ee- 



\eepeps' fleVieou' 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 

 Devoted to tl^e Interests of Hoqey Producers. 



$L00 A YEAR, 

 W. Z, HUTCHINSON, Editor and ProDrietor. 



VOL. VII 



FLiNT, MICHIGAN, JUNE 10. 



)4. NO, 6. 



AVork at IMioliigaTi's 



ExperiiTiental 



Apiary. 



B. L. TAYLOR, APIABIST. 

 SUGAR FOR WINTER STORES. 



\j?rlTB. a view 

 AA to bring out 

 in some measure 

 if possible the 

 difference in val- 

 ue between sugar 

 syrup and honey 

 for winter stores 

 I selected, at the 

 proper time in 

 the fall of 1893, 

 twenty - four col- 

 onies, one-half of 

 which were to be fed sugar syrup for winter 

 stores and the other half to be supplied with 

 honey for the same purpose. Considerable 

 care was taken to select and arrange the col- 

 onies so as to have the two sets as nearly 

 equal as possible in point of strength but 

 the bees were not weighed separately from 

 the hive, the strength being estimated by 

 the amount of space occupied by the cluster. 

 This is not a satisfactory course to pursue 

 when it can be avoided. I now appreciate 

 the importance of the weighing better than 

 I did at the time the experiment was under- 

 taken and that course will be taken if the 

 experiment is repeated. At some seasons of 



the year the manipulation necessary to 

 secure the separate weight of the bees would 

 be so objectionable as to preclude its use, 

 but at the time contemplated it would be 

 neither objectionable nor very difficult. 

 Owing to the character of the latter part of 

 last season few of my colonies were very 

 strong last fall, and in the effort to select 

 colonies with such conditions as would facil- 

 itate the operations of the experiment it 

 turned out that those selected were consid- 

 erably below even the average strength and 

 ia this way another mistake was made which 

 shjuld not be repeated. It is necessary to 

 point out further that the colonies selected 

 were partly in two story Heddon hives and 

 partly in one story ones and that in order to 

 deprive one set almost completely of honey 

 and to supply the other set with an abun- 

 dance of honey for winter stores, it was 

 found necessary to so manipulate the hives 

 that those to be wintered on honey had two 

 story hives and those to be fed sugar syrup 

 one story. 



These arrangements were made the last of 

 September and the necessary feeding was 

 done at once. 



The hives were first weighed when they 

 were put into the cellar, the 15th of Novem- 

 ber, and again when taken out the first days 

 of April. It will be observed that two are 

 wanting from the sugar fed set and three 

 from those wintered on honey, but as none 

 of them, as far as appeared, perished on ac- 

 count of dysentery or on account of any 

 peculiarity of either kind of stores, nothing 



