150 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Editor American Bee-Keeper, 

 Dear Sir : — In the American Bee- 

 Keeper for September, page 130, 

 Mrs. L. Harrison says my method of 

 feeding, which I described in the Au- 

 gust number, is a puzzle to her, and 

 it is a mystery to her how the syrup 

 will remain in that position while the 

 box is inverted. Perhaps a few ex- 

 planations will not be amiss. 



My hives are of the Langstroth 

 pattern. When I wish to feed 1 pro- 

 cure a block about 2^x4 inches and 

 cut a hole through it just large enough 

 to allow the top end of a paper box 

 to fit in the block, keeping the box in 

 a vertical position. Then filling the 

 boxes until about even, I turn them 

 quickly aud place them on the block, 

 on the top of the frames, as before 

 stated. With syrup of the right con- 

 sistancy it will remain in the boxes 

 until it is removed by the bees, which 

 will be in a short time. It is the air 

 in the cover that holds the syrup in 

 place, and by the bees sucking it, it 

 comes down, but will never drop. 



Hoping my explanation will be of 

 some benefit to Mrs. Haarison,I close. 



Care should be taken that the syrup 

 is just thick enough. 



Troy, VI, S.E.Hitchcock. 



Editor American Bee-Keeper, 

 Dear Sir: — I would like to ask if any 

 of your subscribers have ever had the 

 queen go up in the top of the hive 

 and lay eggs in the pound boxes. 1 

 have had one hive in which the queen 

 did so two different times this sum- 

 mer, and I cannot find out by any of 

 the bee-keepers here what was the 

 cause. 1 have just begun to keep 

 bees. This is my first season. I 

 have got six swarms. They all seem 

 to be doing well. I have taken off 

 over 100 boxes, but would like to ask 



what makes the cappings all so yellow. 

 The honey is white and nice. 



I would like to ask also if any one 

 ever heard of a man climbing a forty 

 foot ladder, taking a basket, brush 

 broom aud basin of water and sprink- 

 ling a swarm of bees, handling them 

 over, taking the queen out, wrapping 

 her in tissue paper, brushing the bees 

 in a basket, then going down and 

 cleaning a hive out and putting a 

 swarm in it, carrying the queen in his 

 vest pocket all the time. 



Hoping to see the answers to my 

 questions in the Bee-Keeper, I re- 

 main, Yours truly, 



Clyde, A . Y. A Subscriber. 



[It'is quite acommon occurrence to 

 have the queen lay in the surplus 

 boxes. We do not know the cause of 

 the capping of your homey being 

 dark colored. Italian bees make 

 light honey, but the comb is always 

 darker colored than that made by the 

 black bees. Then, too, the capping 

 is sometimes discolored by the bees 

 running over it. We certainly never 

 heard of a man going through the 



performance you describe. — Ed.] 



^ . ■ ii ^ 



W. T. Falconer M'f'g Co., Gen- 

 tlemen : — I have never experienced 

 such trouble before as I have this fall 

 with feeding. I can hardly get a 

 feeder in the hive before it is full of 

 robbers. I will except the Hill feeder, 

 however. I started feeding the latter 

 part of August, but did not get much 

 work done. Could not feed in the 

 hive in the day time on account of 

 robbers, then I tried it at night, but 

 robbers would come in the morning 

 after the feeder was removed, causing 

 lots of trouble for me. Then I tried 

 setting an old hive away about one 



