224 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



are consumed in actually producing one 

 pound of wax. 



During the season that bees are storing 

 heavily I have reason to believe that the 

 secretion of wax is continually going on, 

 and if the scales cannot be utilized they are 

 allowed to drop and be carried out as so 

 much refuse. 



Now I do not consider that foundation is 

 always used in the stock chamber at a loss ; 

 in fact it can be adopted at considerable 

 profit when " time " is the object. 



A bee keeper has to increase his stock of 

 both bees and combs, and then considerable 

 time will be gained by taking advantage of 

 foundation : though it should be borne in 

 mind that increase is obtained at the ex- 

 pense of honey." 



Pollen — Autumn Feeding. 



The following is the article, from the 

 British Bee Journal, referred to in another 

 column, by Mr. Cushman : 



" Important as is the presence of pollen 

 in the hive at all times, how few bee keepers 

 there are who give it the slightest thought, 

 especially when speaking of the quantity of 

 stores — meaning honey or syrup — their bees 

 may have to pull them through the winter ! 

 Certainly many have been taught to consider 

 it a necessity to give artificial pollen in early 

 spring, but how few apiaries really need it in 

 that form then ! Far better to have the 

 natural article stored by autumn of the pre- 

 ceding season. 



Some bee keepers talk' of pollen-clogged 

 combs, but we have never yet seen too much 

 pollen in a hive where there is a good queen 

 — we have often seen too little ; and some 

 stocks wintered upon combs having not a 

 particle of pollen have dwindled away in 

 spring, while others in like condition stand- 

 ing near, being early supplied with combs 

 heavily charged with pollen have at once 

 started a large brood-nest, and increased 

 amazingly in numbers thenceforth. 



That is a poor district for bee keeping 

 where little pollen is gathered at the latter 

 part of summer and none at all the following 

 spring until the advent of April. Such we 

 know, and there the care and management 

 required to command anything like success 

 are threefold what is needed in a good pollen 

 district : and yet it happens that in just 

 such a locality some apiaries have this year 

 given a small surplus and many stocks have 

 needed no feeding, even for winter. 



However, it is not always the peculiarity 

 of the district that is at fault. Scarcity of 

 pollen in the com lis stored for winter may 

 be caused by mismanagement. Look at 

 your combs in August ; those bare of pollen 

 will be the exception. Presently you com- 

 mence stimulative feeding because so many 

 works assert that it is necessary to. induce 

 the breeding of young bees in autumn to 

 stand the winter. And it is absolutely ne- 

 cessary that for whatever feeding is done a 

 relative proportion of young bees must be 

 brought into existence to compensate for the 

 loss of vital energy, and deaths induced by 

 the storing of such winter food. 



But we by no means recommend feeding 

 purposely to produce young bees in autumn, 

 particularly not in late autumn. It is un- 

 wise, nay, suicidal, to allow bees to take • 

 syrup after the middle of (October. It is 

 desirable, and most economical, to feed not 

 later than August. Stimulate to heavy 

 brood-rearing later than this month, your 

 already stored pollen is used up to produce 

 young bees, which are not one-third so well 

 able to stand the severity of winter as those 

 older workers you wear out in producing 

 them. 



Remember, your pollen is gone ; therefore 

 your autumn-reared bees are compelled to 

 hold out without further brood-rearing until 

 the spring is far advanced before brooding 

 can again commence. The consequence is, 

 before young bees are hatching, the already 

 too-old nurses are rapidly dwindling in num- 

 ber, and if the stock recovers at all it is 

 often at a very slow rate as compared with 

 those allowed to settle down in a normal 

 condition before winter. 



Under the latter condition brood-rearing 

 very gradually declines until the latter part 

 of September, and with a young queen there 

 are always quite sufficient young bees. The 

 bee bread is still on hand in quantity, and 

 by the first of the new year the queen recom- 

 mences her duties. What a remarkable dif- 

 ference ! Youns bees are now produced in 

 steadily increasing numbers ; as yet but few 

 flights occur, and, consequently, little loss 

 of life among the older liees. But little 

 evidence of life is exhibited on the outside, 

 but inside the hive all is silent, progressive 

 activity. 



And how are we to secure the equivalent of 

 this normal state of things ? Shame on him, 

 whose useless tinkering with the frame hive 

 leads him to think that, after all, bees come 

 out best in straw-skeps. Where is reason ? 

 where progress V First of all, is it desirable 

 to feed heavily in autumn, as so many do ? 

 Stores are accumulated only at the expense 

 of great vital energy, even when secured in 

 summer ; how cautious then ought we to be 

 to avoid this waste of power by heavy feeding 

 just before a long spell of cold. By all 

 possible means avoid extracting from the 

 brood chamber : if you get all the summer's 

 harvest stored above, well and good, but 

 what you remove from the stock combs after 

 August will cost you far more than you can 

 ever get for it. 



Avoid feeding in autumn whenever there 

 is a possibility of a stock holding out till 

 March : avoid it, whenever two or more 

 stocks united give sufficient store. If by no 

 means to be avoided, then get it over early, 

 get all finished before August closes ; and 

 feed quickly, while there are still numbers 

 of young hatching, and many old bees can 

 be made use of, which latter must inevitably 

 pass away long before winter comes on. 



August too early, you say I Yes, certainly, 

 if you wish to waste half your syrup, most 

 of your labor, and drag brood rearing on too 

 long to be of any advantage. Feed all in 

 one dose, and you save time, you save stores, 

 and economize the power of reproduction 

 for the following season. Numbers of in- 

 stances, for many years past, have conclu- 



