100 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



They didn't come, and that was the first and last load 

 taken that year. I cannot tell now exactly when the 

 change came about, neither do I know that I have done 

 anything different, but I have no trouble now in getting 

 the bees to take bushels of meal. I suppose the simple 

 explanation is that there was plenty of natural pollen for 

 the few bees I had in the first years, but not enough for 

 the larger number of colonies I had later. 



About as soon as the bees are set out in the spring, I 

 begin feeding them meal, although some years I do not 

 offer any substitute for pollen. For this purpose I like 

 shallow boxes, and generally use old hive-covers 4 inches 

 deep. These are placed in a sunny place about a foot 

 apart, one end raised three or four inches higher than the 

 other. This may be done by putting a stone under one 

 end. although I generally place them along the edge of a 

 little ditch where no stone is needed, and they can be 

 whirled around as if on a central pivot. One feed-box is 

 used for every 10 to 20 colonies, although I am guided 

 rather by what the bees seem to need, adding more boxes 

 as fast as the ones already given are crowded with bees. 



SUBSTITUTES FOR POLLEN. 



I can hardly tell what I have not used for meal. I 

 have used meal or flour of pretty much all the grains, 

 bran, shorts and all the different feeds used for cows in 

 this noted dairy region, including even the yellow meal 

 brought from glucose factories for cow-feed, although, if 

 this last were known, it might be reported that I filled 

 paraffin combs with glucose and sealed them over with a 

 hot butcher-knife. I think this glucose meal is perhaps 

 the poorest feed I have used. As to the rest I hardly 

 know which is best, and I have of late used principally 

 corn and oats ground together, partly because I was 

 using that for horse and cow feed, and partly because I 

 think it may be as good as any. 



When the feed-boxes are put in place, in the morn- 

 ing, (and I commence this feeding just as soon as the 



