Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-26
Preparing Bees for Winter.

The London Agricultural Gazette has the
following;
We advise apiarians to begin Immediately
and feed their starving stocks. Bottle feed
ing is best but couple Of sardine tins with
perforated wooden fats, placed on each side
Of the central hole, and covered over by an
inverted box without the lid, answer pretty
we'll for giving supplies to Hat-toppcd hives.
Let the food required be given as soon and
as quickly as possible A hungry hive will
store up three or four pounds of liquid food
iu day, and all that is needed may be ad-
ministered in less than week. We know
that rapid feeding or a large quantity of
food administered at one time, is deemed
most uawise by some bee keepers on the
ground that the bees put the food into the
brood cells and thereby prevent ovipositiOn
and the consequent production Of the all
important young bees su positively essential
to the existence Of a colony during winter"
But this evil, if it be one, is moro than
counter balanced by the benefit arising from
having the food stor'd, its watery particles
evaporated, aud tho whole sealed over before
the advent Of cold weather.
When feeding is protracted until the tenn
perature falls. many cells that should be
closed are left open, the aid which warm
atmosphere gives in promoting evaporation is
lost, aud candying Of the sirup or internal
moisture, which is very hurtful, follows. Be-
sides, late breeding is not desirable, for in
hives that have had a successful summer and
are left undsturbed, we find that it is the
| nd nNk tha Ia Nur ll,y
go into state of repose at the end of the
honey harvest, and hence by completing the
work Of feeding as early as possible, we al
low them to get sooner into that inactive
condition, which is not only beneficial to
them, but preparatory and essential to en-
able them to meet with inpunity the endur.
auces Of winter A bee at rest, aud scarcely
consuming any food, will live three times as
long as one that is always moving and fire.
queDtly on the wing.
Age, therefore, does not greatly affect colo
nies that spend their time hanging in motion.
less clusters, and their powers are but little i'm.
paired. lfthey 90 to roost before the close
of September, and continue quiescent alter
wards, they can do very well without any
addition to their numbers from brood till the
following spring In proof Of this we may
refer to two adjacent hives that we're last
year crammed with honey, and, for want Of
room, gave up breeding early in September,
From one Of these, in order to make its
queen resume ovipositing, and get young
bees, that are deemed $50 essential" we, by
means of the "slnger," extracted all the
honey from two of the central combs. AS
expected, the emptiei cells we're soon filled
with eggs, and numbers Of young brood were
hatched out before winter.
But with view 10 obtain aud compare
results, we allow the loaded nurseries of the
other hive to remain as we found them, and
its bees to relapse into their former dormancy
Both hive passed through winter satisfactorily
the one, however, which had only old bees tC
begin the campaign, quite oulstripped ii
fellow that bad q population Of both old and
young, and was ready TO swarm fortnight
sooner. While, therefore, it may be tru'
that autumn or late-bred bees are essential
to the welfare Of stocks which have thei
activity prolonged by driblet or interVa
feeding, it is no less true that stocks wbicl