Entered at the PostofBce, Fort Pierce, Fla., as second-class mail matter. 



Vol. XVII. 



OCTOBER, 1907. 



No. 10. 



FEEDERS AND FEEDING. 



C. W. MILLER. 



WHERE WE wish to feed a 

 colony a large amount at 

 once the best thing I know of 

 is the one-quart glass fruit or honey 

 jar, arranged on the atmospheric prin- 

 ciple. Get some thrown-away tin to- 

 mato cans and cut off a piece from the 

 unopened end about one-half inch 

 deep. Place these on the top of the 

 brood frames over the cluster of bees 

 and set your jars of honey in them, 

 open mouth down, after putting a 

 small amount of excelsior or aspara- 

 gus tops or fine grass under the 

 mouths of the jars. Put an empty 

 hive body or upper story on the hive, 

 of course, in which to arrange the 

 jars. If you have no empty stories 

 use any other boxes which can be 

 inverted and fitted to the hives. Or, 

 a blanket can be thrown over the jars 

 and a cord tied around the hanging 

 edges of the blanket. Better arrange 

 to give the feed thus during the night. 

 Four quart jars will feed a colony in 

 two nights. • We nearly always have 

 jars and they are always ready for 

 business while other feeders require 

 critical examination and materials 

 and often mechanical skill to get them 

 in condition to be used 'because they 

 are made of wood and consequently 

 are liable to change during the sum- 

 mer between the feeding seasons. 

 For giving the colonies their winter 



store, a feeder of large capacity is 

 necessary, but for stimulating the 

 colonies in the spring it requires a 

 feeder of small capacity. A large 

 feeder cannot be arranged so well for 

 convenience in filling nor for con- 

 serving the warmth of the bees as 

 a small one. Feeders do not cost so 

 much but that we can afford two 

 kinds. It is a great advantage from 

 the standpoint of labor and also great 

 satisfaction to the person who per- 

 forms the labor. If we have a hun- 

 dred colonies there is seldom more 

 than a third of them which lack stores 

 in the fall and for that a dozen large 

 feeders would be sufficient, but when 

 it comes to spring feeding for stimu- 

 lation, it may need a feeder for each 

 colon}', unless we expect to feed only 

 those which are the weakest; but, 

 even here, I believe there is more 

 gain by giving the feed to the strong- 

 est colonies. There would be more 

 brood matured by the strong colonies 

 and available to be given to the weak- 

 er colonies. 



The difficulty with weak colonies is 

 that they have to keep the eggs and 

 young larvacf warm for a space of 21 

 days until it hatches, during which 

 time there is pretty sure to come 

 some cold snaps or long cloudy spells 

 when weak colonies are almost sure 

 to destroy the young brood so that 



