1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



297 



side for the bees to walk down on. The par- 

 tition, B, is parallel to A, and has a strip of 

 wire cloth or perforated tin soldered at its 

 lower edge. To use it, suppose we pour in 

 syrup until the liquid comes clear up to the 

 upper edge of A. Now cork up the hole, 

 and the bees can only get feed at the open- 

 ing A. As the liquid sinks, they follow 

 down, until all is out, the wirecloth pre- 

 venting them from getting in to the main 

 apartment. 



MRS. MOLLIE HEATH'S OYSTER CAN FEEDER. 



This, as you will see, is the invention of a 

 lady. The principle is the same as that of a 

 fountain ink stand. It is quite similar to 

 Hams' and other atmospheric feeders. My 

 objection to both of these is, that so few 

 bees can work at it at once. 



blood's division board feeder. 



This is made simply of an inch board, 

 with a strip of rubber at each end and at the 

 bottom, to make it fit closely in the hive. 

 The top bar is tacked on lightly, and a hole 

 bored down through it into the board, reach- 

 ing nearly to the bottom. With a thick large 

 buzz saw, either set coarsely or wabbling to 

 cut i inch wide, it is grooved as shown by 

 the white dotted line in the cut. These cuts 

 are far enough apart, so that i of wood is 

 left between them. The bees have access as 

 shown in the cut, and never drown, because 

 they easily hold on to the rough wood sides. 

 I have not tried this, but it seems to me we 

 should daub the bees when filling it up. 

 With honey or cane sugar, this does not 

 bother very much ; but with grape sugar, it 

 is quite an objection. I think I would pre- 

 fer a feeder, any way, that leaves the bees 

 as clean as they are after getting stores from 

 a clover field. The Hains feeder, shown in 

 A B C, will do this, and, while I think of it, 

 friend Hains paid us a visit a short time ago. 

 His bees wintered finely and were in splen- 

 did condition, and he told us the secret of it 

 was that he gave each hive a feeder full 

 every day, until apple trees were in bloom, 

 and after that, when they would take it, 

 until clover honey came. The feeders he 

 used were of the dimensions of those describ- 

 ed in the A B C, holding just about 4 oz., and 

 all were fed outside, at the entrance. As all 



had a feed at once there was no chance for 

 quarreling. It is not a very big task to take 

 a pail of "syrup, go around to all the hives, 

 and till each feeder. Itemember there are 

 no hives to open, and after the bees have 

 been fed a few days, they will be on hand as 

 promptly every evening for their feed, as 

 your cow or pig. 



Well, in our apiary, there are now about 

 2G0 colonies. With all these bees, we have 

 hot taken off 25 lbs. of honey. Why V Be- 

 cause the demand for queens has been so 

 great; we have had to buy them by the 

 hundreds, after raising all we could possibly 

 raise in our apiary. Besides the queens, as 

 I have said before, we have built up quite 

 an industry by selling young Italians, by the 

 oz., with the queens. Well, now I do not 

 raise honey at all, but raise beautiful bees 

 and queens by feeding grape sugar. I pre- 

 sume you will not any of you complain, will 

 you? It would take a man nearly half a day, 

 to go round and feed 250 colonies, besides 

 the machinery for so many feeders. Why 

 not let these vehement Italians go out in 

 that grove of maple trees a little way from 

 the apiary, and get the feed themselves, as 

 fast as they want it? I will tell you why I 

 prefer grape sugar. Should I attempt to 

 feed honey, or even cane sugar, it would 

 make a perfect uproar ; but the grape sugar 

 they care so little for, they will take it and 

 go home as quietly as if it was so much corn 

 meal, which it is virtually. In fact, I have 

 been having some dreams this afternoon of 

 feeding the Indian meal to them directly, 

 without the trouble of sending to the Daven- 

 port factory for it. Now, this feeding must 

 be as nice and neat as the rest of the apiary, 

 and I wish to have it so thoroughly systema- 

 tized, that our boys and girls can carry it all 

 along in as good order as if the bees were 

 working on clover. This plan is already in 

 practice and the feeders all at work are one 

 of the prettiest sights I ever- saw in my life. 

 If you wish to see some of the prettiest and 

 yellowest Italians, all from imported moth- 

 ers, too, that you ever saw, just come and 

 take a look at them. Once more ; the grape 

 sugar has so little attraction for them that a 

 great part of them roam the fields, and are 

 constantly found on the borage, sunflowers, 

 mignonnette, Simpson's honey plant, etc., 

 etc.; and the loads of yellow pollen that 

 are streaming in all the time indicate that 

 some of them, at least, have decided in favor 

 of the shorter cut, of getting the corn sugar 

 from the Aery corn tassels themselves. I do 

 not intend this grape sugar to be stored in 

 the combs, but only to be used for raising 

 young bees, and keeping comb building 

 going moderately. The feeders used are 

 those given oji page 261 of last month, and 

 are arranged hexagonal!?, like the apiary. 



The bees are as clean and orderly as the 



girls who are folding the sheets of this 

 journal in the folding room, this minute. 

 The boards and feeders are clean and neat, 

 and bid fair to keep so indefinitely. It real- 

 ly seems to me as if God was answering my 

 prayers for a way of making bee culture 

 profitable during dry seasons, or during a 

 dearth of honey ; viz., by raising bees and 

 queens. 



