- 

 tions, changing this frame to the cen- 

 tre of the brood-nest as soon as cap- 

 ped over ; never allowing the bees to 

 hatch out behind the sections, but 

 keep this space filled with eggs or 

 open brood. 



Should the bees swarm from a 

 strong colony, place the swarm on 

 the old stand, and give the rack of 

 sections from the old hive. The 

 swarm should have at first as few 

 frames as they will cluster upon, so 

 as to force a large portion of the bees 

 into the sections, giving new frames 

 as fast as those in the hive are filled 

 with eggs. 



Give the parent colony a frame or 

 two of sections to draw out in the 

 brood-nest, and when the queen is 

 hatched, give them brood or bees 

 enough to make a good colony, or 

 double up with other colonies. Al- 

 wavs keep the brood-nest crowded 

 with bees, and you can have the 

 honey stored when you want it. 



Every colony can be made to gather 

 its share of comb whether it is a 

 nucleus with one comb, or a large one 

 with 8 or 10 frames. 



The wide frame I use has no top- 

 bar, which enables me to take out the 

 partly filled sections and replace with 

 empty ones with little labor. 



All sections should be finished over 

 the brood-chamber and removed as 

 soon as well sealed. If a colony is 

 strong enough to work in the sections 

 and does not, transfer a few sections, 

 bees and all, from other colonies, and 

 uncap some of the honey in the cen- 

 tre of the brood-nest. Full combs of 

 honey can have the caps broken and 

 place"d in the centre of the brood-nest 

 one at a time, and if conditions are 

 favorable, it will be mostly taken up 



