158 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



number of colonies does not signify as much 

 with me as it would in some apiaries. The 

 average yield of honey per colony in this 

 region is so small tliat it absolutely won't 

 pay to feed sugar in such quantities as often 

 advised. It is every man's business to know 

 his own location, and to keep his knowledge 

 in mind when laying his plans. If it will 

 2Jay to buy twenty pounds of sugar per col- 

 ony, why do so. If you know pretty well it 

 will not pay, the above plan avoids the de- 

 struction of bees, and keeps things in a shape 

 that one can quickly get back to tiie original 

 number of colonies in the spring if he de- 

 sires. One year I used a modification of this 

 plan in which six or eight colonies were put 

 in one hive without any partition. This of 

 course sacrifices many more queens, and is 

 less desiral)le on that account. 



I do this work rather late in the season, 

 and I have found so few bees to insist on 

 their old location that there is no serious 

 trouble on that account. It is well to leave 

 the stand they were taken from without any 

 empty hive there, else bees might gather in 

 it warm days. 



As to queens, I have a strong impression that 

 the best queen survives when all are shaken 

 together, and that my selection is very apt 

 to be incorrect. If you wish to destroy the 

 superfluous ones yourself it is better to do 

 that part of the work on a previous occasion. 

 Let me state my theory ,as to why the best 

 queen survives in a contest. It may not be 

 correct, but then again it may. Victory de- 

 pends not on strength, rjpr on agility, nor on 

 luck, but OH whic]i (iu<'(')iji):st hccoineyi i)ifur- 

 iated enough to stiiKj. And this again de- 

 pends on the amount of real vitality and vim 

 the lady happens to have in store. It looks 

 reasonable that a poor or declining (jueen 

 should have comparatively less of that pe- 

 culiar royal jealousy which distinguishes 

 queens. 



Bees packed in two-chambered quarters 

 soon seem to acquire a common scent, or at 

 least to get used to each other to such an ex- 

 tent as to feel at home on either side of the 

 partition. If the honey is unwholesome, 

 and the bees dwindle, most of the survivors 

 are apt to collect on one side, leaving on the 

 other only the queen and a mere nucleus of 

 bees. This is sometimes a disadvantage, but 

 sometimes an advantage. In setting them 

 apart in the spring you can let the weaker 

 lot keep the homestead, and set the stronger 

 lot in a new location. Bees enough will then 

 return to do considerable toward evening 

 things up. 



Now as to the preparation of the hive. I 

 have elaborate liottom boards for winter, 

 with sawdust bedding, small open chamlier, 

 vertical entrance, and various do-funnies 

 which I do not think important enough to 

 recommend. The ordinary bottom board-, 

 a simple partition, and two bits of wood to 

 close the rabl)ets on each side where the 

 partition comes up, will do, I think. The 

 partition is an outline of thin strips of wood 

 holding two thicknesses of enamelled cloth. 

 Bees on each side cuddle uj) against it and 

 form what in reality is but one cluster, al- 

 though each side has its sei)arate ijueen. 

 'I'hinly shaved wood will, I presume, do well 



for partitions. Have the combs quite a little 

 further apart than in summer, provided you 

 are going to have bees enough to fully occupy 

 the room. If not, better leave only about 

 the usual space. A space will hold more 

 bees than most of us are apt to plan on. If 

 the hive is a small one, and will not hold ten 

 frames with a partition, I put in only /our 

 combs in each apartment. The very narrow 

 eight frame hives I presume cannot well be 

 used, so the brethren who have no other 

 hives than these will not find my plan of any 

 utility to them. 



RiCHAKDs, Ohio, Sept. Hd, 1S90. 



Early Preparation— Amount of Feed Needed 



—Uniting Brood Instead of Bees— How 



to Prepare Sugar Syrup. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



§( )ME seem to think that bees need little 

 or no attention during the months of 

 September and October, believing that 

 the month of November is early 

 enough to prepare bees for winter. I used 

 to think so, too, but later on I took the ad- 

 vice of an old bee keeper, who told me that 

 the month of September was the proper time 

 to prepare the bees for winter. After work- 

 ing on his plan for a number of years, I find 

 that he was quite right about it, and, as I am 

 now preparing my bees for the coming 

 winter, I thought it might not be uninterest- 

 ing to the readers of the Review to know 

 iiow I do it. 



The point which seems to have the great- 

 est bearing on successful wintering, is the 

 getting of the winter stores near and around 

 the cluster of bees in time for them to s( ttle 

 down into that (luiescent state, so conducive 

 td good wintering, prior to November first. 

 To arrange these stores and properly seal 

 them, requires warm weather, hence all will 

 see the fallacy of putting off caring for them 

 till cold weather arrives. To be sure all 

 have the desired amount of honey or stores, 

 there is only one certain way to do, and that 

 is to open the hives and take out each frame 

 and weigh it, after having shaken the bees 

 off from it. Next weigh a frame of empty 

 comb, or several of them, so as to get the 

 average weight, which, when deducted from 

 the weight of those in the hive, will give the 

 weight of the honey. If it is found that 

 there is twenty-five pounds of honey, and the 

 bees are to be wintered out door, I call that 

 colony right for winter, or from then till the 

 bees get honey again in the spring. If I 

 intend to feed in the spring, if necessary, 

 then twenty pounds will do well enough. 

 If I winter in the cellar, five pounds less 

 stores will do. If less than these amounts 

 are found, the colony must l)e fed to make 

 up the deficiency; if more is found, 1hin 

 some can be spared to help another colony 

 which may be short. In this way I uo over 

 the wliole a^iiary, equalizing and feeding, as 

 is required, till all have the required numl)er 

 of pounds for each colony. But, I liear 

 some one say, this is a fearful job ii shake 

 the bees off from every comb and weigh it. 

 Well, so it would be, if done wit li each col- 



