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peps' 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to the Interests of Honey Producers. 

 $1.00 A YEAR. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. Editor and Publisher. 



VOL. XX. FLINT, MICHIGAN, MAY. 15, 1907. NO. 5 



When the Spring" Feeding of Bees is 

 an Advantage. 



VV. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



IT is possible to liave a. good flow of 

 i honey, and yet secure no surplus. If 

 the bees are weak in the spring, and the 

 white clover harvest is early and short, 

 it simply puts the colonies in good trim; 

 then, if basswood furnishes no honey, the 

 season is practically a failure, when it 

 need not have been had the bees been 

 strong early in the season. How to have 

 colonies strong in numbers at the opening 

 of the harvest is well worthy of consider- 

 ation. 



The foregoing was the opening para- 

 graph in my article last month. I then 

 said: "Aside from food in abundance. 

 warmth is the one great thing needed to 

 promote safe, early bieeding." 1 then 

 went on to show how to secure this need- 

 ed warmth by protecting the hive with 

 tarred felt. 1 will now take up the ques- 

 tion of food. 



Mr. E. D. Townsend uttered a great 

 truth when he said that the foundation of 



a honey crop lies in "having a colony rich 

 in stores for a period of six weeks pre- 

 vious to the main honey flow." The bees 

 seem to be able to take an inventory of 

 the stock on hand, and then govern their 

 operations accordingly. With two or 

 three good solid combs of honey back 

 next to the sides of the hives, the bees 

 don't seem to hesitate to go ahead and 

 rear brood. I presume that sealed honey 

 in the hive does not have the stimulating 

 effect of liquid feed given a colony from a 

 feeder; and. early in the season it is just 

 as well not to have this stimulative effect. 

 In this matter of early breeding, it is well 

 to make haste slowly. The hives warmly 

 packed and supplied with abundance of 

 sealed stores, furnish all of the stimula- 

 tion needed until after fruit bloom is over 

 in this part of the country. If Mr. Town- 

 send uttered a great truth when he said 

 abundance of food previous to the harvest 

 laid the foundation of a honey crop, then 



