438 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



annoyance frotn robbers. Especially would this be desirable with the out-apiaries, 

 for only the sugar would have to be taken there, the water being readily at hand. 



Another point of advantage would be, that, to each colony, I could more easily 

 give just the amount I thought desirable ; for with syrup it isn't so easy. You may 

 have a measure that is exact ; but with the dripping stuff there is likely to be some 

 variation, and there may be some variation in the strength of the syrup. But the 

 dry sugar is uniform in strength, and easily measured to a quarter of a pound. Be- 

 fore trying the thing on any large scale, I tried small quantities ; and in this I 

 think I struck on what might be very satisfactory for those who want to practice 

 stimulative feeding. 



First, I tried letting the bees directly on the sugar. In England a damp quality 

 of sugar is used, and what is called dry feeding is much practiced. I thought I 

 would vary that by taking granulated sugar and wetting it. I nailed a bottom on a 

 T super, and made an inch hole in the bottom for the bees to come up through. 

 Remember, this was hot weather in Augnst, and it took no baiting to get the bees 

 to come up. In the super I set a saucer, poured granulated sugar into it, then 

 poured on water. The bees promptly went to work at it, worked out all the mois- 

 ture, and left the geater part as dry sugar. Of course, by pouring on more water 

 more feed would be taken ; and I can easily see that, for stimulative feeding, where 

 fresh feed must be given every day, or every other day, here was an excellent plan. 

 Just put into a super prepared as I have mentioned, or into any box on top of the 

 hive, a tin dish containing 5 pounds of sugar. Pour water on, but not enough to 

 have any standing on top. Next day it will be worked dry, and you will put on a 

 little more water. The less water put on, of course the slower the feeding will be. 

 You will see that this stimulative feeding will be simply giving a little water each 

 day. 



I tried putting on more water at the first, so as to have it wet enough for the bees 

 to carry it all down without any second filling, but I failed. To have enough water 

 on to dissolve all the sugar, I left the water standing on the top with so little sweet 

 in it that the bees didn't care for it, and with the chance of drowning if they did 

 work on it. Then I thought I would try percolating on the hive. 



First, on a small scale. I took a tumbler, filled it half full or more with 

 water, then filled it up with granulated sugar. I laid over the tumbler a piece of 

 flannel large enough to completely cover it, and over this I turned a saucer upside 

 down. Then taking hold of the saucer with one hand, and the tumbler with the 

 other, I quickly reversed the whole business. I put this into the super over the hive 

 that I have already mentioned, and in about 48 hours it was empty. This would 

 also do well for stimulating, and I'm not sure but it would be well to have the tumb- 

 ler two-thirds full of water before filling up with sugar. No unusual machinery is 

 needed ; cups and saucers are always on hand, and any cloth, cotton or woolen, will 

 answer. Several tumblers can be used on a hive at a time, or a fruit-can or other 

 larger vessel can be used, in the case of feeding up for winter. 



I tried a jelly-tumbler with a tin cover. The bees couldn't get anything out of 

 it. Then I bent the cover open a trifle at one spot, so the bees could get a very 

 little, and it took about two weeks for them to empty it. So the matter can be 

 gauged for fast or slow feeding. 



Then I studied on a plan for something larger. A percolator, like the one I had 

 been using, only larger, could be arranged to operate on the hive ; but to have a 

 number of these would make troublesome storing, to say nothing of the expense. 

 Would a percolator work if it were shallow instead of deep ? Was it necessary to 

 have a thickness of several inches of cotton for the syrup to percolate through ? 

 The working of the tumblers seemed to show that it was not ; and, really, all that 

 I could see to be necessary was for the syrup to be allowed to come through slowly, 

 and at the bottom. A little crack in the board would be all right if small enough. 

 It must be at the bottom ; for if at the top, only water would come through. 



I could easily try the thing with a Miller feeder. I took one of the original 

 pattern, stuffed cotton rags under the board where the syrup passes through, put a 

 mixture of hot rosin and beeswax in the corners so nothing could get through ex- 

 cept at the bottom, put it on a hive, poured in sugar, then water, at the rate of five 

 quarts of sugar to four of water, and found it " all my fancy painted it." 



Having a goodly number of Miller feeders, I didn't need to get up any other 

 feeder; but with what experience I had had I felt I wanted to make at least one 

 feeder such as I would now make if I had none. I made one a little simpler than 

 either the original Miller feeder, or the one with Warner's improvement, but on the 



