162 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' BE VIEW. 



feed all the colonies. Those that have a 

 good supply already will be stimulated by 

 the feeding, and, as a consequence, com- 

 mence raising a lot of brood ; and that 

 means a host of young bees and a lot of 

 honey later on in the season, if there is any 

 to be had. Even if the bees are fairly svell 

 supplied with stores, they won't rear brood 

 any thing as they do when a fresh supply is 

 coming in every day. Of course, the colo- 

 nies that are well supplied do not require as 

 much syrup as the others that are running 

 short. But suppose the combs are stored 

 and the brood-nest will permit no more. 

 Such combs of sealed stores taken out and 

 set aside will come in play for winter. 



Perhaps you may argue, ' What is the use 

 of buying syrup to feed bees in the spring, 

 when they have already enough to carry 

 them through till the honey-flow ? ' 



'Enough' — there's the point! If they 

 have just barely enough, the bees will . crimp 

 and economize in some way, to make their 

 stores last ; and the only way for them to 

 economize is to cut down brood-rearing — 

 very poor economy for you. certainly. 



' But. ' you say, ' if I feed the bees a little 

 every day, the hives will be crammed full of 

 syrup, and I shall be out of pocket to the ex- 

 tent of several barrels of sugar. ' 



What of it y You will be a gainer in the 

 end by having a large force of bees to gath- 

 er the honey if it does come ; and then when 

 the time arrives, it will be shoved right into 

 the supers, because there will be no room 

 for it in the brood nest. The honey from 

 the fields will bring a higher price, and you 

 have a first class-trade — sugar for hon^y. 

 More than all, your brood combs will b'^ fill- 

 ed with the very best of winter store? — much 

 better than honey stores, and much cheaper. 

 And suppose you are out of pocket several 

 barrels of sugar. Suppose you have fed a 

 1,000 pounds of sugar syrup, costing you, 

 say, 4 cts. per lb. ( when ripened ), and sup- 

 pose you get in exchange 1.000 lbs. of honey. 

 The latter ought to bring, if clover or bass- 

 wood, from 8 to 9 cts. Clearly, then, you 

 have made a profit of at least four cts. per 

 lb on the syrup, or an aggregate of !f 40.00 on 

 the trade, because the honey would have 

 taken the place of the sugar syrup in the 

 brood-nest. 



As Mr. Boardman well says, the farmer 

 thinks nothing of feeding his stock, expect- 

 ing to get returns. He who would say he 

 could not afford to feed his hogs well be- 

 cause the grain that he would feed them 

 would cost money, would be considered a 

 fool indeed. 



In view of the poor honey years that bee- 

 keepers have been having of late, and in 

 view of the further fact that what little 

 honey has come in has just about filled the 

 brood nest, and no more, leaving little if any 

 surplus, it it would look as if Mr. Boardman's 

 idea of substituting syrup for honey, and 

 pocketiufj the big difference in price between 

 the syrup and honey, was simply utilizing 

 good business sense. 



One year when 1 called on Mr. Boardman, 

 he had quite a crop of honey. He had been 

 feeding as I have above explained. His 



neighbors round about him did not feed, 

 and did not get any surplus honey. I firm- 

 ly believe that many of our bee-keeping 

 friends can just as well be getting a little 

 surplus, and a little money for it, as to be 

 going ahead on the old plan of getting no 

 surplus, and nothing but bees in fair con- 

 dition for wititer. But suppose a big honey- 

 flow does come, and you have followed Mr. 

 Boardman's method of feeding : your hives 

 are filled full of sugar stores, and capped 

 over, and just fairly boiling over with bees. 

 It is perfectly evident you are going to get a 

 big crop of honey that year, and all of that 

 honey will be surplus. 



One of my warm friends in Canada has 

 written me, earnestly protesting against 

 feeding the bees as Mr. Boardman does, 

 clear up to the time when honey is coming 

 in. He insists that, as soon as bees begin 

 to gather from natural sources, they crowd 

 some of the sugar syrup from the brood- 

 nest up into the sections or surplus combs. 

 I have talked with Mr. Boardman on this 

 very point, and he is very certain that, as he 

 practices feeding, it is not done. I have 

 also talked with other prominent bee-keep- 

 ers, and written for the private opinion of 

 others. All seem to feel that there is but 

 little danger to be apprehended from that 

 source. But we will suppose that my Cana- 

 dian friend's point is well taken. To be on 

 the safe side, then stop feeding within a 

 week or two of the expected honey-flow. If 

 the stores in the brood-nest are capped over, 

 there certainly can be no possible danger of 

 the syrup's being carried above. 



Taking the matter all in all, Mr. Board- 

 man's idea of feeding offers the best solu- 

 tion of the problem as to what we are go- 

 ing to do with short honey seasons — in short, 

 what will enable us to get all the honey 

 there is in the field into s^u-plus without 

 wasting any of it in b:ood-rearing. " 



A Foreign Leaflet on Honey. 



Mr. Slocum of Newport, R, I., sends me 

 the following leaflet that is used by a dealer 

 in Switzerland. It makes a strong point of 

 the desirability of the particular honey sold 

 by the author of the circular, also of the 

 medicinal and dietic or food value of honey. 

 I must say, however, that it contains much 

 that I would not put into a leaflet. I have 

 now published all of the leaflets that I have 

 received. If any one has any will he send 

 me a copy ? If I don't receive any more, I 

 will soon try my hand at writing one. 



" I beg to inform you, that I have just ad- 

 ded the exportation of real bee-honey to that 

 of Emmentlial cheese, with which I have 

 been occupi<>d for the last V.) years. Since 

 the latter afl'ords me sufficient occupation, 

 my object in adding the other to it , is less 

 that of making money, than of rendering a 

 service to the public, in offering an article 



