THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



347 



To get medium colonies that will stay 

 medium is quite a task. It requires good 

 judgement and careful selection to have 

 brood and bees equally distributed and par- 

 ticulary so to have the same proportion of 

 old and young bees in each colony. 



" Abundance of stores properly distribu- 

 ted " is easier of accomplishment. The size 

 of the colony Hxed early in the fall, the stores 

 supplied, their proper placing is sure to fol- 

 low. Take two colonies of equal strength, 

 give one its seven or eight L frames of hon- 

 ey the first of September, the other the same 

 the first of October and notice the diflf erence 

 the following spring. A mat sealed down 

 prevents any draughts except those created 

 by the bees, and together with the chaff pack- 

 ing gives them complete control of the tem- 

 perature and ventilation of the brood nest. 

 Arranged as my bees are there is never any 

 condensation of moisture on the mat. 



1 would not have it understood that I have 

 to manipulate all my colonies to prepare 

 them for winter, for by having each colony 

 supplied with a young queen by August very 

 few colonies need any alteration later. I am 

 led to believe that early preparation of bees 

 for winter is a very important factor in the 

 success of any method, and properly done, 

 it does not interfere with the harvesting of 

 the fall honey crop. iSome may say that it 

 is easy to winter bees in Rhode Island, but I 

 assure them it is not, as the temperature is 

 very variable, ranging within twenty-four 

 hours from 50" or 60^ to zero and vice versa. 

 Intense cold is frequently followed by warm 

 dense fogs that condense on and thoroughly 

 saturate everything. 



The system here set forth is a success every 

 time, which is more than I can say of any 

 other method I have tried. 



Fkovidence, R. I. (Jet. 23, 1893. 



The Relation of Sugar Syrup to Bees. 



O. H. MUBBAY. 



O life. 

 Art thou another name for strife ? 

 A daily wonder are thy hidden ways. 

 Thou goest as thou comest, in a maze. 



^||»F in order I would respectfully correct 

 ®) a statement of Mr. J. Heddon in the 

 ^1^ Oct. Review in regard to the nature of 

 the food of the bee. He says : " The food 

 of the honey bee may be divided into two 

 distinct divisions, — oxygenous and nitrog- 



enous ; the former being a heat producer 

 and the latter tissue making." 



Honey consists of carbon and water. A 

 part of the water is free or hygroscopic ; 

 that is, it is not chemically combined with 

 the carbon. The amount of free water varies, 

 but in good honey it is about ten per cent. 

 No where in the animal economy is the ox- 

 ygen of water, or of any part of the food, 

 employed as a heat producer. The vital 

 force is not sufficiently powerful to decom- 

 pose water and appropriate either of its ele- 

 ments. It is the combustion of the carbon 

 of honey, sugar, or of any other food, that 

 maintains animal heat, by its combining 

 with the free oxygen of air inhaled or ab- 

 sorbed. The product of such combustion is 

 carbonic acid gas. When the carbon of hon- 

 ey or sugar is appropriated by the bee, the 

 combined water is released and the bee dis- 

 poses of it by perspiration or otherwise. 

 Honey destitute of free water consists of 

 about forty-seven per cent, of carbon and 

 tifty-three per cent, of combined water, but 

 as honey ordinarily contains from eight to 

 twelve per cent, of free water we have about 

 forty -three per cent, of carbon in each unit 

 of honey. Where there are fifty or more 

 swarms of bees packed closely in a room or 

 cellar the amount of water evaporated by 

 them is very considerable. The vitiating 

 carbonic acid gas should also be taken into 

 account in such cases and means provided 

 for its renaoval and the substitution of fresh 

 air. 



Physiologists maintain that a small pro- 

 portion of nitrogenous food is essential to 

 aid the assimilation of the carbohydrates, 

 such as honey or sugar. A tablespoonful of 

 boiled Hour paste added to each haif gallon 

 of sugar syrup and thoroughly mixed might 

 perhaps be sufficient. Undoubtedly a tea- 

 spoonful of salt to each gallon of syrup 

 would be of great advantage. Bees long fed 

 on pure sugar syrup alone would undoubted- 

 ly die, — not from dysentery, but with stom- 

 achs full of material that they were not able 

 to digest. Simple decomposition, — as the 

 separation of carbon in sugar, cannot be ef- 

 fected by vital force. The life forces — like 

 the electric, — require decomposition and re- 

 composition simultaneously in order to 

 maintain their operation. The presence of 

 some catalytic a^ent, like salt, exerts a most 

 favorable influence in promoting the re- 

 actions. 



Elkhaet, lud. Oct. 25, 1893. 



