AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



653 



bees are in «, repository, which is very 

 disastrous to the bees confined therein, 

 and all who have tried such a tempera- 

 ture agree that it is never, under any 

 circumstances, a success. 



You speak of the ventilator which 

 you have put under ground this Summer, 

 as bringing in warm air. This ventila- 

 tor will, to a certain extent, modify the 

 air, but in all my experience I have 

 failed to find that such a ventilator 

 warmed the air to anywhere near the 

 degree required in the repository, at the 

 time when we need the air thus warmed, 

 unless this underground ventilator is put 

 so low in the ground that it makes it an 

 impracticability. 



The cold air of mid-Winter soon chills 

 the ground on all sides of the ventilator, 

 so that mine, which was 100 feet long 

 and 3 feet deep, very often admitted air 

 that was below the freezing point, and 

 this would soon make the temperature 

 inside the cellar too low, and then I 

 would have to shut it off. 



You speak of changing your ventila- 

 tors a "thousand times or more" last 

 .Winter. This is the trouble with all 

 ventilators ; they need so much chang- 

 ing that it keeps the apiarist in almost 

 as much of a sweat during the Winter 

 months, as he was during the height of 

 the honey season. 



For this reason I began closing my 

 underground ventilators little by little, 

 until I learned that it was ftf no value, 

 since which I have paid no attention to 

 it, the same having been closed for the 

 last five years. Soon after closing this 

 ventilator, I began to experiment with 

 the upper one, going very cautiously at 

 first, until I found that when it was left 

 closed a month at a time no bad results 

 could be seen, and after a little I left it 

 closed all the time. 



After two Winters with the ventilator 

 closed, I looked upon it as a needless 

 thing, so when I re-roofed the bee-cellar 

 in 1890, I paid no attention to matters 

 of ventilation at all, and the result was 

 that I never had my bees do better than 

 they did last Winter in this cellar, hav- 

 ing no ventilation whatever, except that 

 which came in through walls of earth 

 and mason work. 



If I had the bee-house described above, 

 I should try it with all the ventilators 

 shut, going cautiously at first, and then 

 if I discovered no bad results, I should 

 do away with them entirely ; for, if the 

 bees can be wintered in this house with- 

 out special ventilation being provided, it 

 will save many steps, and help much in 

 controlling the temperature. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Uniting ani Feetling Bees, 



W. C. FRAZIER. 



Early in September is the time to 

 equalize stores and feed bees. As this 

 season has been so poor that many colo- 

 nies have not gathered enough honey to 

 winter on, and as many have not at- 

 tended to this matter yet, we will give 

 our method of feeding. 



If you have two colonies that are not 

 strong enough in stores, the cheapest 

 and best way is to unite them. This 

 may be done by placing one body above 

 another. It is best if you have them, to 

 place a queen-excluding zinc between, 

 and the queen should be removed from 

 the upper story. They should remain in 

 this position until all the brood is 

 hatched, which will be 21 days, or in 

 cold weather such as Fall months 

 usually are, perhaps a day or two 

 longer. 



In the meantime they will carry into 

 the lower hive all the unsealed honey in 

 the upper, and if the cappingsare taken 

 off by the time the brood is all hatched, 

 the combs will be empty. 



The combs should be carefully put 

 away as they will be valuable next 

 Spring, and if the colony does not have 

 enough stores, feed sugar syrup until 

 they do. 



To prepare sugar syrup for bees, add 

 3^ of a teaspoonful of tartaric acid to 

 one gallon of boiling water ; into this, 

 while boiling, stir 15 pounds of granu- 

 lated, or Coffee A sugar. The granu- 

 lated is much the best, and brown sugar 

 will not do at all, as it will kill the bees. 



It is best to feed the syrup warm. Put 

 it in pans that will hold five or six 

 pounds each, and feed a panfull each 

 night until the colony has enough to 

 winter on. Cover the pans loosely (so 

 that it will sink, as the syrup recedes) 

 with thin cheese cloth, and not a bee 

 will be drowned. 



It will require 20 to 25 pounds to 

 carry a full colony through the Winter. 

 Remember a few pounds too much will 

 do no harm, while a few pounds too few 

 will cause the loss of all. 



While the flowers have failed this 

 season to secrete nectar, for some reason 

 to us unknown, although there was a 

 most luxuriant bloom of white clover 

 during the whole season, they have not, 

 however, failed to produce seed, and 

 there are from two to five seeds in each 

 head. 



We have had two or three dry seasons, 

 and the white clover was being dimin- 



