834 



CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUHE 



Dec. 



A brother in this State told me that just before 

 M. Quinby's death he was writing to him about ex- 

 periments he (Qiiinby) was making, by feeding bees 

 strongly acidized food, as a prevertion of dysen- 

 tery, and these experiments looked favorable to 

 success. Now, it is a chemical fact that there is 

 more acid in honey that ivill granulate when ex- 

 posed to a low temperature, than it requires to pre- 

 vent granulated-sugar syrup from crystallizing un- 

 der any circumstances. Sugar syrup thus made 

 will bear more abuse; that is, more exposure to 

 dampness, and not ferment, than any sweet liquid I 

 know of. I have had such syrup stored by bees, 

 and never one cell capped, and the bees wintered 

 well, and the syrup remained in perfect condition, 

 though exposed to considerable dampness. 



But Bro. D.'s talk about the sticky wings of his 

 bees makes me shudder. I have uo faith in any 

 system of feeding that pours the feed about loosely, 

 or on to the bees. I know that usually they clean 

 each other all otf, hut not always. Sometimes these 

 honej'-baths leave upon the workers a bad, ever- 

 lasting mark. I want it to go to record, that I now 

 say that the time will soon come when all such 

 feeders as Bro. D. describes, and such methods of 

 feeding as pouring the feed into the back end of the 

 hive (or front end either, for that matter) will be 

 laughed at as things of the shady past. 



We placed in our feeders on the hives lOCO lbs. per 

 hour, about 15 lbs. per feeder, and the bees stored it 

 all away in their cells during the next 34 hours. 

 We use a feeder of about 18 lbs. capicity, one that 

 gives no opportunity for robbing, waste no heat, 

 can not daub a bee, brings you in no contact with, 

 or lets out a bee when filling or refilling. 



Any time you wish to describe It to your readers, 

 I will gladly ship you one, since you have said that 

 "the supply -dealer who would copy something 

 well known to be the property of another, without 

 getting the privilege of doing so, by purchase or 

 otherwise, would very likely lose more than he 

 made, so strong is the disposition of our people to 

 give honor to whom honor is due." 



More than one inventor who has no patent, but 

 yet has pride in his inventions, and dislikes to see 

 Imitators rush into the manufacture of his fix 

 tures, before they hardly know their bearing, and 

 turn them out " slop shop," thus injuring the repu- 

 tation of his discoveries and his genius, is thanking 

 you for that sentence on page 620. 1 would never 

 think of a patent to prohibit any one's making any 

 of my inventions for his own use, but I call it des- 

 picable for dealers to run right into a traffic in 

 them; and seeing such things, induces us to stop 

 this moral wrong by obtaining a patent. 



James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Nov. 18, IR'U. 



After receiving the above, we wrote at 

 once for one of the feeders mentioned, and 

 had an engraving made, which we submit 

 below. 



It seems to me to be a large Simplicity 

 feeder, with the following additions : The 

 feeder is made the full size of the top of your 

 hive. It is made of wood ; and to hold syrup 

 without leaking it must, of course, be Very 

 nicely put together. The bottom does not 

 cover the whole of the bottom of this half- 

 story, so to call it ; but a space at C, just one 

 inch in width, is left uncovered by the bot- 

 tom. The partition C extends up to within I 

 inch of the top, to allow the bees to come up 



and go over between the partitions B. Now, 

 this division-board C, the bottom, and the 

 whole outside case, are put together very 

 strongly. To make sure that the bottom is 

 tigiit. it is grooved into the side-boards all 

 around, then nailed very closely, as you see, 

 and the whole well painted with good thick 

 paint. 'J he stnps of wood to prevent the 

 bees drowning in the apartment B are made 

 of 3-16 stuff. Some strips of wood, which 

 look like narrow lath, are put between them, 

 leaving a I space— the same space we have 

 in the Simplicity feeders. These partitions 

 are sawed out rough, and are unpainted, so 

 that tlie liees can cling to them the better, 

 and the whole sits down in the box rather 

 loosely, not quite touching the bottom. 

 Their top edges are just level with C, or I 

 btlow the outside case. 



HEDDOS'S "FOUR-HORSE" BEE-FEEDER. 



A is the place for pourng in the syrup 

 when you want to fill up. The partition be- 

 tween A and B comes clear up to the top of 

 the outside case, and reaches the bottom 

 within about the thickness of a silver dime. 

 It is quite important to have this space just 

 right. If too great, the bees, after they 

 have emptied the feeder, in their anxiety to 

 lick up what remains in. will squeeze their 

 heads under this partition, and stick there 

 and die. If too small, the wood might swell 

 up so that no syrup can get through. Be- 

 sides the space under the lower edge of this 

 partition, there are several saw-cuts in the 

 partition, made by dropping it over a buzz- 

 sa^v. Well, I looked the whole thing over, 

 and decided it was not any thing particular- 

 ly new. Similar feeders have been made in 

 great variety, of all sizes and dimensions, 

 ever since I figured and put the Simplicity 

 feeder upon the market ; but a scrap of pa- 

 per that came with the feeder suggested a 

 new and important idea; for on it was hasti- 

 ly scrawled the following : 



To cover this feeder, we use the hive-cover. To 

 fill it, we slide the cover sidewise, and back when 

 filled. 



You see, when you want to fill up the feed- 

 er, slide back the cover, which is so nicely 

 made and perfectly cleated that it covers 

 the hive or feeder bee-tight ; therefore to fill 

 the feeder, all you have to do is to slide it 

 sidewise until A is uncovered, then pour in 

 your feed. I should think the feeder might 

 hold half a pailtul, and this is certainly a 

 wholesale way of feeding. Why, the big- 

 gest swarm of bees you ever saw miglit pile 

 right into it, and go to work all at once 

 almost. The only hindrance 1 can see would 



