1903 



THE AM ERIC AA BEE-KEEPER 



199 



in fact art> so foiul ()t" it that unless the 

 apiarist be careful robbing would easi- 

 ly bo started. 



THE rXCAri'lNG FORK. 



The fork is said, in the Revue Inter- 

 nationale, to be suiierior to the knife 

 for uneapitin,ir combs. It is dilticult 

 to describe it without H.ufures, but an 

 idea may l)e had' by representing an 

 ordinaiy. table fork aliout five inches 

 wide, having twenty very sharp teeth 

 about three inches long. The part back 

 of the teeth is about three inches by 

 five, curved upward. The handle oc- 

 cupies about the same position as it 

 does in an ordinary table fork. The 

 instrument is pushed under the cap- 

 pings. Th;-se are thus separated from 

 the comb but remain attached together 

 like a sheet. That sheet rolls over it- 

 self on the curved part of the fork 

 while it i>! pushed under. 



KOBBIXG, 

 A case is reported by Mr. Duclos 

 where, curiously enough, one of his ' 

 colonies was robbed by the bees of an- 

 other apiary. None of his colonies took 

 pai-t in the proceedings. After vainly 

 trying to stop the trouble he finally 

 closed the hive, shutting in as many 

 robbers as possible. He then arranged 

 so they could not smother and left 

 them closed in eight days. After the 

 hive was opened the robbers remained 

 permanently with that colony and 

 never attempted further pillage. 



WATER IX EARLY SPRING. 



Some time ago I mentioned the in- 

 vention of an apparatus preventing 

 bees from going out when the weather 

 is yet too cold in the spring, and yet 

 permitting them to come out of the 

 hive proper and have the benefit of the 

 fresh air if they need it. To the 

 large ante-chamlier in wire cloth a 

 water feeder is added by the inventor, 

 Mr. Preus. 



One of the first facts ascertained 

 by using the apparatus is that in the 

 early spring the bees need an enor- 

 mous quantity of water to dilute the 

 pollen and the old thick honey in order 

 to prepare the food for the brood. Mr. 

 Eck (Rucher beige) estimates that a 

 sti'ong colony needs about a pint of 

 water every day. Some of the writers 

 seem now to think that giving the 

 water without confining the bees 

 would l>e sufficient; that it is the ab- 



solute need of water that compels the 

 bees to go out in bad weather. 



STIMULATIVE FEEDING. 



Mr. Gerstung. the editor of tEe 

 Deutsche Bienenzucht. asked his con- 

 tributors to give him their opinions on 

 stimulative feeding early in the spring. 



About half are in favor of it. the 

 others decidedly object. Among those 

 who practice it. half feed diluted hon- 

 ey. Two feed sugar, provided there 

 is yet some honey in the hive. 

 Only one feeds sugar unconditionally, 

 (^uite a numbei- add to the honey some 

 floiu- or milk, or some other substance 

 taking the place of pollen. 



It must be remembered that in Ger- 

 nwiny bees are wintered generally out 

 of doors and brood rearing begins ear- 

 ly. I have for some time suspected 

 that often the lack of pollen prevents 

 the strong colonies from raising brood 

 to their full capacity, and undoubtedly 

 flour, milk or something similar added 

 to the stimulative food Avould be bene- 

 ficial. 



Feeding flour outside is often use- 

 less on account of adverse weather, 

 and often the bees come out after the 

 flour when the weather is too cold 

 and a number of them are chilled. 



So the idea of furnishing a substi- 

 tute for pollen in the honey or syrup 

 fed is not out of place. The longer 

 one keeps bees the more he is con- 

 vinced of the importance of early and 

 active brood rearing 



Knox^■^lle, Tenn., Aug. 8, 1903. 



WIRING FOUNDATION. 



IB. F. Atwater.) 



SO^ilE time ago I wrote of the plan 

 of using but two horizontal wires 

 to the I> frame as practiced by 

 foggshall, Harry Howe and others. 

 For years I had tested various plans 

 of wiring — two, three or four horizon- 

 tal wires to the frame, as Avell as sev- 

 eral of the diagonal or crisscross meth- 

 ods. Finally I settled on tv\-o horizon- 

 tal wires as the most satisfactory, 

 considering the saving in time and la- 

 bor of wiring and embedding, more 

 than half, over the other plans. 



My frames of foundation are often 

 hauled several miles, over rough roads, 

 which caused many sheets to b'-eak 

 lose from the wires, when embedded 



