THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



101 



after a colony or two hasl swarmed 

 there will be queens enough costing 

 nothing for all purposes. Again, if 

 the flow of nectar Is short, as Is the 

 rule, it seems best to prevent in- 

 crease by hiving the swarms into 

 hives of brood which may be readily 

 prepared for the purpose where there 

 are many colonies in an apiary.— G. 

 L. Tinker. 



Yes, and it would be even if queens 

 were not introduced. The old hive 

 •will be full of brood when a swarm 

 leaves, and there will be but few bees 

 left; so that the new queen will be in 

 time. I should not go to the trouble 

 to rear the queens, but rear one from 

 each colony. I think it will pay best. 

 —A. J. Cook. 



The plan you suggest will work 

 very well. In its main features it is 

 much like my plan for preventing 

 increase, and utilizing the swarming 

 energy. I do not cut out the queen- 

 cells at all, for the reason that I shake 

 nearly all the bes off of the frames on 

 the seventh day in front of the hive 

 containing the swarm, and this so 

 weakens the old colony that the first 

 queen that hatches, or any virgin 

 queen turned into the hive, will de- 

 stroy all the queen-cells, and prevent 

 after-swarms. I prefer to introduce 

 virgin queens to colonies just after 

 casting a swarm.— G. W. Demabee. 



It is worth trying. As the plan is 

 one of your devising you will be more 

 likely to succeed with it than if any 

 one else devised it, but the longer you 

 keep bees the less you will feel cer- 

 tain about what any plan will do till 

 fully tried by the bees. You might 

 try one or two colonies by giving the 

 new queen, without waiting four 

 days.— C. C. Miller. 



Theoretically, the plan is not only 

 feasible, but it is the plan to work 

 after. In practice it will be found 

 difficult to follow it, owing to the 

 many " snags " that will be found to 

 run against. My advice is, to follow 

 this plan as nearly as possible, as it is 

 the general plan used by all experi- 

 enced apiarists.— J. E. Pond. 



For the " first two weeks " not very 

 much honey will be gathered by the 

 old colony. There certainly will not, 

 if the lleddon method of preventing 

 after-swarming is practiced ; and 

 even if there is, the bees will " ele- 

 vate "it to the sections just as soon 

 as the young queen begins to be 

 crowded for room. The colonies run 

 for queen-rearing will, in this case, 

 be worse than wasted. Do not do it. 

 — W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Much of your proposed plan is prac- 

 tical with a small number of colonies. 

 I would let the old colonies supply the 

 new queens, and you need have no 

 fears of the old brood-chambers be- 

 coming clogged with honey, for as 

 soon as the young queens need the 

 room, it will all be changed to brood. 

 —James IIeddon. 



Your plan will doubtless succeed in 

 an apiary of medium size. Try it with 

 a few colonies, and then you can bet- 

 ter judge its practicability. — The 

 Editor. 



^oxictspon&tnu. 



This mark O indicates that the apiarist Is 

 located near the center of the State named; 

 5 north of the center; 5 south; O* east; 

 •O west; and this 6 northeast; ^ northwest: 

 o> southeast; and 9 southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



For tbe American Bee Joumal. 



Feeding Bees for Winter. 



DR. A. B. MASON. 



Nearly every fall since I began bee- 

 keeping, 18 years ago, I have had to 

 feed some of my colonies so that they 

 might have plenty of stores for win- 

 ter. Previous to last season I had 

 worked for extracted honey almost 

 exclusively ; extracting all the white 

 clover, basswood, and sweet clover 

 honey, relying upon the yield from 

 fall flowers for winter stores ; and the 

 fall honey being often a minus quan- 

 tity, has obliged me to do a large 

 amount of feeding, sometimes as 

 many as 70 colonies, and it has al- 

 ways been a dreaded task. 



On removing sections and the supers 

 used for extracting, the first of last 

 October, I found that most of my 

 colonies would require feeding in 

 order to have plenty of stores for 

 winter, and I proceeded as follows, 

 and the work was so readily and rap- 

 idly completed that I shall never 

 dread feeding again : 



The frost having previously killed 

 the honey-producing flowers, and the 

 bees being quiet and closely clustered, 

 on Oct. 6 I weighed every hive and 

 its contents, and noted the number of 

 spaces occupied by bees, and the 

 number of frames, etc. Towards 

 evening the weather became warmer, 

 so that the bees were flying quite 

 lively. I shook the bees from several 

 hives, and found their weight. I also 

 weighed several empty combs, and 

 empty hives, and by a brief calcula- 

 tion I found the amount of stores 

 each colony had, and when one 

 needed feeding, I raised the front end 

 of the hive about 2 inches, and nearly 

 closed the entrance, so as to prevent 

 robbing while feeding. Having on 

 hand a quantity of well-ripened un- 

 marketable honey on the morning of 

 Oct. 7, it being warm and the bees 

 flying I commenced feeding. Having 

 a quantity of tin boxes holding about 

 a pound of honey each, I had them 

 Hlled, and going to the hives where 

 food was needed, I removed the cover 

 and turned up the back end of the 

 quilt and poured from one to five 

 pounds of honey into each hive. 



But few colonies were fed before 

 the bees of the whole apiary seemed 

 to have found out that there was 

 honey to be had. if they did have to 

 fight to get it. and I had to suspend 

 operations. But not wishing to be 

 out-generaled, I prepared for an even- 

 ing entertainment, and as soon as the 

 bees had nearly ceased flying I again 

 commenced operations. But not 

 wishing to repeat " Novice's" experi- 



ence, so graphically described a few 

 years ago in OUanings, when he tried 

 working at the bees at night with 

 " Mrs. Novice " holding the light, and 

 the bees doing a large amount of 

 crawling. I did not raise the quilts, 

 but raised the front end of the hive 

 still higher with one hand, and 

 poured in the honey rapidly, and so 

 kept in all the bees. When too dark 

 to see well, a light was held for me. 

 The next morning every thing was 

 quiet, and in " apple pie " order. This 

 operation was repeated for two even- 

 ings, and my bees were ready for win- 

 ter quarters, so far as I was con- 

 cerned. 



When I commenced feeding there 

 was an average of 9 1-5 pounds of 

 honey to each colony, and I fed an 

 average of 6 pounds per colony, and 

 the average loss in weight for the 

 three nights and two days while feed- 

 ing was ]J^ pounds. A colony that 

 was not fed any, lost 1^ pounds, and 

 others not fed lost in weight. One 

 colony that was fed 6 pounds gained 

 3% pounds more than was fed; and 

 there was no robbing. 



On Nov. 13 all were placed in the 

 cellar with an average loss in weight 

 from Oct. 9— the date of the last feed- 

 ing — of 15-7 pounds. 



The above is a portion of my essay 

 read at the Michigan State Bee- 

 Keepers' Convention, held at Ypsi- 

 lanti recently, and at which I am re- 

 ported as saying that the loss in feed- 

 ing 6 pounds of sugar syrup was IX 

 pounds. I did not feed sugar syrup, 

 but fed as stated above, well-ripened 

 honey, and I was surprised at the 

 loss in weight, and should have ex- 

 pected greater loss in feeding syrup. 



Auburndale,"© O. 



For the American Bee JoamaL 



Securing a Uniform Price for Honey. 



J. F. LATHAM. 



The general gist of the articles and 

 remarks that appeared in the closing 

 numbers of the Bee Journal for 

 1886, and thus far this year, embody- 

 ing suggestions relative to concerted 

 action by apiarists in regulating the 

 sale of their honey, seem about " pat" 

 to the call of the times ; particularly 

 those of the Editor on page 771, and 

 Mr. Baldridge on page 774 of the Bee 

 Journal for 1886. Although the 

 slip-shod, back- woods - go - as - you- 

 please bee-men mentioned by the 

 Editor, and the " wholsale commis- 

 sion dealers " and " up-with-the-times 

 mischief-makers " mentioned by Mr. 

 Baldridge, may be quite prominent in 

 their spheres, they fail to complete 

 the list. 



But little fear need be entertained 

 in regard to the " slip-shods," as their 

 shadows, now scarcely discernible,are 

 fast relegating to— nowhere. If the 

 " real mischief-makers " described by 

 Mr. Baldridge as " running around," 

 etc., disparaging their good fortune, 

 and '• forcing grocers and everybody 

 else to take the ' stuff ' at their own 

 price," are serious obstacles to a brisk 

 demand for honey at paying rates. 



