326 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



had been growing more feeble as the 

 years went by- Paralytic symptoms were 

 frequently noticed, and finally, about six 

 weeks ago, they reached that stage where 

 he was scarcely able to help himself, when 

 he gradually grew weaker and weaker 

 until he dropped away like one falling 

 asleep. 



Father was a farmer all of his life; and 

 particularly did he delight in farm-ani- 

 mals. Every animal on the farm was a 

 pet and had a pet name. More than once 

 have I seen a cow come up and begin to 

 lick him on the hand or sleeve. I can 

 remember, soon after we came from York 

 State, our one cow wandered so far into 

 the woods in search of better pastures 

 that she did not reach home until the 

 next day. Did father get a fish-pole and 

 proceed to dress her down ? No sir ! He 

 went into the house and spread a big 

 slice of bread with butter, sprinkled on a 

 thick layer of sugar, and then fed it to 

 the truant. I can lemember yet how she 

 bobbed her head up and down while she 

 was eating it, and how she followed 

 father around afterwards, and kept smel- 

 ling and sniffing to see if she could find 

 another sweet morsel. I could fill pages 

 with reminiscences, but I must close by 

 saying that father was a Christain, a kind 

 husband and father, and an honest up- 

 right man 



«n«««^ir«ir»jr« 



FEEDING BEES. 



Mr. J. E. Crane of Vermont describes 

 and illustrates in Gleanings his methods 

 of feeding bees. His feeders are really 

 the old, tin, pepper box stj'le of feeder on 

 a large scale. He -has two sizes; one 

 holding 9 pounds and the other 6. On 

 the end in which are punched the small 

 holes for the feed to come out, are two 

 short tin legs, and a screw-cap for filling 

 the feeder. To know when the feeder is 

 full when putting in the feed, the feeder is 

 set upon the scales while being filled, and 

 when the scale comes down the feeder is 

 full. Two and one-half barrels of sugar are 



malted up, one pound of water being add- 

 ed for two oounds of sugar, and when the 

 feeding is to be done at an out-apiary the 

 feed is stored in a large tank holding Soo 

 pounds; the tank being placed on a wag- 

 on. There is an arrangement for sliding 

 this tank to tbe rear of the wagon box 

 when the out-yard is reached, and there 

 is a hone5'-gate for drawing oflF the honey. 

 With this arrangement a man and a boy 

 and a horse can feed Soo pounds in one 

 da)' to a yard of bees many miles from 

 home. To prevent granulat'on, honey 

 is sometimes added to the syrup, and 

 sometimes cider vinegar is used — about 

 one teaspoonful to ten pounds of sugar. 



The editor of Gleanings advi.ses the use 

 of a thinner syrup. He would use one 

 pound of water to one pound of sugar. 

 He says that no heat or acid is necessary; 

 that the handling of the syrup, .in the 

 stewing of it down to the proper consis- 

 tency, so changes it. or "inverts" the 

 sugar as the chemists say, that there is no 

 granulation. On the other hand, I might 

 mention that Mr. L. A. Aspinwall of this 

 State prefers to feed very thick syrup 

 when it is so late in the season that the 

 bees can not evaporate the s\-rup. I 

 don't know that Mr. Aspinwall recom- 

 mends thick syrup when the feeding is 

 done earl}' enough for the bees to proper- 

 ly evaporate it. 



A great many have obiected to feeding, 

 or to any plan or system of management 

 that included feeding, the objections be- 

 ing that feeding is such a[mussy disagreea- 

 ble task and likely to start robbing, etc. 

 The trouble with feeding, as it is usually 

 conducted, is the lack of s)'stem and 

 proper implements. With proper uten- 

 sils and the right management, the feed- 

 ing of bees is a neat, clean job; nowhere 

 near as nuissy as the extracting of honey. 



«n««*«^^«^ir^ 



SURE METHODS OF INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



It is a little late in the season to be 

 talking about introducing queens. I fear 

 that what is said will be forgotten before 



