18S7 



Gl^EANINGS IN BEK CULTLMiE. 



7!'5 



In last issue of Gleanings, you advise the use 

 of butter-trays lor feeders. Yes, they are the very 

 thing. T bought a nest of 50 yesterday, and put 

 them into use hist evening, and this morning every 

 drop was taken, and no lloat is needed— not a bee 

 drowned, either. I gave them I'eed previous to this, 

 in earthenware and tin vessels, but few bees would 

 touch it. When pourcil out in the wooden trays, 

 they cleaned it up immediately. 



Clarksburg, Mo., Oct. 7, 1887. C. H. McFadden. 



One point I want t(i emphasize in the Mc- 

 Fadden letter above is. tliat during cool or 

 frosty weather the bees will take food from 

 these butter-dishes wlien they will ignore 

 all metal or earthenware feeders. 



pi u L iq 



-JONKS FEEDEK-FLOATS. 



The above cut illustrates the D. A. Jones 

 feeder-floats. Figs. 1 and 2 being separate 

 pieces of which it is composed, and Fig. 3 

 the whole after being put together. To 

 make Fig. 3, it takes two pieces like Fi^. ]. 

 and eight pieces of Fig. 2. You observe the 

 former has eiglit saw-cuts, arranged in 

 pairs and opposite to each other. The lat- 

 ter has two saw-cuts, and on one side only. 

 To put together, we pick iip lirst one piece 

 of No. 1 and then a strip of No. 2, crowding 

 one of the saw-cuts of the latter into a cor- 

 responding saw-ctit of the former. This 

 makes two strips at right angles to each 

 other. In like manner, crowd strips of No. 

 2 into the remaining saw-cuts of No. 1 on 

 one side. Anotlier strip of No. 1 is taken 

 up and crowded into the respective saw-cuts 

 left in the strips of No. 2. I nto the opposite 

 side of the two strips No. 1, four other 

 pieces of No. 2 are tilted so as to meet the 

 corresponding strips on the opposite side. 

 When done we have a feeder-lloat like Fig. 

 3, iiaving fonr ]iartitions, as it were, spaced 

 equally, and held together by two strips of 

 No. 1. You observe that it takes advantage 

 of a well-known principle in mechanics, dis- 

 pensing with the use of nails or other fas- 

 tenings. Mr. Jones writes that the strips 

 are made of i-inch culled lumber, about i of 

 an inch thick. 



When I first put it together I thought it 

 was a capital tiling, and would answer its 

 purpose as a feeder-float splendidly; but up- 

 on actual trial I found it did not work as 

 well in i)ractice as in theory. It is designed 

 to sit in a square tin pan (for instance, a 

 bread-pan), and should stand perpendicular- 

 ly instead of horizontally, as our engravers 

 have represented it. instead of sinking 

 down into the syrup it will float directly on 

 the surface. Tte same thing could be used 

 very nicely in a plain feeding-box, but 

 wotild require to be fastened at the bottom. 



TACKS FOK UECORDING THE CONDITION 

 OF HIVES. 



Last year, when we were examining our 

 colonies prepaiatory to feeding, we carried 

 with us a piece of red chalk and marked on 

 tlie cover of the hive, as nearly as we could 

 estimate, the number of pounds of syriii) 

 which the hive would reciuire to be fed for 

 winter. This chalk did very well for once 

 feeding ; but as we fed only about 2 lbs. of 

 syrup to each at a feed, we found that, aft- 

 er having given a colony this amount we 

 could not erase the chalk. For a want of 

 something better, we put a little stone on 

 top of the hive every time we had given it 

 one feed ; but those little stones occasional- 

 ly got lost, or blown off by the wind. 



On reading an article recently from the 

 pen of somebody whose name I do not re- 

 member, I noticed that the writer recom- 

 mended the use of tacks, said tacks being 

 arranged on thf cover in such a manner as 

 to indicate to liiraself the condition of the 

 colony and its needs. While the slate tab- 

 lets which we if-e answer the ordinary pur- 

 poses of queen-rearing and the like, yet at a 

 distance it is impossible to tell at a glance 

 among several rows of hives those particu- 

 lar colonies which require attention. I told 

 one of the boys one day, to get a hand- 

 ful of tacks and use a system of tacking 

 which would be intelligible to himself. The 

 plan which lie adopted I can best illustrate 

 by taking you along with him while he 

 feeds. 



Here is a colony which needs about 10 lbs. 

 more stores. He decides to feed abotit 2 

 lbs. at a feed. He therefore picks out Ave 

 tacks and sticks them with his thumb into 

 the ridge-board of the cover of the hive. 

 Here is another colony which requires only 

 about four or Ave pounds. He takes two 

 tacks and sticks them up in the hive-cover 

 as before described. With his pocket well 

 supplied with these little signs he passes 

 through the whole apiary, sticking them in 

 to indicate the amount of feeding required 

 in this or that colony. If he discovers a hive 

 which has enough natiual stores, of course 

 he will put no lacks in the cover. In this 

 manner we ^^ ill suppose that he has been 

 llirou.uh the whole apiary. He next goes to 

 the house apiary and takes an armful of 

 buttei'-dislies (perhaps 100), and, taking a 

 bird's-eye view, he can see, by the tacks 

 sticking in the hives, from a considerable 

 distance those colonies needing feeders. A 

 colony near him has on its cover five tacks. 

 Ht^ decides to feed it in a couple of feeds, 

 and puts two butter-dishes on the hive. So 

 he goes on through the apiary, distributing 

 the butter-dishes as called for by the tacks. 

 You will observe that he does not need to 

 pass by each hive to scan the slate or the 

 number on the hive. He simply picks out 

 hives scattered here and therein making a 

 b;-e-line for each. The evening before, he 

 has made up a batch of syrup. With two 

 feeding-cans filled he walks straight to 

 those hives distinguished from the others 

 by the tack. On approaching the hive ho 

 raises the cover and slips in the feeders on 

 top of the enameled cloth, tilting them as 

 above described until he gets them as nearly 



