622 



GLEAxMNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



ported success and others a failure; but if 

 I am rig^ht again, and I think I am from 

 what I have read and heard, those who con- 

 sider it a failure, to a greater or less ex- 

 tent, far outnumber those who consider it a 

 success. ' ' 



" That is something I did not expect to 

 hear. Have you ever tried it yourself?" 



" Yes; and from my experience in the 

 matter I feel like saying that, if any one 

 must feed extracted honey to his bees in or- 

 der that comb honey may be produced, it 

 could be better fed in the spring, in order 

 to hasten brood-rearing, thus securing mul- 

 titudes of bees in time for the honey har- 

 vest; then by putting on the sections in the 

 right time, a large crop of comb honey may 

 be secured if the flowers do not fail to bloom 

 or secrete nectar." 



" But suppose we get the bees in time for 

 the harvest in some other way, do you not 

 think it could be done at a profit? " 



" My experience did not so argue. It led 

 me to believe that it is better to secure the 

 honey in the sections in the first place, 

 rather than have it stored in frames of 

 comb, and then thrown out with the ex- 

 tractor that we and the bees maj' go through 

 with much labor and stickiness to secure 

 the same thing which might have been se- 

 cured without all this trouble." 



"I do not fully understand. Explain a 

 little more minutely." 



"The practice of feeding back is on the 

 principle of producing two crops in order 

 to secure one, and it seems strange to me 

 that any one would argue that such a course 

 would pay in the long run. Even under the 

 most favorable circumst-ances, such as hav- 

 ing the bees finish nearly completed sec- 

 tions of honey, I could not make it more 

 than barely pay, if I counted my time what 

 it was worth to me in other ways. At the 

 close of certain seasons, when I would have 

 a large number of unfinished sections, 

 many of which were so nearly finished that 

 a few ounces of honey would apparently 

 finish them, it seemed that it might pay to 

 feed a little extracted honey to finish such; 

 but after a careful trial of the matter, cov- 

 ering a period of some fifteen years, I final- 

 ly gave it up as not being a paying invest- 

 ment, even in such cases, to say nothing 

 about extracting with the view of feeding 

 the honey for the bees to fill sections with 

 from start to finish." 



" What you say sounds quite reasonable; 

 but I believe I will try two or three colonies 

 so as to prove the matter for myself. How 

 would you advise for the best results? " 



" I have no objections to your trying the 

 matter; but rather rejoice that you have so 

 decided, for you may strike on something 

 we older ones have not; and by going slow, 

 as 3'ou propose, it will be no very serious 

 loss to 3'ou if you succeed no better than I 

 did. But to your question: It is generally 

 conceded that the best results can be ob- 

 tained by feeding the extracted honey right 

 at the close of the early white-honey har- 

 vest, so that the bees are kept active." 



" Can you tell me how I should prepare 

 the hive for this work? " 



"It is generally thought best, I believe, 

 to take away all frames except those which 

 are quite well filled with young brood, 

 when preparing the colony for feeding back, 

 using dummies in their places; but if all 

 combs are filled with sealed honey, except 

 those which the brood occupies, these combs 

 of honey will answer as well as dummies, 

 so far as I can see. You might try both 

 ways, and then you could tell which you 

 like best, should the thing prove a success 

 in your hands." 



" How about the honey to be fed? Shall 

 I feed it just as I find it, as stored away 

 from the extractor?" 



" I think all agree that this honey should 

 be thinned to the consistency of raw nec- 

 tar, if not a little more, by adding the nec- 

 essary amount of warm water." 



"How large an amount can I thin at a 

 time? " 



" Only the amqunt needed for feeding at 

 one time should be thinned, or two feedings 

 might possibly answer; for if the thinned 

 honey is allowed to stand long in warm 

 weather it is quite liable to sour and 

 spoil." 



" How about feeders and feeding? " 



" Almost any way of feeding will do. I 

 set an empty hive at the rear of the one be- 

 ing fed, making a communication between 

 the two at the bottom so the bees could come 

 in where the feed was. In this empty hive 

 I placed division-board feeders to a suffi- 

 cient number to hold 25 lbs. of the thinned 

 honey. This whole 25 lbs. would be car- 

 ried out of the feeders the first day, and 

 usuallj' nearlj' the same amount the second 

 24 hours, but later on they would not carry 

 so fast, when only what they would nearly 

 clean up each day would be fed, as the 

 thinned feed is liable to sour in the feeders, 

 if the bees are several da3's in taking it 

 out." 



" Thank j^ou. I must be going now." 



" Before you go I wish to say that there 

 is an item regarding comb honey produced 

 in this wa3^ which we have not touched on." 



" What is that? " 



" This fed-back honey is far more likelj' 

 to candy or become hard in the coaib than 

 that put in the comb at the time it is gath- 

 ered from the fields." 



" How is that? The writer of the article 

 I was reading said that section honey pro- 

 duced in this waj' looked very fine indeed." 



" When first taken from the hive it looks 

 very nice and attractive; but when cool 

 weather comes on in the fall it assumes a 

 dull, unattractive appearance, thus show- 

 ing that the honey has hardened in the 

 cells; while comb honey produced in the 

 ordinary way is still liquid, and will keep 

 so for from one to three months after the 

 fed-back article has become so hard as to 

 become almost unsalable." 



" That will be quite a drawback. But I 

 still think I will try the matter on a small 

 scale." 



