818 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



delighted with Warner's iinpr<i\ement on the feed- 

 er than I have shown inysell. 

 Marengo, 111. C. C. Mii.leh. 



:millek's feedek, with waknek's im- 



PROvp:3rE]srT. 

 The above represents the feeder and its 

 manner of construction. It is made just 

 large enough to go nicely into a Langstroth 

 upper story. As many are using H-frame 

 hives, we think best to make its outside 

 width 12 inches instead of l;U. This would 

 make it possible to use the feeder in either 

 the 8 or lU frame hives. The end torn 

 away gives some idea of the manner in 

 which the bees get access to the feed. 



Above is a cross-section which represents 

 this a little more exactly. The arrows in- 

 dicate the direction the bees take in pass- 

 ing up and down to the feed. You will ob- 

 serve the bottom is raised a bee-space, so 

 that it can be used either upon a honey- 

 board or set directly upon the brood-nest it- 

 self. Now, Mr. Warner's improvement 

 consists in making the bottom of two pieces, 

 X and Y, and locating the passageway to the 

 feed through the center of the feeder, in- 

 stead of having a passage at each of the 

 sides. You will at once recognize the ad- 

 vantage. First, it dispenses with the wide 

 board; and, second, the passageway, as a 

 general rule, will be directly over the clus- 

 ter. With most feeders of that kind, the 

 bees are obliged to pass through to the ends 

 or outsides, and sometimes in cool weather 

 thev will refuse to do this, as Dr. Miller has 

 already explained on page (138. The cover, 

 A, confines the heat and prevents any pos- 

 sibility of the bees getting into the main divi- 

 sion of the syrup. On the inside and lower 

 edge of the sides, B. some narrow strips of 

 wire cloth are tacked, so that the hues will 

 be imable to pass into the two large recep- 

 tacles of the feeder, even when the syrup 

 is entirely exhausted. This wire cloth is 

 not absolutely necessary, but is a conven- 

 ience. The pieces, S, X, Y, B, A, are all ex- 

 actly of the same length, the two ends be- 

 ing nailed on to each of the two pieces. 

 This makes it possible to lessen the cost of 

 making and sawing up the stuff. In cross- 

 cutting, it is necessary to set the saw but 

 twice— once in cutting off the pieces S, B, 

 etc., and again in cutting off the ends to the 

 proper length. This arrangement, you will 

 notice, saves a good deal of time. If the 

 pieces had to be cut various lengths, there 



would be a chance for a little variation, and 

 consequently it would be much more diffi- 

 cult to make a syrup-tight receptacle. 



SOME OF ITS ADVANTAGES. 



Some of the advantages of this feeder, as 

 proven by practical experience in our own 

 apiary, briefly enumerated, are as follows : 



(1) The central passageway, affording ac- 

 cess to the syrup directly over the center of 

 the brood-nest, closely covered by the board 

 A in Fig. 2 to confine the heat, renders this 

 feeder well adapted to cold-weather feeding. 

 One serious defect with many feeders is, that 

 the bees are obliged to go too far from the 

 cluster during cool nights in order to get 

 the food. As heat rises it is naturally a very 

 warm place in the central passageway. 



(2) It is made entirely of wood, a non- 

 conductor of heat. My experiments in 

 feeding have demonstrated in my mind, be- 

 yond all possibility of doubt, that a feed- 

 er all of wood is very much preferable to 

 one made of glass or metal. Bees in cool 

 weather will sometimes take feed from 

 wooden feeders, when they will absolutely 

 refuse to pay any attention to feeders made 

 of tin or glass. 



(.3) Large amounts can be fed at a time. 

 The feeder, when nearly full, holds 2-5 lbs. 

 of syrup, and, when necessary to feed a 

 large or small amount, it is very easy to es- 

 timate when the feeder contains 20, 15, or 

 even 10 lbs. of feed. When we went over 

 our colonies recently we marked on each 

 slate about how much feed each colony 

 would require in order to have the requisite 

 amount of stores. Some slates were marked 

 5, others 10, 1-5, 20, 2-5, etc. If a colony re- 

 quired 1.5 lbs. of syrup, we filled the feeder 

 a little over half full. If 10 lbs., a little 

 less than half full, and so on. Thus all the 

 feedhig that a colony required could be done 

 at one time, whether a large or small amount, 

 and in less time than it takes to tell you. 



( 4 ) This feeder is as cheap, if not the 

 cheapest for the amount it will feed at a time, 

 as any feeder with which I am acquainted. 

 For prices you are referred to Special Notices 

 elsewhere. The use of narrow boards, and 

 the absence of inside floats and other contilv- 

 ances for preventing bees from being drown- 

 ed in the syrup itself, reduces the expense of 

 the material when compared with other 

 feeders holding a like amount. We were 

 obliged this year to feed something like 4 

 barrels of sugar, and we now have what 

 might otherwise have been a long disagree- 

 able job all finished and complete in about 

 one-third or one-fourth the time it usually 

 takes us. 



DR. MILLEli'i^ VISIT AT THE HOME OF THE 

 HONEY-BEES. 



We have had a very pleasant visit from 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, who stopped off at Medi- 

 na, en route for the convention held at Co- 

 lumbus. I met him at the train, and then 

 inquired what was his pleasure. 



'' I want to see that new extractor." 



'' But," said I, " don't you want to see 

 some of the folks ? " 



" No, let me see the extractor first, and I 

 will see the folks afterward." 



