THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



255 



This examination does not imply the open- 

 ing of hives and the handling of combs. 

 This should never be done. It is a course 

 both unpleasant and injurious. Get at the 

 weight of your hive, supi^osing it to be sup- 

 plied with empty combs only, by weighing a 

 few of this description, then add to the aver- 

 age weight thus found twenty-five or thirty 

 pounds for honey and bees which will give 

 the weight which each hive must have to be 

 safe for winter so far as the amount of stores 

 is concerned. Now take the scales into the 

 yard and weigh a few colonies marking the 

 weight in each case in a convenient place on 

 the proper hive. When a colony is found 

 whose weight just about reaches the limit, 

 replace the colony and tlien bend over and 

 " heft " it. Do this rejieatedly and study 

 the weight. Now if but few of the colonies 

 need feeding most of them go so much above 

 the limit that it will be perceived at once on 

 hefting them though it may be necessary to 

 return to the "pattern" occasionally for 

 comparison. In this way the great majority 

 may be quickly disposed of as being clearly 

 safe. The doubtful and the light ones must 

 then be weighed and marked. 



The syrup to be fed may be prepared by 

 bringing to a boil any given number of 

 pounds of soft water and then adding, by 

 pouring in gently, twice the number of 

 pounds of the best granulated sugar. When 

 this is again brought to a boil it is ready to 

 be fed as soon as it becomes sufficiently 

 cool. 



The kind of feeder used is not important. 

 The Heddon feeder is most convenient as 

 enough can always be fed at once and the 

 bees are always safe from drowning, but a 

 tin pan with a piece of cloth, with care, an- 

 swers very well, or any of the smaller feeders 

 will do if filled so promptly that the bees 

 will get what they need about as quickly as 

 they can take it. 



All this should be attended to at once on 

 the cessation of the storing of surplus and 

 where the fall crop is wanting, the 20th of 

 September should see that work begun, and 

 in both cases the work should be finished 

 early in October. 



In localities where there is no nectar to 

 gather after basswood fails, the amount of 

 brood reared during August and September 

 is likely to be exceedingly limited and I 

 should greatly fear for the safety of colonies 

 entering the winter with so large a propor- 



tion of aged bees as such conditions would 

 entail. Under such circumstances, if I 

 wished to make their wintering well as cer- 

 tain as possible, I should take pains by prop- 

 er feeding to increase the amount of brood 

 as much as possible during the first half of 

 September. 



This work of proper preparation for win- 

 ter is to the apiarist, if much feeding is to be 

 done, the most trying duty of the year, and 

 happy will he be who can look back on it 

 promptly and properly done. 



Lapeeb, Mich. 



Aug. 23, 1893. 



Large Exits and Those Opening Outside the 

 Hive Are No Advantage in Bee Escapes. 



B. & E. C. POETEB. 



lEGARDING the matter of escapes 

 opening outside the hive, mentioned 

 in your last issue, Mr. Shuck and 

 ourselves and no doubt many others have 

 been over this ground very carefully. Mr. 

 .Ino. S. Reese, several years ago pointed out 

 in Gleanings the disadvantages of such an 

 arrangement as compared with the brood 

 chamber outlet. Admitting light through 

 such devices into the super does not hasten 

 matters in the least and very few will ever 

 care to use such an arrangement. The dif- 

 ficulty in getting or constructing escapes to 

 work rapidly, whether opening into the 

 brood chamber or out side the hive lies in 

 the fact that as the facilities for getting out 

 are increased the inclination of the bees to 

 use them diminishes. All that Mr. Shuck 

 and ourselves have said regarding escapes, 

 the most careful experiments will substan- 

 tially verify. Even Mr. Aikin is getting 

 around into line. Some time ago we sent 

 him a number of forms of escapes of varying 

 exit capacity, to experiment with, one hav- 

 ing fifteen exits arranged with double sets 

 of springs so as to completely break the con- 

 nection between the bees in the super and 

 those in the brood-chamber. In a letter re- 

 ceived from him the first of the week, he 

 says : "I can't see that the big one works a 

 bit better than the little ones," i. e. our reg- 

 ular form. 



Lewistown, 111. 



Aug. 18, 1893. 



