168 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



ANOTHER FEEDER. 



( rjoMK time ago, I told you about the 

 Ol feeder I ••studied up" while going to 

 "^ meeting one Sunday morning (dipping a 

 comb into a comb carrier full of syrup) and 

 that it did not work because the syrup 

 wouldn't run into the cells. A few days ago. 

 I thought of plowing a lot of grooves in a 

 board put inside of a frame, and dipping 

 this in the syrup. I told Mr. Gray about 

 it. and the next day he marched into the 

 office with a feeder of his own invention, 

 which is shown below. 



gray's feedkb. 



The troughs are made. as you will observe, 

 precisely as we make the corner posts of the 

 chaff hives. After they are bradded inside 

 the frame, each end is dipped in melted wax 

 and we have a feeder that will hold a quart. 

 To use it. just till your comb holder with 

 syrup, set it on the edge of the hive to pre- 

 vent waste by dripping, immerse the feed- 

 er, set it in place of a comb, close your hive, 

 go on tothe next, and so on. There is no 

 possible drowningof bees, and it is perhaps 

 the most rapid feeder in existence, and will 

 feed any kind of syrup, or even pure water. 

 If you do not want to fuss to make syrup, 

 just till the troughs with sugar, and then 

 pour on a little water. If you want to \i^^\ 

 Hour, mix in some flour with the sugar, to he 

 sure. Now who can beat this for simplicity. 

 They can easily be made, for 15 c, or V2 c. in 

 the flat. Troughs cut to lit any frame. 1 c. 

 each; by mail, 2c. each. 



-r-' 



n 



1j?N the spring of '78, I began with 5 colonies of 

 IN Italians and one of hybrid bees. The latter 

 *=s 1 Italianized. I produced from them 22 new 

 swarms, and besides these, :S swarms left us. I realiz- 

 ed i iver 200 lbs. of extracted honey, and but very little 

 comb honey, as I wished to increase my stock. I 

 wintered in' the cellar, and they came through nice- 

 ly, not losing a swarm. April 7th, I had them taken 

 out for the summer (they had a fly in March), and 

 found them with plenty of bees, honey, and brood, 

 and in good condition. Do you consider this a 

 good yield V 

 Delta, Mich., April 10, '79. 



Mrs. J. W. Garlick. 



THE TRIALS OF USING HIVES OF ODD SIZES. 



You said any one that tried to use things on all 

 sorts of hives, or change them to lit the hive they 

 used, "would get into deep water." I've tried it, 

 and that's where I find I am. Every thing hangs 

 too high or too low, nothing goes in or on or over, as 

 1 want it to, and just now I hate bees. But one step 

 necessitates another, and to use the sections I've got 

 made, 1 shall have to nave a different crate, etc. 



Brocton, N. Y., April 8, 1879. MARY Simons. 



I very well know how to sympathize with 

 you, friend Mary, for I have had the same 



experience, even to hating the bees; but 

 after I had meditated a little, I concluded I 

 hated the awkward "fixings" my bees were 

 in, and not the innocent bees themselves. 

 Perhaps I have had more trials of that kind 

 than most people, in consequence of my un- 

 governable propensity to have some new 

 improvement everyday. When every thing 

 works right, when hives are exactly alike 

 and each operation can be quickly and easily 

 made, without any stings or killing and 

 crushing of bees, I love the bees; aye, and 

 the bee hives too ; and I am firmly persuad- 

 ed we are getting nearer that golden mean 

 each succeeding year. 



BEE SETTLEH. 



K TOOK an old honey box made for an American 

 hive, 2 ends and one side wood, with 2 corner 

 _ posts, intended to have three glass sides; one of 

 the ends had a round 2'i in. hole in it. I covered the 

 three op 01 sides with wire cloth, hinged a door to 

 the hole in the end, and lined a '< in. hole in that 

 end, near the bottom (the wooden side for bottom), 

 for an entrance, and fastened it to one end of a 12 ft. 

 pine pule, with screws. I then made a cover to fit 

 the box, by nailing together three boards 5x6 in, 

 which would tit closely over the box, covering all 

 the wire cloth. 



The 15th of May, I put in it one piece of comb full 

 of honey, one piece of comb filled with eggs and 

 brood, a hybrid queen that had been removed to 

 make room for an Italian, and a pint of bees; I 

 closed the door, put on the cover, and closed the en- 

 trance for three days. At the end of that time I 

 Stood the pole up on a limb of a pear tree, where it 

 would be shaded and at the same time not hid from 

 view, opened the entrance, and the bees went to 

 work; a part of them probably returned to the par- 

 ent hive. When 1 thought it was swarming time, 

 and the day was fair and warm, I corked up the en- 

 trance and took the box cover off in the forenoon, 

 and every swarm that issued in that part of my apia- 

 ry settled on the imprisoned ami buzzing bees. 



It mattered not whether their queen was with them 

 or on the ground, unable to fly. they would always 

 go to the box. Any experienced bee-keeper can eas- 

 ily manage to keep the "settler" stocked with bees. 

 and I would advise all inexperienced ones to let them 

 settle on branches of trees, and by that plan of hiv- 

 ing to get their learning, as we all have done. 



Windsor, 111., April 12, 1879. S. 



I am inclined to think, friend S., that your 

 experiment is a very important step in the 

 right direction. Mr. Langstroth suggested 

 something similar, at the time when D. A. 

 .Jones' automatic swarmer first came out. 

 If your bee settler was located on the end of 

 the pole, the bees would be dropped into 

 their hive as nicely as could be without any 

 intervention of the owner whatever, unless, 

 forsooth, they should cluster, as you men- 

 tion, without a queen. Even this' difficulty 

 could be managed, by keeping in the hive a 

 small piece of comb containing unsealed lar- 

 vae. Now boys, you that are troubled with 

 incessant swarming can develop this idea. 

 Our apiary looks, at present, as though 

 swarming would not be a thing to be 

 worried about very speedily. 



^»«+*^— 



FIRST EXPERIENCE IN BEE-KEEP- 

 ING. 



anovklhi\'e j — adood hive for farmers who 



want no trouble with honey bees, and 



want to get cheap honey. 



f 1 obtained my first bees, by nearly running into a 

 swarm, while hunting my cow on horse back. 

 i If I had dislodged them, and enveloped myself 



and horse with bees, it doubtless would have prov- 

 ed a serious matter. Knowing nothing about bees. 



