358 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



As to bee-keepers being more in- 

 debted to amateurs than to profes- 

 sionals, ^h\ Pond by no means proves 

 his case. The instances he gives may 

 be his side, but it does not include the 

 results of bee-keeping, which after 

 all is the end. What he says has full 

 ■weight, but the different phases of 

 bee-keeping, as seen on this side the 

 Atlantic, where are the professionals, 

 and on the other side, where are the 

 fancy breeders or amateurs, should be 

 evidence enough. 



The amateur keeps bees as a pleas- 

 ure and study, and lie is compara- 

 tively careless of the market results ; 

 but the specialist is the man who 

 most practically asks and solves the 

 guestion, '■ Will it pay v" and " Will 

 it pay y is the great question to bee- 

 keepers. 



George Stephenson is the father of 

 railways, and James Watt discovered 

 how to utilize steam ; but railroad men 

 —steam using companies— are the men 

 who really confer the every day bene- 

 fit on the people. The discoverer and 

 the worker are united, and to put 

 them in opposite camps and talk of 

 one being of more benefit than the 

 other, and so cause jealousy and semi- 

 hostility, is not the wisest policy by 

 any means. 



The next point is, is it wise to en- 

 courage everv one to keep bees y ]S'o, 

 decidedly not. The "blighted 

 hopes " list is long enough already ; do 

 not increase it, as it most assiuedly 

 will be increased, if this universal en- 

 couragement is given. I believe more 

 men who started out to make a for- 

 tune, fail to make a living by keeping 

 bees than in any other business. 



The book, " Blessed Bees," reads 

 very pretty with its blossoms, country 

 life, and dollars at the end. I have 

 paid for reading it I know. How 

 many more have, I do not know. Still 

 I am a bee-keeper, and propose to 

 continue as such. 



That keeping bees pays decently, 

 and only decently well when properly 

 kept, may doubtless be true. So does 

 a law office, or being a professional 

 politician ; but it is not a question of 

 what results may accrue at its pret- 

 tiest, but what results are likely to 

 accrue as men and things are, not as 

 they should be. To say this is the 

 fault of tlie men and things, is to beg 

 the question ; and even when begged, 

 it resolves itself into such care and 

 attention being given to bees that the 

 man who does it becomes a specialist 

 almost by necessity. 



Why, even Mr. lloot with his suc- 

 ce ss,says bee-keeping is " hazardous." 

 It is so. It is not a bonanza, but a 

 living— a living to a man who makes 

 it his business, and saves the surplus 

 in honey and dollars of a good year to 

 make up for the poor year. 



I would write much more ; in fact 

 the more I write the more points and 

 arguments I see on my side ; but I 

 recollect that you may think my screed 

 is too lengthy already. I, however, 

 do say that tliis is a very vital ques- 

 tion to men who are putting money 

 (or think of doing so) into the bee- 

 business, and it needs threshing out 

 thoroughly. 

 Austin, "Texas. 



Kead at the Northern Ohio Convention. 



Feeding Bees in Spring. 



H. E. BOARDMAN. 



Bees, like many other insects of the 

 same family, consume very little food 

 in their perfect state at any season of 

 the year, and much less during the 

 winter while in a dormant state, than 

 during the activity of the honey sea- 

 son. We have been astonished at the 

 statements of entomologists that this 

 class of insects consume as much 

 food during the few days of their 

 larval development as in all the rest 

 of their lifetime. This accounts for 

 the rapidity with which tl)eir stores 

 sometimes disappear when rearing 

 broods extensively, and also throws 

 some light upon that mysterious 

 phase ot life— the dormant slumber of 

 winter, when animation is nearly sus- 

 pended. We tind them able to live 

 for nearly half of the year, which 

 would comprise nearly "their whole 

 life time, in winter quarters within 

 the hive, without serious results. 

 This is truly astonishing, but much 

 less so in the light of the above facts ; 

 and these facts furnish us a very im- 

 portant factor in the consideration of 

 our subject ; for in order to supply 

 the food in the most economical way, 

 a knowledge of its disposition and 

 uses within the hive is indispensable. 

 Brood-rearing that has been sus- 

 pended during the winter, is resumed 

 at the approach of warm weather, 

 sometime in February or March on 

 the summer stand, and in the bee- 

 house or cellar, somewhat earlier. 

 The food resources of the colony at 

 this time was stored by the wise in- 

 stincts of the bees of the previous 

 season, not for their own use, for 

 they do not live to use it, but for their 

 posterity, and would prove sufficient 

 for their necessities usually, were it 

 not appropriated to increase the 

 stores of avaricious man. Up to the 

 time brood-rearing commences in the 

 spring, the stores in the hive remain 

 almost untouched ; but as brood-rear- 

 ing begins, the bees are gradually 

 aroused from their winter sleep to 

 increased activity, and the stores will 

 be drawn upon as the season advances, 

 in proportion to the amount of brood 

 used. The first few warm days of 

 spring, when the bees fly freely, 

 make astonishing inroads upon their 

 stores. This makes it very important 

 that a critical examination be made 

 to ascertain the condition of the 

 stores, and all light colonies should 

 be marked to be fed ; and these light 

 colonies should be made the objects 

 of special care until honey is furnished 

 by the flowers. I cannot attach too 

 much importance to the vigilance 

 necessary to succeed with these light 

 colonies ; for if we neglect them only 

 a day or two when their stores are 

 exhausted, not only does the w'ork 

 stop and much time is lost, but the 

 brood is eaten and thrown out, and 

 the work that has taken weeks to 

 build up is destroyed. Even in the 

 midst of the fruit bloom, when the 

 weather was unfavorable, I have seen 

 bees suffer for food, and in their ex- 

 tremity eat and destroy their young 



larviE to prevent starvation, and even 

 perish outright, with the whole world 

 a profusion of lioney-beariug flowers. 



There have been invented many 

 kinds of feeders devised to supply 

 food to bees ; but undoubtedly the 

 best feeder ever invented has not 

 been patented, that made by the bees 

 —the comb— and the best food, pure 

 honey, stored and sealed by the bees. 

 Probaljly no more economical way of 

 supplying food to bees in need of 

 stores can be found, than giving a 

 comb of sealed stores. This can be 

 placed in the hive just where it is 

 needed, by exclianging it for an empty 

 comb from the hive, and should be 

 placed next to the cluster of bees ; 

 especially important is this if the 

 colony is weak and the weather is 

 cold. This they will use just so fast 

 as they need it, and not so rapidly as 

 to excite them to unnecessary activity. 

 If no combs of sealed stores are to be 

 had, the next best thing is empty 

 combs for feeders, filled with sugar 

 syrup, and fed in the same manner. 

 Some prefer sugar syrup to natural 

 stores of pure honey. I think this 

 would be conceding too much. A 

 division-board is sometimes used in 

 the hive, dividing the stores thus 

 supplied, from the colony, leaving an 

 openiii" through which the bees can 

 pass. But the best result, I think, 

 can be obtained by crowding the 

 stores close to the cluster of bees, 

 and in considerable quantities at one 

 time, when the capacity of the hive 

 will admit of it. This plan being less 

 trouble, and much less likely to in- 

 duce robbing than feeding frequently 

 in small quantities. Later in the sea- 

 son when the colonies have become 

 too large to be fed in this way, an 

 upper story can be put on with a 

 cloth or board between to economize 

 the heat, and the combs of feed put 

 in the upper hive, leaving, of course, 

 a small passage-way between the up- 

 per and lower hive. A colony sup- 

 plied with an abundance of stores in 

 this manner, will scarcely ever fail 

 of surprising the bee-keeper with a 

 large yield of honey at the end of the 

 season. 



Entrance feeders come next. These 

 are so made that when placed at the 

 entrance of the hive, they are only 

 accessible from within, excluding out- 

 side bees. There are many other 

 kinds of feeders too numerous to de- 

 scribe here, but I consider the en- 

 trance feeder the best of its kind. 

 Having commenced feeding, whatever 

 may be the plan, there is but one 

 economical course to pursue : continue 

 the supplies until natural stores are 

 abundant. To the novice this may 

 all seem very simple and easy ; but it 

 requires the utmost caution to feed 

 during a scarcity of honey, especially 

 with weak colonies in the yard, with- 

 out inducing robbing ; and when the 

 disposition is once aroused, the effect 

 on the apiary is very demoralizing, 

 and it will prove a source of annoy- 

 ance and perplexity to the bee-keeper. 

 " An ounce of preventive is better 

 than a pound of cure," is particularly 

 applicable here. Feed at evening 

 after the bees are done flying ; be 

 particular that no teed is dropped 



