DEVOTED EXCIitTSIVELTr TO BEES A 1KTT~i FTm\T~R~y 
Vol. II. 
JANUARY 1, 1874. 
No. 1. 
HOW TO CONDUCT AN APIAHY. 
FTER wishing our readers all botli old 
S%, and new, a “Happy New Year,” we would 
remark that we should he very happy indeed to 
he able to tell them thebest way to conduct an 
Apiary during this month, if we could, butper- 
liaps it may lie as well to be frank about it and 
say in the beginning “we dont know.” If colo- 
nies are all strong and the weather is cold per- 
haps the best advice we could give would be 
to say “let ’em alone.” They might be given 
candy even liow if any were in danger of starv- 
ing but we hope none of our readers have been 
so improvident. Should your Bee House con- 
tain a large number of very strong stocks, dur- 
ing ndld weather they may get too warm and 
become uneasy, or should the room feel close 
and have an unpleasant smell we would open the 
doors after dark and then close them again 
next morning before light. A caution is proper 
here, however, for ’tis to be remembered that 
our thick sawdust walls are as much to keep 
the inside mol at times as to keep the bees warm, 
and so wcwbuld never open the doors so long as a 
thermometer showed a lower temperature in- 
side than that of the out door air. Many times 
we can keep the temperature at 40 degrees in- 
side when it may be (H) or more at midday out- 
side. Bees wintered out doors need no atten- 
tion when they are healthy, unless it be to 
shade the hive, when they would get lost in a 
very light snow as has been sooften recommend- 
ed. To be frank again we have of late had almost 
as little experience with out door wintering as 
with Box Honey , yet we are always glad to get 
reports from its advocates. ’T would be rather 
easier to stop here and not consider colonies 
that were not healthy and prosperous, for we 
really know of nothing we could recommend 
to be done for bees with the Bee Malady at this 
season, with much hope of success. Actual ex- 
periments so far as we know, such as taking the 
bees into warm rooms and feeding sugar syrup 
in clean comb, etc., at this season, do not seem 
to have been very successful. At the present 
time of writing Dec. 12, from reports we have 
been able to collect we should prefer to risk 
them at a temperature of 40 or 4.1 degrees, 
rather than 10 or 00, and if any change were to 
be made in the food we should if possible give 
them sugar syrup that was sealed up in the 
all or summer; if this could not be had then 
candy. We believe Feb. or even March have 
been the worst months, and cannot help think- 
ing that comm. s ing brood rearing has some- 
| tiling to do with the matter. See problem in 
tliis No. We strongly suspect that problems 
12, 10, and 10 also, will be found to have a close 
connection with the matter. In looking for 
facts to guide us in the matter we glean from 
the back numbers of the v.arious Journals as 
follows: Bee Keeper' e Magazine. Vol. I, pages 711 
and 74. 
“Will bees breed and rear young bees with- 
out being permitted to fly for a length of time 1” 
“Will the flour that is put in the . sugar-candy 
recommended for winter feeding, supply to 
some extent the want of pollen ?” 
As the Editor gives no other answer except 
the brief monosyllable “Yes” to both inquiries 
lie lias helped us but little. The second query 
however suggests an idea that may be valuable. 
Mr Wilkin stated lie had made some such ex- 
periments, but nothing- definite had resulted. 
In A. B. J. Vol. IX pages 137 and 138, we find 
something that agrees much with our experi- 
ence, viz: that bees when confined to the hive 
during brood rearing, become rapidly depopu- 
lated, and to use Berlepschs’ own words, “The 
death rate increases from day to day, the most 
of tiie bees becoming weak and enervated.” 
We presume this refers to a condition of things 
where pollen is absent from the hive. 
Lungstroth’s Book gives us more information 
on the subject than all other sources combined, 
see pages 81 and 82, and lie also mentions hav- 
ing succeeded in inducing them to use rye 
flour in the hive but this was during the month 
of Sept. To sum it all up it appears that brood 
rearing cannot certainly go on to any great ex- 
tent without pollen, but we do know that brood 
is reared in strong colonies to some extent dur- 
ing Jan. and Feb. even when confined to the 
hive by cold weather. Should these same colo- 
nies be kept in a room warmed up to 00 or (i() 
degrees and confined to the hive, more brood 
might be reared if the supply of pollen was 
kept up, yet we have had no direct experiment 
to show that the health of the colony would 
not be seriously injured by such confinement; 
and as to building up weak colonies by supply- 
ing artifleal heat, it seems that to do this they 
must fly out or have some such exercise. 
Whether this exercise can be given them in a 
way to answer the purpose and still prevent 
their being lost remains to be seen. There is 
one tiling we can all do safely, and that is to 
provide a quantity of Rye and Oats ground 
together very fine for them to use as soon as 
spring opens. We would advise providing 
about one bushel for every ten stocks. 
