766 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



one of these feeders you are able to feed 

 nearly one-half gallon at one time. 



To use the feeder, take out the 

 division-board and one frame, and place 

 the feeder in their place. 



Little holes are made in the top edges 

 of the cans. These are made to cover 

 the can with a cotton cloth in such a 

 way that the ends of the cloth will hang 

 into the feeder, and be immersed in the 

 liquid. This covering gives the bees 

 easy access to the food, and makes an 

 easy escape to any which may have 

 fallen into the food. 



This cheap feeder I give (as I did my 

 method of wiring Langstroth frames) to 

 the bee-keepers of our country, for their 

 good-will. 



Columbia, Mo. 



Honey-Dew for Winter Stores, Etc. 



M. MILLEK. 



We have just passed through one of 

 the worst winters and springs for bee- 

 keepers that we have had for years. 



In the first place, we did not get any 

 surplus to amount to anything for the 

 last two seasons, on account of dry 

 weather. Last season there was a large 

 amount of white clover bloom, but it 

 contained little honey ; then there was a 

 flow of so-called honey-dew starting 

 with the blooming of the box-elder, and 

 continuing until after basswood bloom, 

 thereby spoiling what little white honey 

 we got, and as we live near the timber, 

 we got the full effect of the honey-dew. 

 The different kinds of oak and hickory 

 timber furnished the most of it, which 

 was unfit to eat, let alone to winter bees 

 on. It was the cause of sweeping away 

 whole apiaries In eastern Iowa and 

 western Illinois. Where bees were fed 

 and wintered on sugar syrup there has 

 been no loss. This goes to show that 

 this honey-dew must have been the 

 cause of most of the winter losses. 

 Where apiaries were located away from 

 the timber so far that the beos could 

 not reach it, they have wintered very 

 well. 



The first part of the past winter was 

 unusually mild, in fact so mild that 

 there was a larger amount of brood in 

 the hives than should have been. Then 

 we had a pretty cold spell, and the bees 

 did not get a flight for five or six weeks, 

 during which time the honey-dew got in 

 its work on those colonies that were 

 wintered on the summer stands, while 



those wintered in cellars were in a still 

 worse condition. 



This spring has not been a good one 

 for the bees ; they lost the maple bloom, 

 box-elder bloom, and the cottonwood 

 bloom, and it looks as if they would lose 

 the apple-bloom, on account of cold, 

 cloudy and wet weather all through the 

 spring. 



The colonies that have escaped disas- 

 ter are slow in building up, while there 

 has been a great deal of spring dwind- 

 ling. As I said in the first part of this 

 article, we have not had any surplus 

 honey to amount to anything during the 

 last two seasons, and, as nearly all api- 

 aries are run as a side-issue with some 

 other business, the owners did not 

 feel like extracting the honey-dew arid 

 feeding sugar syrup, because we have 

 wintered our bees before on honey-dew, 

 and so we thought we could do it again ; 

 but there is a difference in honey-dew. 

 Some seasons it is better than others, 

 but it is really unfit to winter bees on in 

 any season. I am becoming more and 

 more convinced that good, pure sugar 

 syrup is the best winter food for bees in 

 the future, and at the present low price 

 of sugar, it will pay well to force the 

 honey into the surplus departments, and 

 feed sugar syrup for wintering. 



I think that Mr. Pratt's bottom-bar to 

 his frames, as described on page 638, is 

 just the thing. I wonder why some one 

 did not think of it before. It has many 

 advantages. 



I do not think that fixed distances will 

 ever become very popular, except where 

 the owners practice migratory bee-, 

 keeping. 



Le Claire, Iowa, May 16, 1892. 



Fonl-Broocl Scientlflcally ConsUerel. 



C. J. ROBINSON. 



On page 83, Dr. Miller alluded to ray 

 writings about foul-brood, and invited 

 me to so define my theory of the origin 

 of foul-brood, that " way-faring" people 

 can fully understand my theorizing, i. c, 

 the forces, the modes of action, the ele- 

 ments, the phenomena, etc., involved in 

 the subject. 



It is with pleasure that I accept the 

 invitation, and happily undertake the 

 asked-for explanation ; but in so doing 

 I must needs cover more space than the 

 limit of one article in a weekly periodi- 

 cal. 



The subject of foul-brood has remained 

 a profound mystery from the beginning 



