218 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



PARK'S FEEDER. 



sf» ET me give you my plan for making a nice, 

 •| | cheap, and effective feeder. Take a piece of 



scantling 2Ji in. wide by 1% in. thick, and cut 



off as many blocks, 3% in. long, as you want feeders; 

 take an inch bit, and bore a hole % in from the end 

 of each block; bore through to within V% in.; then 

 take the blocks to a vise, and bore a % in. hole 

 lengthwise until you intersect the inch hole; now 

 trim the long end until it will just fit an inch hole; 

 siop the ?.£ in. hole with cork, and pour melted bees- 

 wax in at the inch hole, until both holes are filled; 

 pour out and the holes are lined with wax which 

 prevents the honey from being absoi-bed by the 

 wood and thus attracting robbers. See cut of pre- 

 pared block below: 



Now take a half-pint flask (cost 2!ic), fill with 

 honey or syrup, and put in a cork with 3 or 4 little 

 grooves cut in it; then bore an inch hole in the side 

 of the hive where you wish to feed, put the block in 

 firmly, letting it go in at least as far as the inner 

 surface of the side of the hive; you can now put 

 your flask of honey, neck down, into the inch hole, 

 pressing it in firmly. The wax makes the feeder 

 air-tight. I am using this style of feeder now, and 

 so far it answers the purpose nicely. By this plan, 

 you can tell when your feed is out, as far off as you 

 can see the flask, and can replenish without disturb- 

 ing the bees. You only have to take the bottle or 

 flask out of the block, and fill up. When through 

 feeding, remove the block and stop the hole in the 

 hive with a large cork. 



Later.— Since writing the above, I have made an 

 improvement on the feeder. Instead of using a 

 cork with grooves in it, I take a piece of wire-cloth 

 about 3 in. long by VA in. wide, lay it over the inch 

 hole in the block, take the empty flask and press the 

 cloth down into the hole until the rim of the flask 

 rests on the edge of the hole, and remove the flask, 

 leaving the wire-cloth in the hole, nicely formed to 

 receive the flask; I then fill the flask with honey or 

 syrup, put the block over the mouth of it, and press 

 firmly the block with the flask on it, into the inch 

 hole made in the hive. Bees take the syrup easily 

 through the meshes of the wire-cloth. This makes 

 the neatest and most advantageous feeder I have 

 ever seen. Bees use a great deal of water too, and 

 they consume time in going to the spring, and time 

 is money to the bees. With this kind of feeder they 

 can be cheaply and bountifully supplied. 



To refill the feeder, gently remove the block from 

 the hive, take off the bottle, after filling put it back 

 on the block, then put the block in its place*. The 

 plan of removing the block can be dispensed with, 

 by making little tin cups with the bottom of wire- 

 cloth instead of tin, and putting- them in the neck of 

 tho flask. You would then only have to take out 

 the little cup to fill the flask. I am not prepared to 

 make the cuds. By this plan, they could be made 

 the "Eureka" feeder, patent not applied for. I am 

 stimulating several colonies, using feeders as de- 

 scribed, and, from my window, I see that the flanks, 

 filled this morning, are now, four o'clock P. M., 

 nearly half empty. J. P. Park. 



La Vergne, Rutherford Co., Tenn., Mar. 8, '80. 



Your feeder is quite ingenious, friend P., 

 but I rather dislike to bore holes in our 

 hives, even if they can be corked up, as you 

 say. Just one more objection ; you can not 

 go around to the hives and feed nearly as 

 fast, as with feeders where you have simply 

 to take a coffee pot, and fill them up as you 

 pass along, as we do with the Simplicity 

 shown in our price list. Your feeder feeds 

 near to the cluster, leaves the entrance en- 

 tirely unobstructed, and does not permit the 

 escape of the animal heat from the cluster ; 

 besides it makes a very pretty appearance, 

 to be able to see how the colonies are taking 

 the food, even from the window where you 

 are writing, as you say. Can you buy i pint 

 bottles, of any kind, at the price you men- 

 tion? I think, friend P., you would better 

 offer your feeders for sale. 



«*»»♦♦< 



HONEY DEW. 



PRODUCED BY APHIDES. 



fT%\LEASE don't be disgusted with the honey-dew 

 J*[r question just yet; I wish to bore you with a 

 few words about Mr. J. C. Cline's letter* on 

 the subject. He is wrong, I think, in rearard to 

 every thing except the willow and gum, as he very 

 soon would have found if he had taken the trouble 

 to climb the trees, and look into the matter more 

 closely. The dew on the oaks and beech was pro- 

 duced by insects; I have seen them. That upon the 

 gum and willow was produced by insects, and by the 

 trees themselves. 



This assertion sounds queer, does it not? but I 

 can prove it next summer by sending you the in- 

 sects from the different trees, and also the leaves of 

 the gum and willow, with the glands upon them 

 which secrete the dew. 



The peach leaves also occasionally have glands on 

 the stem which secrete a thick, clear, and very 

 sweet fluid. My bees had a good time in my peach 

 orchard during the first two weeks of last May, and 

 I can tell you it came in at a very good time, as the 

 fruit bloom was all gone, and the poplar (Tulip) trees 

 were not in bloom yet. Mr. C.'s quotation from 

 Virgil is too far fetched to be of any use as evidence. 

 Climb the trees, Mr. C. look into the matter a little 

 closer, and let Virgil go to the dogs. 



Jonesboro, Ills., Feb. 3, '80. W. J. Willard. 



On last Saturday, which was next to the last day 

 in Feb.. I believe, I had occasion to p*ss through an 

 old field which is thickly studded with young pines 

 about six feet high. My attention was attracted by 

 the hum of bees in one of the pines, and though 

 there was no dew, the night previous having been 

 cloudy, I saw clear drops of water, as I thought, 

 hanging here and there <m the bush. It proved to 

 be genuine honey-dew, and the bees worked on it all 

 day, though it was rather too cool for bees to work 

 lively. By evening the drops, still hanging, had ac- 

 quired the consistency of ripe honey, and so it con- 

 tinued all through the next day; but we have had a 

 hea y rain since and I don't know whether I will see 

 any more of it or not. 



Now honey-dew in the winter and on a pine, I nev- 

 er saw or heard of before, though this winter has 

 beea unusually warm and dry. 



*See page 70, Feb. No. 



