506 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



where the bees had about half enoug'h stores, as we 

 had seen it recommended for feeding bees. We 

 according-ly bought two barrels of it and laid it in 

 piles on strips of wire cloth above the frames, in 

 such a way that the bees could have full access to 

 it. But this spring we found it was worse than a 

 failure, as bees ate but very little of it, and it had 

 to be gathered off and melted. It made work that 

 amounted to nothing, as it was too hard and dry for 

 them to eat. 



We fed in all about seven barrels of sugar, the 

 bees not getting a living until about the 14th of 

 June, at Home Apiary, and the 10th of June at 

 Timber Apiary. 



We have found no way that was satisfactory to 

 feed in the hives. The butter-dishes were so frail 

 that they spilled when the quilt was laid over them. 



For weak colonies we tried several ways of feed- 

 ing in hives, and finally we made a long trough and 

 tacked strips together, spaced apart like the Root 

 grooved feeders, and laid in the honey-feeders and 

 fed outdoors. Each apiary would take up a pailful 

 of thin syrup in half an hour. Perhaps we fed our 

 neighbors' bees some, but there was the consolation 

 of no loss or harm being done, and the labor was 

 much less. Feeding 300 colonies of bees in the 

 hives daily, or even once a week, is no light job, 

 especially when we have to melt the sugar on the 

 kitchen stove and take it four miles away to feed 

 bees. 



Mr. Axtell and I both conclude that it will be our 

 last feeding of bees if we can help it, except by set- 

 ting in brood-combs filled >vith honey kept on hand 

 for that purpose. We can get honey enough to sell, 

 and for the bees, usually, with less expense than 

 feeding sugar, when we bring into account the labor 

 of feeding. No doubt it may pay others to feed, 

 under other circumstances, year after year, but it 

 does not pay us; bees can usually gather it for us 

 cheaper than we can hire help to do the work or do 

 it ourselves. Mrs. L. C. Axtei.l. 



Roseville, Warren Co., 111. 



I should think that the dark honey you 

 mention, Mrs. A., was honey-dew. It is 

 very bad to come in just as white clover 

 stops. I think that the cut, or loaf sugar, 

 would have been a success liad you placed 

 something over it, such as a bowl or small 

 crock, so the moisture from the breath of 

 the bees would condense on the sugar and 

 cause it to liquefy. I agree with you, that 

 outdoor feeding "is an immense saving of 

 labor, and 1 like the idea of heli)ing our 

 neighbors' bees, except that it may induce 

 them to hang around and try robbing when 

 the feeders are empty. 



A MODIFIED T SUPEK. 



SOME OF ITS EXCELLENCIES AND DEFECTS. 



i'p T various times we have illustrated and 

 k described some forms of shallow sec- 

 ¥( tion-crates. On page 41^6 for 1887 ap- 

 ^ pears an article and cut from E. 

 Kretchmer, describing his shallow 

 crate. On page 285, current volume, is il- 

 lustrated and described Grimm's section- 

 case. Our friend Mr. G. W. Harrison, of 

 Copley, O., working along in the same line, 

 and desiring to get something cheap and 

 which would permit the easy removal of in- 



dividual sections when filled, and the sub- 

 stitution of empty ones, has made the fol- 

 lowing modification of the T super. The 

 idea is not new, but it contains some fea- 

 tures which we thought best to call atten- 

 tion to. It is simply a frame made out of 

 stuff about I inch square, said pieces being 

 fastened together at the corners, as shown 

 in the engraving. The two end-pieces have 

 eacli two saw-kerfs, into which is slid the 

 uprights of a T tin. These are then secured 

 by means of a wire nail driven in at each 

 end of the T. 



Figure 1 shows more exactly the manner 

 of construction. Fig. 2 represents the same 

 when filled with sections. 



You will notice that the T tins are fasten- 

 ed permanently lengthwise of the frame. 

 Indeed, in so shallow a case it is not neces- 

 sary to have them removable. As in the T 

 super, no bee-space is provided below. To 

 close the ends of the sections, a board of 

 suitable size is used at each end. Two of 

 these are held tightly to the sections by 

 means of a coid tied around, as shown in 

 Fig. 2. Friend Harrison's letter relating to 

 it is as follows : 



Friend Ro<it:—l consider this the handiest and sim- 

 plest crate that I overused or handled. It has given 

 me the best results of any crate I have ever used, 

 and it is no new thing or experiment with me. T 

 have used them for the last three seasons, this 

 being the fourth, and the longer I use them the bet- 

 ter I like them. The model I sent you is designed 

 to be used on the Simplicity or one-story chaff hive, 

 and over or on top of your new zinc or any other 

 honey-board (of the same size), giving 14-inch or ^i- 

 inch lieespace on the top of the honey-board. It 

 can also be used without the honey-board, and can 

 be tiered up to any desired height. In using this 

 crate I And that the sections are more easily got 

 at, and can be removed more readily than from any 

 other arrangement I have ever used. 



My way of using this crate is to leave it on the 

 hive during the whole season or time In which I 

 desire to secure Surplus honey. I remove the full 

 seotions as soon as they are ready to come off, and 

 fill up the center with empty sections, and move to 



