112 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTXJRIST. 



able to get along with little trouble 

 in that direction, but I have _yet to 

 see that anyone has explained the 

 true reason. The fact is, without 

 knowing wh)^, they have managed 

 to keep the swarniing fever in 

 check. In a future paper I may 

 go over the whole ground, but in 

 the meantime the matter might be 

 passed through the query depart- 

 ment, something in this form. 

 *■' Why are bees little inclined to 

 swarm when an unlimited number 

 of store combs are given them for 

 the purpose of obtaining extracted 

 hone}'?" Now please do not say 

 without further consideration that 

 the question answers itself; be- 

 cause as a matter of fact it does 

 not. 



INVERSION. 



Well sir, you do surprise me 

 when 3^ou say, "The idea that bees 

 will cut a passage way along the 

 bottom-bar when combs are re- 

 versed, is most absurd." Surely 

 I have not been blind, for it is a 

 thing I have noticed over and over 

 again. A few years since I was 

 using a frame 16"X10". Then 

 came the British Standard 14" X 

 8i", and having a large trade in 

 bees and queens I was obliged to 

 adopt the latter size and you can 

 imagine how beautifully those large 

 combs could be made to fit into the 

 smaller frame, close to the wood all 

 round so that no tying was needed. 

 But, alas! at this day I can find, 

 hardly one which has not been 

 either cut clear away from the thin 

 bottom rail or touching it along- 

 less than one-third of its length. 

 Combs used for storage during the 

 honey season only would not of 

 course be treated as above ; but it 

 is the brood-nest that we have 

 been advised to invert, and it is 

 the combs of that part of the hive 

 which sooner ©r later will be cut 

 away from the bottom rail. The 

 thicker and broader your rail the 

 more often will it be done. My 



own used in transferring were I' 

 thick and f". As a rule I use no 

 liottom rail with our "Standard" 

 frame. 



DRY SUGAR FEEDFNG. 



You are right : my experience 

 does diffei- widely from* all who had 

 (not '••have") tried it in America, as 

 well as in England. You say " It 

 has been found that a large per- 

 centage of sugar fed dry will be 

 removed by the bees." As prac- 

 tised hitherto by others such had 

 been thecasQ. Herein is where I dif- 

 fer, and if you will just imagine a 

 soft, moist sugar with the finest 

 grain possible, you will see how 

 readily such can be pressed into one 

 solid mass which the bees are con- 

 tinually licking, while all the time 

 there are no loose grains that t\\Qy 

 can carry out. In fact, with ni}' orig- 

 inal dummy-feeder, which is not 

 more than one inch wide inside, 

 every particle of sugar is cleared up 

 being kept down by the bees all the 

 time in a compact bod}' under a high 

 temperature. This is theonl}' kind 

 of feeding that I can rely upon to 

 produce new combs or for drawing 

 out sheets of foundation rapidly 

 before the season opens. 



Another frame feeder I use holds 

 nine or ten lbs. at a time, is three 

 inches wide, with an arched bot- 

 tom of finel}' perforated tin, under 

 which the bees cluster and reduce 

 the sugar with no waste whatever. 

 In this case, the weight of the su- 

 gar keeps the lower surface tight 

 upon the perforated plate, always 

 within reach of the bees. Either 

 feeder will be found of immense 

 value in the queen-rearing apiary ; 

 placed at one side filled with the 

 right kind of sugar, the owner need 

 have little anxiet}' about his nuclei 

 in the way of feeding. If intended 

 to be stored as a winter food, the 

 only kind of raw sugar I have 

 found suitable is that known as 

 Porto Rico; but for continuous 

 supply while bees can fiy freely 



