rHE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



405 



Bees swarm naturally during a 

 honey-flow ; and as they All them- 

 selves with honey before swarming, 

 there will always be some unsealed 

 honey left in the hive.— The Editor. 



©avresp^ondcucje. 



This mark indioatea that the a piarist Is 

 located near tne center of the State named ; 

 5 north of the center; 9 south; O east; 

 *0 west; and thisd northeast; "O northwest: 

 o- southeast; and P southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



Offlelal Report of U. 8. Entomologist. 



Resort Of Apiciiltnral Experiments. 



N. W. M'LAIN. 



[The following is an extract from 

 the Official Report of Mr. McLain to 

 the United States Entomologist, for 

 the year 18S6, and now just issued by 

 the Department of Agriculture, at 

 Washington, in its "Reports of ob- 

 servations and experiments in the 

 practical Work of the Division, made 

 under the direction of the Entomolo- 

 gist."— Ed.1 



BUILDIKG UP COLONIES IN SPBING. 



For preventing spring dwindling, 

 and building up colonies to maximum 

 strength and efficiency at the begin- 

 ning of the working season— for suc- 

 cess in houey-producing largely de- 

 pends on having strong colonies ready 

 for work at the very time when effi- 

 cient work may be done— I prepared 

 a bee-food containing the elements 

 essential in brood-rearing. This food 

 is prepared after the following 

 formula: 



To 10 pounds of sugar I add half a 

 pint of dairy salt, 2 table-spoonfuls of 

 bicarbonate of soda, 2 table-spoonfuls 

 of rye flour, 2 table-spoonfuls of finely 

 powdered bone-ash, and 1 table-spoon- 

 ful of cream tartar. Mix thoroughly, 

 then add 2 quarts of hot water, and 

 stir until thoroughly dissolved, and 

 let the mixture boil, but only 2 or 3 

 minutes. I feed this food in the hive 

 as honey or syrup is usually fed, 

 thereby keeping all the bees at home 

 to aid in keeping up the temperature 

 in the hive, thus reserving their 

 vitality for performing the functions 

 of brood-rearing, instead of speedily 

 wearing out their remaining strength 

 in roaming the fields in search of the 

 elements essential to larval growth. 



The bone ash is prepared by burn- 

 ing dry bones to a white ash, which I 

 pulverize and sift through a sieve 

 made from fine wire strainer cloth. 

 As this food is not intended for use 

 until after the bees have had a good 

 flight in the spring, almost any grade 

 of sugar or dark low-grade honey may 

 be supplied for brood-rearing. 



The rapidity with which a colony 

 consisting of a mere handful of bees 

 may be built up to full strength and 



working efficiency by using this prep- 

 aration is surprising. Only as much 

 as is needed for immediate consump- 

 tion should be frequently supplied, 

 and it should be fed only to prevent 

 spring dwindling, or when it is de- 

 sirable to quickly increase the numeri- 

 cal strength of the colony in anticipa- 

 tioB of a honey harvest, or to recruit 

 the vigor and strength of the colony 

 by rearing young bees after the work- 

 ing season, and prior to going into 

 winter quarters. 



PKEPARING BEES FOR WINTER. 



Bees instinctively begin to make 

 preparations for winter somewhat 

 earlier in the season than is commonly 

 supposed. In preparing for winter, 

 as in all other matters relating to 

 bee-keeping, the apiarist should see 

 to it that the method of management 

 is as nearly as possible in agreement 

 with the instinct and habits of the 

 bee. When bees build their combs 

 after their own design, as in box- 

 liives, spaces are left between wide 

 enough to admit of elongating the 

 cells in order that a large share of the 

 winter stores may be placed in the 

 top of the hive, easily accessible in 

 the severest weather. I find it a good 

 practice to widen the spaces between 

 the comb frames near the close of the 

 honey-gathering season, in order that 

 the bees may. by elongating the cells, 

 place a large share of the winter 

 stores above the cluster. 



As soon as the storing of surplus 

 honey is done the condition of every 

 colony should be examined, the 

 amount and character of the winter 

 food ascertained, the number of comb 

 frames, and the size of the apartment 

 should be determined by and adapted 

 to the wants of each colony. After 

 the supply of winter stores has been 

 equalized among all the colonies, if 

 the supply is insufficient, feeding 

 should be done before the advent of 

 cold nights. 



Bees expected to perform the func- 

 tion of hibernation should not be too 

 old nor vet too young. Both queen 

 and worker bees should be in full 

 physical vigor. Tlie bees constitut- 

 ing the colony, when placed in winter 

 quarters, should be such as are 

 hatched after the midsummer work- 

 ing season is past, and before the bees 

 cease flying freely in the fall. 



Towards the close of the working 

 season the workers instinctively cease 

 stimulating the queen for oviproduc- 

 tion ; gradually the bees cease flying, 

 and the cluster is formed for winter. 

 After the cluster is formed the cfilony 

 should remain undisturbed. If the 

 bees are to be packed on the summer 

 stand, the work should be done with 

 care, and without disturbing ttie bees, 

 and before the temperature at night 

 reaches the freezing point. If the 

 bees are to be placed in a clamp, or in 

 a cellar or winter ippository. great care 

 should be taken not to disturb the 

 cluster when the hives are removed 

 from the summer stand. I have 

 found woolen quilts or woolen blank- 

 ets the best covering for winter. 

 Wool, better than any other material 

 which I have tried, prevents the 

 radiation of heat, and permits the 



escape of moisture, thus securing 

 warmth and dryness. Hives should 

 be placed 18 inches above the bottom 

 of the cellar or winter repository, and 

 in tiering them up one above another 

 it is better that they rest on a rack 

 prepared for the hive rather than one 

 upon another. 



My report for 188-5 covers the period 

 from June 1 to Nov. 25, when the 

 severity of the weather forbade 

 further out-of-door experiments. As 

 nearly all the colonies in the apiary 

 had been subjected to very frequent, 

 almost daily, disturbance and annoy- 

 ance incidental to the experimental 

 purposes for which they had been 

 used, they were, almost without ex- 

 ception, in very poor condition for 

 passing into winter quarters. Kovem- 

 ber 2-5 I packed 20 colonies for out- 

 door wintering. Notwithstanding the 

 lateness of the season, and the alto- 

 gether unsatisfactory condition of the 

 bees when packed, 18 of the colonies 

 wintered fairly well. These 20 colo- 

 nies were provided with dry sawdust 

 packing 8 inches thick on the sides, 

 and covered with a quilt and dry 

 forest leaves to the depth of 8 inches 

 on top of the frames. A rim 2 inches 

 wide is placed under the body box of 

 the hive, making a 2 inch space under 

 the bottom-bar of the comb frames. 

 A covered tunnel leads from the hive- 

 entrance through the packing. This 

 packing is left on the hive until 

 warm weather is assured, thus guard- 

 ing against danger from chilling of 

 the brood when building up the colo- 

 nies rapidly in early spring. The hive 

 should incline from back to front, 

 permitting the moisture to flow out 

 at the entrance. 



I placed 10 colonies in the cellar 

 from which the hive covers were re- 

 moved and the frames covered with 

 woolen and cotton quilts. These were 

 used for observation and experiment 

 during the winter. Eight or 10 came 

 through the winter alive, "but being 

 subjected to a wider range of tem- 

 perature, and being very frequently 

 annoyed and disturbed, their vitality 

 was very low, and the old bees, of 

 which most of these colonies were 

 composed, fell easy victims to spring 

 dwindling. 



HIBERNATION. 



For the purpose of determining the 

 degree of temperature in a dry cellar 

 necessary to secure the minimum of 

 functional activity within the hive 

 during the period of hibernation, I 

 framed comb frames across each other 

 at right angles, and into these frames 

 I fitted and fastened combs filled with 

 choice sealed honey. These were 

 suspended in hives having glass sides 

 and top. exposing the cluster to view 

 from all sides and from the top. Re- 

 movable wooden doors covered the 

 glass. . 



My observations covered a period 

 of ninety days from Dec. 1, 1885, and 

 include a range of temperature from 

 zero to 65'J Fahr. The hives were 

 placed in a dark apartment, and an 

 oil stove with a radiator was used for 

 heating. Different degrees of tem- 

 perature were maintained for several 

 consecutive hours, and, as occasion 



