632 



THE mvmmmnDMM mwm jQ^mMmi^. 



be recommended, as frequently other 

 than sugar-cane sugars are used in its 

 manufacture. This sugar is packed in 

 bags of about two hundredweight, 

 mostly having a lead seal attached to 

 the mouth ot the bag. It is in irregular- 

 shaped pieces of loaf-sugar, together 

 with large quantities of the dust of the 

 same ; as its name denotes it is 

 ' ' crushed " loaf-sugar. Other descrip- 

 tions of loaf-sugar we do not recom- 

 mend. 



Sugars Suited for Bee-Feeding. 



We now come to a description of sugar 

 which we have found eminently suited 

 for bee-feeding, not only have we found 

 it useful and suitable in this respect, 

 but we never use any other description 

 upon our table, as its clean sweetening 

 properties are far before loaf and raw 

 sugars. It is called "granulated." 

 When this was first brought before the 

 bee-keeping public, one manufacturer 

 only produced it, Duncan ; it then was 

 known by the name of "Duncan's 

 Pearl Sugar." This firm ceased refin- 

 ing, and certain manufacturers in 

 America purchased the royalty, manu- 

 facturing and importing large quanti- 

 ties to England packed in barrels of 

 about 238 pounds ; unfortunately dur- 

 ing the last few months no consign- 

 ments of this sugar have been received 

 in England. This sugar made a splen- 

 did, clear, thick syrup if half-a-pint of 

 water was added to each pound of 

 sugar, and made in the ordinary man- 

 ner. 



The foregoing sugar being now be- 

 yond our reach, we have found an ex- 

 cellent substitute for the same in gran- 

 ulated sugar manufactured by two 

 firms, viz., Messrs. Geo.Crosfield& Co., 

 of 6 Stanley Street, Liverpool (regis- 

 tered trademark C. in a diamond), and 

 Messrs. Lyle, of Glasgow and London ; 

 both of these firms guarantee their 

 granulated sugar as perfectly free from 

 beet. These firms, being refiners, will 

 not supply a private individual, but any 

 respectable grocer will obtain the sugar 

 for a consumer. 



Eaw sugars, such as Demerara, Bar- 

 badoes and Porto Rico, will make very 

 good syrup, upon which the bees will 

 successfully winter, but their color de- 

 tracts from their merits, as such syrup 

 will stain the combs ; this, according to 

 our experience, is the only objection. 

 Demerara sugar is imitated by one 

 firm who color a white crystallized 

 sugar with some material (a trade 

 secret); this sugar can easily be de- 

 tected by placing a small quantity in 

 the mouth. After sucking a short time, 

 the remainder left in the mouth will be 

 quite white, the act of sucking having 

 removed the coloring matter, which is 

 only superficial. As we do not know 

 what the coloring matter is composed 

 of, we object to its being used in the 

 apiary. 



Porto Rico sugar we find the most 

 suitable for dry-sugar feeding, as it is 

 very dehquescent; it also, for feeding 

 on top of the frames, binds together 

 with slight pressure, so forming itself 

 into almost a solid cake. " Good " 

 candy is made by mixing icing sugar 

 with hot honey until of the consistency 

 of putty ; this is much too expensive, 

 and on account of the same, suitable 



only for the food used in queens' travel- 

 ing cages. 



The answer then to the question, 

 What sugar to use in making syrup V 

 will be found to be granulated, guaran- 

 teed by the makers to be free from 

 beet. How to make the syrup is an- 

 swered also in the above paragraph, 

 and will also be found in any modern 

 manual on bee-keeping. 



Honr to Feed Sugar to Bees. 



How to feed is then the next ques- 

 tion. The ordinary regulating bottle- 

 feeder will be of little service this sea- 

 son ; a fast-feeder must be used. There 

 are plenty ot these to choose from, and 

 where expense is of little object, any 

 of the boxes with numerous divisions, 

 upon the principle of which most fast- 

 feeders now are made, can be used, but 

 there are other and cheaper methods of 

 making a fast-feeder, the following one 

 we frequently use : 



Obtain a tin dish, having almost per- 

 pendicular sides ; into this place a wood 

 float almost fitting the dish, and hav- 

 ing a number of holes, freely dispersed, 

 bored through. We place this on top 

 of the frames, after filling it with syrup, 

 and under the quilts, allowing, by lay- 

 ing pieces of wood across the tin dish, 

 the bees to work up over the edge and 

 take the syrup down. It is not what 

 we call a tidy way of doing it, but it 

 answers as well as the most expensive 

 feeder. 



The dish is refilled through the hole 

 in the quilt, and will hold about four 

 pounds of syrup. The quilts must be 

 tucked down snugly all around. A good 

 colony with this feeder can be fed up 

 in about ten days or less, if the weather 

 is warm. 



It is very noticeable that beet-sugar 

 is objected to bv most bee-keepers, and 

 rightly so. Although beet-sugar is, 

 chemically speaking, cane-sugar, it is 

 vastly inferior in its saccharine proper- 

 ties to sugar made from the sugar- 

 cane. If we place a quantity equal in 

 bulk to what we usually find with 

 sugar-cane sugar suflBcient for sweeten- 

 ing a cup of tea, it will be found quite 

 unsuited to our taste, necessitating a 

 further addition of at least one-fourth 

 the original bulk. Bees fed on the 

 same do not winter in at all a satisfac- 

 tory manner, therefore we think that a 

 knowledge as to where to get a sugar 

 free from beet will be of great service 

 to our readers, and likewise a comfort 

 to the bees through the rigors of the 

 winter of 1888-89. 



CALIFORNIA. 



The Season and the 

 Honey. 



Sources of 



Written for Die American Bee Journal 

 BY S. L. WATKINS. 



The honey crop in El Dorado county, 

 this year, was an average one, being 

 about -50 pounds per colony. The 

 weather has been extremely warm the 

 past mouth, at I'lacerville the mercury 

 standing at 100° to 105° almost every 

 day in August. This hot weather and 



no honey coming in, caused the bees to 

 dwindle down rapidly. At the Placer- 

 ville apiary I lost 40 colonies out of 82. 



The Carniolan bees have done the 

 best at Placerville. It is true that they 

 dwindled down considerably, but noth- 

 ing at all in comparison with the Ital- 

 ians, hybrids and blacks. I have not 

 lost a single colony of Carniolan bees. 

 They are the best bees to defend their 

 hives against robber bees, of any that I 

 have ever seen. Next season I shall 

 keep nothing but Carniolan bees in the 

 Placerville apiary. 



I have two apiaries located 14 miles 

 above Placerville in the mountains. 

 At these apiaries all kinds of bees do 

 well. I do not see much difference in 

 regard to the amount of honey stored 

 by each race— black bees do as well as 

 the Italians. 



Bees gather the spring crop from 

 alders, willows, maples, dogwood, wild 

 cherry and plum, California lilac, man- 

 zanita. chaparall, folocio, pennyroyal, 

 etc. The fall crop is the largest and 

 best, being gathered mostly from the 

 incense cedar, which is a wonderful 

 yielder of honey. The spring crop 

 averages about 30 pounds per colony, 

 and the fall crop sometimes averages 

 100 pounds per colony. 



Bees do not begin to gather honey 

 from the incense cedar until October, 

 and it usually lasts about six weeks. 

 The honey gathered from this source is 

 the thickest that I have ever seen. 

 The bees cap the cells with a snowy 

 whiteness, which gives it a very beau- 

 tiful appearance. The incense cedar 

 is rich in both pollen and honey, a sin- 

 gle tree furnishing enough pollen for 

 the wants of a whole colony. 



Placerville, Calif., Sept. 10, 1888. 



NECTAR. 



Do Bees Hear ? — Swarming and 

 Science. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY G. W. DBMAREB. 



There are many questions pertaining 

 to bee-culture that are not directly of 

 practical utility, but interesting never- 

 theless. 



Have Bees the Sense of Hearing 1 



This is a matter, it seems to me, 

 capable of demonstration. That bees 

 do hear in some senile which answers to 

 the sense in which other animals hear, 

 I have every reason to believe. That 

 bees pay no attention to the ordinary 

 din and clash of the outer world about 

 them, proves nothing at all, for the 

 same is true, in a limited sense, with 

 all living creatures. 



My grounds are bounded on the one 

 side by a railroad, and from 10 to 14 

 trains pass by every day. My stock 

 graze in the pasture undisturbed — tuey 

 rarely ever raise tneir heads when a 

 train thunders oy. The same is true 

 with my bees— tliey work right along 

 as though all was silent. But if I drop 

 some young bees on the ground, they 

 will find the entrance to the hive if 

 they are in heariiui distance of the bees 

 at the entrance ; if not, they will wan- 



