44 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTUBE. 



be found in the fields, feeding will be necessary. It must be constant 

 until the cells are sealed. Use only sugar syrup for such feeding. 

 Honey so used is liable to induce robbing. 



RACES OF BEES. 



If the bees one has are good workers and handle fairly well, it is 

 wise to go slow in changing them. Alost bees in Rhode Island are 

 Blacks or Italians, or a mixture of the two. Some of the less common 

 races have been introduced, but have soon become merged with the 

 others. The Itahan bee is probably the best all-round bee we have 

 The different strains vary in color or work in slight degree. If it is 

 desired to change one's stock, buy a few queens, getting one or two 

 each from different breeders. Try them out for a year and then 

 breed from the best. The "leather-colored" Italians are to be pre- 

 ferred to the "yellow" or "golden" type. 



PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING. 



These should begin in August with the re-queening of the colonies. 

 If there is a dearth of nectar and the prospects of an immediate flow 

 are slight, it is good policy to stimulate the production of brood. 

 Probably the very best way to do this both for economy of labor and 

 material and for the excellence of the results is to hang in each brood 

 chamber one of the "division board" feeders filled with soft sugar. 

 Do not add any water to it. This system was devised by Mr. Samuel 

 Simmins, an eminent British bee-keeper, and is one of the best things 

 he ever gave to the pubhc. The bees feed on the sugar just fast 

 enough to keep the queen laying well. They do not store any of the 

 liquified sugar in the combs. 



Mr. Simmins used "raw" sugar, but several of the soft, moist, 

 cream colored varieties found in most groceries do as well. Try 

 samples until one is found which the bees use. 



By the time the first frost cuts short the flowers, the colonies will 

 be found to have a large population of young and vigorous bees. If 

 the "fall flowers" did not yield enough to fill the combs well with 



