4* 



'•'novice's" gleanings in bee culture. 



inside a bee hive we never saw. From 

 previous experiments we were fully satis- 

 lied of this before, and we are inclined to 

 think now that stores of pure sugar are 

 healthier than where either cream ot 

 tartar, vinegar, or glycerine are used. 

 About half of the twenty feeders were 

 empty next morning, but some colonies 

 take it. so slowly that two days or more 

 are required. As we have mentioned, 

 with this first barrel everything worked 

 beautifully, but. the next afternoon another 

 one was prepared precisely the same way, 

 only that the extra teakettle of water was 

 omitted thinking perhaps the firsl lot of 

 .-yfup was a little 1oo thin, ihe conse- 

 quence was that more stirring was re- 

 quired and the syrup when cold produced 

 a thin sheet of sugar on its surface. 

 : This has candied somewhat in the cells, 

 has daubed the bees to some extent and 

 they have been longer in taking it down, 

 but. these difficulties are only temporary as 

 will appear further on. 



Our first feeders were kept the proper 

 distance above the frames by ordinary 

 "teakettle ears" soldered on in such a 

 way that two of them, and the screw cap 

 for filling, formed three legs as it were, 

 for them to stand on. Now these "ears 

 have a rounded end that forms a very in- 

 secure support, unless they are arranged 

 very carefully to .stand in the centre of a 

 top bar to the frame, so insecure, in fact, 

 that once or twice they have tilted so 

 much that the syrup ran over the combs, 

 on the bottom board and crystalized or 

 hardened there, and to observe the effect 

 we let it remain so, but have found, as we 

 had expected, that "our bees when they 

 have finished their feeder go to work and 

 work up all this sugar or candy; in fact 

 we have never failed to have them do so, 

 and this morning being a damp one we 

 were gratified to find the bees busily 

 working up quite a sheet of the candy 

 that had formed in the portico, the hive 

 having been tilted backward when the 

 feeder "tilted," to save the syrup. We 

 have observed such cases before but al- 

 ways find the bees, hive, and combs clean 

 after a week or two. Still it is a nicer 

 and quicker way to feed the syrup moder- 

 ately thin, say about five quarts of water 

 to 20 lbs. of sugar, instead of a, gallon. 

 Mr. Alley and some others who objected 

 to our receipt for syrup as being too 

 thick, were probably right about it and we 

 hereby thank them for the criticism. It 

 was overlooked perhaps, as we have been 

 accustomed to add water to the sugar 

 without taking the trouble to weigh or 

 measure, nor should we do so now, for 

 the matter is not oue requiring exactness. 

 If too thin the bees will quickly evaporate 

 it, and if too thick it may cause them a 

 temporary annoyance, but by bringing 

 wafer they can soon remedy this fault. 



A barrel of sugar contains about ">00 

 lbs. and costs about $34.00, and divided 

 between 20 hives gives 15 lbs. of sugar, 

 worth $[ TO. Who would not invest that 

 amount per hive if they could feel sure 



that it supplied them amply with a food 

 at all times wholesome ? 



Very heavy stocks, or those wintered 

 out of doors, might require more before 

 fruit trees furnished a supply next May ; 

 lint we think the amount mentioned, safe 

 in the majority of cases. Should any of 

 our readers have colonies yet destitute 

 when tins reaches them, if they are strong 

 in bees they can yet be fed up; and 'tis 

 our impression that the very best stocks 

 in 1874 will be those that were entirely out 

 <>f honey in the fall and had stores sup- 

 plied them entirely of sugar. 



The manner of feeding just given we 

 consider the quickest, simplest and safest 

 of any having come under our notice: 

 and Xovice now agrees to undertake feed- 

 ing 100 colonies their winter food in one 

 day, providing the honey has all been pre- 

 vious!}' removed and that he can have 

 plenty of 



TEA-KET-TI.E FEEDERS. 



Oh. yes — those "ears." Well, our tin- 

 smith "run out" of "ears " (for tea-kettles 

 we mean,) and before we knew it, had 

 made a lot with supports formed of a 

 piece of tin 1.1 xf inches, folded like a let- 

 ter V, and soldered on in place of ears. 

 These, having a point of support 1] inches 

 wide, stand firm on any frame or across 

 two ; and we like them so much better that 

 we hope he will never get any more ears. 



We have tried a ring of tin for a sup- 

 port, but it "cuts bees in two" when we 

 work fast and does not seem to afford 

 them the liberty to work thai the V shap- 

 ed feet do. 



PROBLEM NO. IS. 



r \ A.NNOT those bee keepers who own 



4*^or(»hards of sweet apples and a cider 

 mill do a thriving business in the fall in 

 making cider honey. With very little 

 trouble it could be so arranged that no 

 bees need be killed or drowned, and we 

 think the lumpy would command a very 

 fair price, labeled as "Apple Honey." 

 About six barrels of sweet cider would 

 produce one of honey, we have estimated. 

 The objection is that such cider stores 

 might prove unhealthy and thus depopu- 

 late our hives. But we imagine if the 

 work were so conducted that no cider was 

 allowed to ferment, no injury to their 

 health would result. We have made the 

 -experiment of feeding a colony a gallon 

 of sweet cider and it was cjuickly stored 

 and produced very pleasant honey, altho 

 as they were working on sugar at the 

 same time we could not well keep the ci- 

 der honey pure. Of course the cider 

 honey must all be removed before feeding 

 for winter, at least untilsome experiments 

 can be shown to the contrary. 



A lady in this vicinity gave her bees a 

 mash of boiled sweet apples, last fall to 

 make up their winter stores. We gave 

 her a caution at the time, but she was in- 

 clined to disagree with us. We learned 

 in the spring her bees all died, but 

 have not learned the particulars. 



