372 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



GRAPX: SrOAR FOR BFES. 



now TO FEED IT. 



^^N the first place, you must not undertake to keep 

 *[| your bees over winter on grape sugar alone, for 

 '^-^' althduah it can and has been done, there is al- 

 ways a liability of their starving: to deatli, when con- 

 tined to it and nothinsr else. iSo long- as they have 

 access to it in a liquid state, it is, so far as I know, 

 .lust as g-ood as honey; but in cool, or cold weatlier, 

 it very soon hardens in the cells, and unless the clus- 

 ter is hirge enough to cover the whole and warm it 

 up, they may starve to death, when it is rifilit against 

 them. Perhaps, the readiest means Is to place some 

 lumps of it right among the bees, on the top of the 

 frames. If the lumps are not too large, they will 

 warm them up nearly to a liquid state, and use them 

 all up. Bees have been T>'intered on it alone, in this 

 way, but unless watched closely, it is rather unsafe. 

 You can easily fill a frame with it, by putting the 

 grape sugar in a new tin pan on the strive and warm- 

 ing it gradimllj' without water, until it is so soft as 

 to be readily spread with a knife. Lay a paper 

 on the table, your frame on the paper, and with a 

 knife or spoon, fill the frame evenly. In 24: hours 

 or less, you can hang- the frame in the hive, iu the 

 centre of the cluster. If a colony has a very little 

 honey, you can make it last them all winter, by a ju- 

 dicious use of grape sugar. You can make it into a 

 syrup with water, either by boiling, or stirring the 

 sugar and water tog-ether cold. Hot water dissolves 

 it quickest. Make the syrup pretty thin, or it will 

 be in great danger of getting on the bees, and stick- 

 ing their wings together so they cannot fly, for it is 

 of a glutinous nature. If fed in the Haines feeder 

 de-cribcd in our price list, this cannot happen. As 

 it is always liable to harden quickly in the feeders 

 no matter how thin it is made with water, I dislike 

 fussing with it in the form of syrup. It is sticky 

 and dauby stuff to handle, unles.s you are careful"; 

 if you are as careless with your work as some of my 

 boys are, I would advise taking- your box of sugar 

 and utensils away from the house, out on the grass 

 .somewhere before you begin to work with it. As 

 the bees do not care enough abovit it to fight for It, 

 as they do honey, you can feed it in the open air at 

 anytime. They will carry away- a whole barrel in 

 the course of a few weeks, and do it as quietly as if 

 it was so much meal. Some feed it in the form of a 

 syrup with about a fourth or fifth part of honev 

 added. In this shape, they will take to it with much 

 more readiness. For comb building, bi-ood and 

 queen rearing, during a dearth of honey, it is an ex- 

 cellent and cheap substitute for either honey or 

 sugar. While the bees are getting honey in the fields, 

 I presume they could not be well made to notice it, 

 for at such times, they will rarely notice even cane 

 sugar. When bees are short of pollen, t presume 

 this sugar is better than even cane sugar (although 

 it contains only about '3' the sweetening power) on 

 account of the starchy principle it contains. Crrape 

 sugar is miinufactui-ed from Indian corn, and where 

 corn is cheap, shimld be the place to have it manu- 

 factured and exported. 



HOW TO M VKK A SLTIPHCITY OK I> AlVG- 

 STKOTH HIVE ANSWER THE PUR- 

 POSE OF A CHAFF HIVE FOR 

 W i:VTERI>«i. AS IVRAK- 

 L.V AS POSSIBLE. 



f'F you put one of the chaff cushion division 

 boards in each side of the hive, you have the 

 i^r-j sides very well. protected; but the ends are left 

 exposed to the influence of the frost. I believe it is 

 I>retty generally admitted, that the air space be- 

 tween the ends of the frame and the ends of the 

 hive is rather a bad feature for the most successful 

 wintering. The idea of filling these spaces with a 

 thin eusliion of some kind of fabric is not a new 

 one, but the amount of fussing it required has been 

 an oli.iection to it. We have just fixed for winter- 

 ing. Some colonies which are to contain some of our 

 imported (|ueens, and the plan pleases me so well, 

 that I will describe it. 



Cut a piece of burlap 24 by 60 in. ; fold it once, and 

 sew it on :3 sides, so that you will have a sort of bag 

 12.\fiU in.; 20 inches from one end, and right in the 

 center of the width, cut a place for an entrance, as 

 shown in the cut, and hem or bind it. 



The upper figure shows the piece extended at full 

 length; the lower one, as it is used in the hive. AA 

 are the end of the Simplicity hive; BB, the bottom 



board, v^ushed back so as to give ■'» in. space for the 

 entrance, and CC are the ends of the burlap which 

 goes under the frames, around between the corners 

 and rabbets, and over the tops of the frames. By 

 this means we dispense with the enameled cloth en- 

 tirely, in winter. 



For over one year, I ne\er found a sheet of the 

 enameled cloth bitten through; hut in the past 

 week, I have found that they do sometimes get 

 through, as they did through the duQk. Had there 

 been a chaff cushion over it, perhaps it would not 

 have h;ippened, but it looks very much as if nothing 

 is going to hold them permanentl.v, short of pieces 

 of thin wood. The burlap is nice for wintering, and 

 is not usually gnawed to much extent. The ar- 

 rangement given above is the handiest I have ever 

 used for feeding candy or grape-sugar. 



nOAV TO Fix A SIMPLICITY HIVE FOR WINTER. 



In fixing- the hives for winter, lift out all the combs 

 and bees, and put in the burlap. Be sure that the 

 hole in the burlap comes exactl.v at the entrance, 

 and is free and open; then crowd in the division 

 boards, and set in the combs containing the bees. 

 bein,g sure that no bees are between the cloth and 

 the eomb-^. When all the frames are in, bring- tlie 

 ends of the cloth over, as shown in the cut. If your 

 combs have no holes in them, it may be well to put 

 a stick, 1.1 inch square, crosswise, just over tlie clus- 

 ter. Now set on .your upper story, and put in your 

 chaff cushion or pillow, large enough to nearly fill 

 it, crowd it down tight, and they are pretty well 

 tucked up. 



If the cushion gets damp from the moisture from 

 the breath of the bees, raise the cover the thickness 

 of a couple of matches; this will give ventilation 

 but exclude rain and inquisitive bees. 



Burlap is a coarse bagging, much like coffee sack- 

 ing; I suppose that any other cheap, open, and por- 

 ous cloth, something of the nature of straw, will an- 

 swer. It is soinctiiiies gnawed b.v the bees, but not 

 often. We use two thicknesses simply tf) have it 

 warmer, and to more nearly fill the space. It may 

 be left in until honey comes next season. 



It will probivbly save time to fix an empty hive 

 ready for the bees; swap it for a hive, then fix that, 

 and so on. The bottom boards need not be dis- 

 turbed. To exclude frost, 1 would then bank up 

 with sawdust, except at the entrance. AVatch on 

 pleasant days to see that no enti-ftisces are clogged. 



Wc can furnish these sheets for 20c. each; if sent 

 by mail, ;50c. each. 



WINTERING NUCr-EI. 



Please inform me of the best means, if any, of 

 preserving a nucleus through the winter. It is in 

 a 7x9 box and contains a valuable (pieen. 



w. E. Moore. 



Hamlin, Kan., Oct. 17th, 187S. 



Get them into as small a space as possible; 

 that is, contract the space with chaff cnsh- 

 ions, so that the bees cover all the combs, 

 and lill all the space, jnst as we wonld a t'nll 

 swarm. If yon have less than a qnart of 

 bees, it mij^'ht l)e well to take them into a 

 dry cellar dnring the severest weather. Tlie 

 greatest troidile you will have, will be to i)re- 

 vent swarming out in the spring. The 

 queen and bees are always liable to swarm 

 out, because they are dissatistied with so 

 small a com])any, and try to join themselves 

 with some larger colony. Many have suc- 

 ceeded nicely in wintering one" or two, but 

 when they tried a larger number, the result 

 has usually been vexation and loss. 



