218 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



tank has a tight cover ; when filling the 

 feeders it is shoved back far enough to ad- 

 mit of dipping the feed out ; it is then used 

 as a table on which to place the empty and 

 filled feeders. The time of feeding is usually 

 after six o'clock. We fed to till up the 

 brood chamber that the bees might be ready 

 to commence in boxes as soon as it ceased 

 raining. It continued to rain and we xon- 

 tinued to feed, beginning with one feeder 

 full to the colony, per day ; finally our en- 

 thusiasm grew until we put a tier of boxes 

 on each of sixteen colonies ; not only would 

 we have them fill the brood chamber but 

 commence working in the boxes, and 

 accordingly we gave each colony every 

 evening two feeders full. For syrup we 

 used soft A sugar, mixing one pail of water 

 with two of sugar. We soon discovered 

 that more water was necessary to make the 

 food thin like the nectar gathered from 

 flowers that it might be taken from the 

 feeders more readily — the bees seeming to 

 prefer sweetened water to a thick syrup. 

 We found by mixing twenty-four hours be- 

 fore using, that the heat of the sun was 

 sufficient to dissolve all the sugar — no fire 

 being necessary. In this case the feed will 

 soon sour and all that has been prepared 

 must he fed each day, otherwise a fire will 

 be necessary to heat it thoroughly. Two 

 quarts of feed per day would not induce the 

 bees to store any in the boxes. The brood 

 chamber was filled to excellent condition 

 and a number of the colonies swarmed. We 

 demonstrated conclusively that sugar syrup, 

 even in bad weather, makes strong, thrifty 

 colonies, and that in apiaries of one hun- 

 dred colonies barrels of it might be used in 

 the brood chamber without danger of any 

 being stored in the section boxes. The bass- 

 wood trees are now coming in bloom and 

 the feeding may prove quite profitable yet, 

 as the feeders, being placed on or above the 

 boxes, induced the bees to cluster in them 

 and lengthen out the comb foundation start- 

 ers, in a few instances building a little 

 comb. The great decline in the price of 

 sugar makes feeding, with profit, possible, 

 and experiments in this line are of much 

 interest. In an extraordinary season, like 

 this, by all means we should feed the bees, 

 and even when the season is ordinary, we 

 think good, thrifty, well fed colonies are 

 more likely to be profitable than those left 

 to take their changes with the weather and 

 season. With the tank, feeders and hives 

 all conveniently arranged a half barrel of 

 syrup can be given the bees in one or two 

 hours, after which the next day's feeding 

 may be prepared. Near the close of the 

 season it is sometimes profitable to bunch 

 the unfinished sections on the best colonies 

 and feed extracted honey. In such cases the 

 extracted honey should be mixed with one- 

 third hot water, not less than four feeders 

 full being given a colony at a time and 

 more would be better. They should be re- 

 filled as soon as empty until the sections are 

 all finished." 



I can endorse all that Bro Hill says in re- 

 gard to the ease with which feeding can be 

 carried on when there are proper arrange- 



ments for doing the work. Most of bee- 

 keepers look upon feeding as a sort of evil, 

 something to be dreaded, but with the right 

 kind of arrangements for preparing the 

 food, and the right kind of feeders, there is 

 nothing disagreeable about it. I do not 

 know as I ever enjoyed myself more than I 

 have in feeding back extracted honey to 

 secure the completion of unfinished sec- 

 tions. 



How the Funics Behave at Medina. 

 The Punic bees at Medina are now old 

 enough to stand up for their rights. It 

 seeihs that they demand respectful treat- 

 ment even if they don't wear stripped pan- 

 iers. Ernest Root tried to show them off to 

 his father, and then printed the following ac- 

 count of their tantrums : 



"Our Funics are doing no better in 

 honey — indeed, we doubt whether they arc 

 doing as well — as the average colony of 

 Italians of equal strength ; and, with the 

 exception of the Cyprians, they are the 

 meanest bees we ever brought into the 

 apiary; -July 4th we wanted to show A. I. R. 

 the new race. He at once suggested that 

 we open the hive without smoke, which we 

 did, perhaps a little unceremoniously. The 

 air was immediately filled with hundreds of 

 mad bees ; and so persistent were they that 

 we gladly ran for a veil and smoker, although 

 A. I. R., true to his aversion for bee-veils, 

 crouched down under a sheltering grapevine, 

 with his hands up to his face. We then 

 smoked the bees, but they boiled all over, 

 about as bad as black bees, and, like black 

 baes, they would hold themselves suspended 

 on the wing, perfectly motionless, apparent- 

 ly, with the exception of the wings, right be- 

 fore the eyes, in a tantalizing way. By the 

 way, we would prefer to be stung, and done 

 with it, than to be held in constant fear of 

 it. The next day one of our boys attempted 

 to run a lawn-mower some few rods away 

 from the Funic colony ; but he was very glad 

 to put on a veil, and even then the little 

 scamps pestered his hands. W^hen Mr. 

 Langstroth was here, and shortly after, we 

 tookevery pre aution to keep the bees quiet, 

 or, at least, not to arouse them unnecessarily 

 for we did not wish to test the temper of a 

 new race of bees in the presence of one 

 whom, at his advanced age, stings might be 

 next thing to serious. The bees were also 

 younger when he was here, and, of course, 

 gentler. Now that they are two or three 

 weeks older, they are regular little demons, 

 unless handled carefully. We should state 

 this, however, that they delight more in 

 bluster and angry buzzing than in actual 

 stings. 



In our last issue we stated that they were 

 the worst bees for depositing propolis we 

 ever saw. For example, we have a crate of 

 sections on their hive ; and even before 

 there was an ounce of honey put in them 



