GLEANINGS IN DEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



9. No feeder to store away and occupy valuable 

 space when not in use. 



For those who feed (as Mrs. Harrison advises) be- 

 tween every cessation of the honey-flow, a feeder 

 such as described is practically indispensable where 

 one has a number of colonies. With my present 

 experience I would not be without it, and T find it 

 pays to have things convenient, even though it 

 takes double the time to make them so, providing 

 this can be done during- the winter season, and so 

 lessen the work when time is more valuable and the 

 bees require the most attention. 



Brussels, Ont. G. A. Dead.man. 



I have for many years considered such 

 feeders as you mention, friend D. Tlie ob- 

 jection is, that we sliould have to go to tlie 

 expense of a feeder for each hive, and many 

 bee-keepers seldom if ever feed at all. In 

 making hives for general sale, the price of 

 the hive would have to be advanced— not 

 very much, it is true, but still it would be 

 quite a little trouble and expense, and this 

 would necessitate our making still another 

 table of prices for hives witli feeders and 

 without feeders. The most oluertioiiable 

 feature I notice in your anangt'iiicnt is the 

 xinsightliness of acorked-uphole in tlie hive. 

 If it were corked up with a wad or rag, or a 

 cork covered with a rag, it seems lo me this 

 would look still worse. Another thing, rob- 

 ,ber-bees would be continually hanging about 

 ;'kt the cork ov the plug. I know, for I have 

 %sed just about such an arrangement. Tlie 

 feeder itself, after standing soiiie lime, would 

 beUkelyto be lilled with dead ]»ees, moth 

 worms, and perhaps spiders and spider-webs. 

 On this account I should want it so made 

 that the whole inside could be inspected and 

 brushed out, and this wovdd be still more ex- 

 pensive. Our friend Shaw, of Chatham Cen- 

 ter, this county, used to have a similar feed- 

 er in the upper part of the portico of his 

 hives. Of course, the bees went right into 

 the feeder through the front end of the hive. 

 The feeders were lilled by raising the cover 

 of the hive a little way. This, it seems to 

 me, would be less trouble than uncorking a 

 hole. I should expect the corks or wads to 

 be lost after a time in our apiary, and then 

 this place would be used as an entrance, or 

 robber-bees would be getting into it. Such 

 feeders are verij handy in feeding to com- 

 plete unfinished sections. 



SOMETHING REFRESHING FROM WIS- 

 CONSIN. 



fuom136to200 colonies, and ]2,fi;.'0 lbs. of hon- 

 ey, NEARLY HALF OF IT COMB UONEV. 



to show the relative value of our honey-flow, 

 and also the sudden variations caused by 

 atmospheric changes, I g-ive below a record 

 of one colony of bees, showing the daily 

 g-ain or loss of honey. This colonj' was pro- 

 vided with 20 Lang-stroth frames to extract from, 

 and they did not swarm. To those who doubt the 

 value of i-ed clover as a honey-producer, I wish to 

 say that the extraordinary yield from Aug. lOtli to 

 20th was from red clover, and the honey is of ex- 

 cellent quality, although not as light as white clo- 

 ver. I have about a ton of it in Mb. sections. 



DAILY INCREASE IN WEIGHT. 



I commenced the season with 136 colonies; took 

 12,6S0 lbs. honey, 6100 lbs. in sections, and 6520 lbs. 

 extracted ; increased bees to 200 colonies. 



Mauston, Wis., Oct. 13, 1884. Frank McNay. 



Well, friend M., the above really does one 

 good during these days of "■ Reports Dis- 

 couraging.'' It i.s in trutli interesting to 

 know that your largest yield was from red 

 clover ; and it is singular to note how quick- 

 ly the yield of honey goes up and then goes 

 down again. Did you keep a record so you 

 can tell us if the temperature and moisture 

 of the atmosphere alone produced these re- 

 sults, or is there a large flood of honey one 

 day and but little the next, without any one 

 being able to give a satisfactory reason as to 

 why it is so? Your report of "" about 92 lbs. 

 per colony, with a number so large as lo6, is 

 really wonderful. Although you did not 

 mention it, we presume likely the whole num- 

 ber of colonies mentioned were not kept in 

 one apiary. 



