638 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



as naturally as though there were two hives 

 there. 



As my time was limited, we had to hurry 

 back to the station to meet the afternoon 

 train. The doctor and his family made my 

 visit so pleasant that I hope to be able to go 

 again and stay longer. 



THE T-SUPEB FEEDER TRIED. 



DR. C. C. MIM.ER TELLS US OF BEES TH4T WOULD 

 NOT TAKE THEIR FEKD. 



TT may be remembered that I invented a t'eeder 

 |ap to go in the T supur, which I described in 

 ^t Gleanings, p. 304, April, 1887. At that time 1 



"*■ had not tried it. I had ordered stuff for 50 

 feeders, expecting to need them for spring 

 feeding. It turned out that I didn't need them for 

 spring, so they were not made up till fall. The 

 harvest was the poorest ever known here; and 

 when clover ceased to bloom, my bees had empty 

 combs; but I was persuaded that they might fill up 

 on later flowers, so they were left without feeding. 

 I did not get to feeding till the last of September. 

 Then the feeders were put on, perhaps half a doz- 

 en, by way of trial. After 24 hours the syrup 

 wasn't lowered any, and 1 couldn't make out that 

 the bees were touching it. I had put the feeders 

 on the honey-boards, to prevent building comb 

 next the feeder. Then I took off the honey-boards, 

 and put the feeders directly over the frames. A 

 day passed— two days, and the feed was still un- 

 touched. I felt blue. I am not sure that I ever 

 felt so blue about bees since I commenced keeping 

 them. Here it was the first of October, several 

 colonies already starved to death, and the feeding 

 that ought to have been done in August not yet 

 commenced, and not one colony in fifty provision- 

 ed for winter. Do you wonder I felt blue? To add 

 to my comfort, I saw before me the delightful task 

 of sending to Gleanings an article beginning, 

 "Write me down an ass," telling that the feeder 

 which I had so highly praised, without knowing 

 any thing about it from actual use, was an utter 

 failure. I^think I have not been very much given 

 to telling about what "great things 1 am going to 

 do," and I think I shall hardly be caught again in 

 the same way. Well, I announced to the family 

 that we must rig up to fill syrup into empty combs, 

 in the old-fashioned way. They looked aghast! 

 To go through the muss of filling some 4000 lbs. of 

 syrup into combs, when they had been told how 

 much nicer and easier it would be to use the new 

 feeders. I told them it was only what they might 

 naturally expect from having such an idiot in 

 their midst. They begged for just a little fuller 

 trial. Perhaps if more feed were used, or if it were 

 given warmer, the bees would take it better. 

 Again I went to look at the feeders, and, sure 

 enough, a few bees were at work in them. The 

 weather had commenced to change, and the very 

 cold spell that had lasted through the last days of 

 September gave away to seasonable fall weather. 

 And yet, even when days quite as cold came after- 

 ward, the bees did not seem so determined not to 

 be roused up. Itseemed as if those last cold Septem- 

 ber days, immediately succeeding warmer weath- 

 er, made the bees think it was time to settle down 

 for winter. So I concluded that the feeders were 

 all right, and the weather had made the trouble. 



There was no difficulty in getting a strong colony 

 to take its 30 lbs. of feed inside of 34 hours. After 

 feeding over 4000 lbs. of syrup with these feeders, I 

 was ready to say that they were " all my fancy 

 painted " them. The syrup was fed very hot, about 

 17.')°. A few bees were, I think, scalded by it, but 

 the advantage more than paid for them. There 

 was no trouble from comb-building, as Mr. Root 

 feared. In some cases the bits of black comb on 

 the top-bars were extended to the feeder, but nev- 

 er to make any trouble. Whether more trouble 

 might not occur from comb-building early in the 

 season, I am not prepared to say. T think f should 

 then use honey-bourds, and it might be well to have 

 the bottom of the feeder come down to within % of 

 an inch from the honey-board. I made the joints 

 all tight by waxing. This is quickly done. Heat 

 beeswax and rosin, equal parts, very hot. Pour 

 two or three tablespoonfuls in one corner. Then 

 turn the feeder so as to let the hot wax run quickly 

 to the next corner. Then start to pour it out; but 

 before the first drop runs out, change your mind 

 and let it run back again and run to the next cor- 

 ner, which serve the same way. Continue thus till 

 you reach the corner at which you started, and 

 then pour out the wax. If you moved lively, had 

 the wax hot enough, and enough of it, you will have 

 only a thin coating left on the surface, and the 

 cracks nicely filled. The feeders were made ex- 

 actly as I described them, except that, instead of 

 nailing on a little strip of wire cloth I took a strip 

 H inches wide, and as long as the inside length of 

 the feeder, bent it over a stick in the form of a 

 square trough, then pushed it, stick and all, into 

 its place in the feeder. The stick was then drawn 

 out by a string previously tied to it. I almost for- 

 got to say that there was no trouble about robbing. 

 Every thing was made snug-fitting about the hives. 

 In one case some bees squeezed their way under a 

 badly fitting super cover, and were drowned for 

 their pains. I think the greatest objection to the 

 feeder is, that so many nails are used that it takes 

 quite a while to make one. Since the above was 

 written, Prof. Cook made me a delightful little vis- 

 it, and examined my new feeder very carefully. 

 If I am not mistaken, he pronounced it the best he 

 had ever seen, if the bees could take the feed fast 

 enough. I told him a strong colony had taken 20 

 lbs. in 34 hours, which he seemed to think suffi- 

 cient. C. C. Miller. 

 Marengo, 111. 



Why, friend M., why didn't you drop a lit- 

 tle of the warm feed over the top of the 

 frames and down into the cluster, and up 

 along the side of the feeder ? I should have 

 supposed that a man of your experience 

 would surely have known how to make a 

 colony of bees boil out and get excited, and 

 crawl all over the hives, even if the weather 

 were cool. Some writer, away back it the 

 old A. B. /., tells us that we can often make 

 a swarm come off where the bees have made 

 preparations to swarm, by i)oxuing a tea- 

 cupful of warm honey at short intervals over 

 the frames and down through the cluster of 

 bties. I have often made them boil out of 

 the hives by so doing, but 1 never succeeded 

 in making them swarm. I am very glad you 

 succeeded in getting them to take 20 lbs. in 

 24 hours. That is certainly pretty rapid 

 feeding. 



