In packing bees for winter two things require attention so far as stores are concerned, and one is as important as the other: (1) There must be plenty of honey in the hive to last until the spring honey-flow, and (2) the stores which will be used by the bees during the period of confinement in winter must be of the best quality and well ripened.

It is, of course, possible to give the bees more honey or sugar sirup after spring opens, but this means that the colonies will need to be handled during this period, and this is not the best plan. It is commonly said among the best beekeepers that "the best time to do spring feeding is the fall before." The safest plan by all means is to allow each colony to have at least 45 pounds of honey at the time the bees are packed. They should then be allowed to keep any honey which may come in later, and it will be adequately ripened if the colony is well packed. This will be small in extent if they are packed at the right time, and the bees will also have their stores replenished by small amounts of honey which come in during the early spring before they are unpacked. This amount of stores for winter will seem large to many beekeepers who have been in the habit of leaving loss, but the object of the plans herein set forth is to have much stronger colonies than are found in the average apiary in the spring, and the amount of stores mentioned may be needed. The only places where beekeepers might have some reason to reduce the amount of stores are locations where the honey granulates quickly, in which event it can not be extracted later. Such honey, however, usually is as good for winter stores as if it were not granulated, and it may then be saved for stores the following winter. Forty-five pounds of honey on the hive is a better investment for the beekeeper than money in the bank, and more beekeepers make mistakes in this regard than anywhere else in the work of the year. Honey that is high in gums, as many of the honeys which come from various trees, is not good for winter stores. Honeydew honey is still less desirable. When either is present it is best to remove it and either to give frames of good honey to take its place or to feed about 10 pounds of good honey or sirup made of granulated sugar after all brood-rearing has ceased. Honey or sugar sirup which is fed late is stored in the place where the last brood emerged; it is therefore the first of the stores that the bees use. As long as they are having good honey or sugar stores for winter use the condition known as dysentery will be warded off. Then, later, when they have used up the good stores, the weather will permit frequent flights, and then the less satisfactory stores will do no harm. Honeydew honeys usually may be detected by their bad taste, accompanied ordinarily by a dark, muddy appearance. In case of doubt as to the stores it is always safe to give good honey or sugar sirup. Unfortunately it is true that many of the fall honeys are not of the best quality for winter use, and this, in part, accounts for the heavy losses of bees occurring regularly in some parts of the country.