332 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



and I like them better than any thing I have 

 seen yet. The first is a quart basin of cheap 

 stamped ware with al^inch hole cut in the 

 bottom, into which a tube is soldered. The top 

 of the tube comes to within )4. inch of being 

 even with the top of the basin. Now open the 

 hole in your honey-board, or remove packing 

 and cut a small hole in the quilt, over which 

 place the basin so that the bees can come up 

 through the tube. Make a tube of coarse paper 

 and push it into the tin tube to aid the bees in 

 climbing up. Fill the basin with syrup as far 

 as the top of the tube; place a float of cloth or 

 any thing to keep the bees from drowning. 

 Now cover the basin over with paper and make 

 it as warm as you please with packing. The 

 bees will come up and take that feed in cool 

 weather, and no openings have been made to 

 allow the much -needed heat of the hive to es- 

 cape. 



The other feeder is made in this way: Take 

 a Mason quart jar. Break the porcelain lining 

 out of the cover; punch a dozen or more small 

 holes in the cover with an awl. Now get a 

 piece of pine board, >< by four inches square; 

 with an extension bit bore a hole through it 

 large enough to receive J^ inch of the top of the 

 jar. When the cover is on, fill the jar with 

 thin syrup. Screw the perf©rated cover on 

 tightly; place the block over the hole in the 

 honey-board or quilt; insert the jar and insert 

 in the block; replace packing, etc. The bees 

 Avill suck the contents out of the jar in one or 

 two days, though of itself it will not run out. I 

 think this is an improved method of using the 

 Mason jar as a feeder. Of course they are 

 cheap, as you spoil only the covers, and every 

 one has empty Mason jars not in use at this 

 season of the year. 



Many feeders are recommended that are not 

 fit to use. Wooden butter-dishes leak, and the 

 syrup goes to daub up the packing. They are 

 nice to have in an apiary to save an occasional 

 piece of broken honey, ijut are of little use as 

 feeders except in feeding candied honey. In 

 this case, make a hole in the dish and use the 

 same as the basin described above. Gray's 

 feeder is not good, as it kills bees to some ex- 

 tent. H. Lathrop. 



Browntown, Wis., April 9. 



[Your circular feeder— that is. the first one 

 you describe— is very similar in principle to the 

 very (excellent Miller feeder. We have no doubt 

 that it will woi'k very nicely. The second one 

 is nothing more nor less than a slight modifica- 

 tion of the old-fashioned pepper-box feeder that 

 we have sold for so many years. We believe 

 that it was E. France who first called attention 

 to this feeder, and it is by him used very ex- 

 tensively, even at the present day.] 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



MRS. HARRISON IN FLORIDA. 



Mr. Editor:— It appears strange to one who 

 has always lived at the North, to see plants 

 blooming so differently from what we have 

 been accustomed to. Fruit-trees do not blos- 

 som all at once, but continue to bloom for a 

 long time. There will be peaches upon the 

 trees, the size of peas, and plenty of blossoms at 

 the same time. The peen-toos commenced 

 blooming in October. Since the 9th of January 

 I have noted peach-ti'ees blooming, and there 

 are some late ones to bloom yet. 



Bees appear to be doing well, and commenced 

 swarming April 1. They are gathering honey 



from orange bloom, tie-tie, dewberry, spider- 

 woi't, and many other flowers unknown to me. 

 What surprises me the most is, that goldenrod 

 is out in full feather. Inclosed is a sprig of it. 

 Bees in this town have only half a flight, as 

 half of it is the bay. There are not many col- 

 onies kept here, and all that I have seen are 

 blacks. 



I leave here in a day or so. en route for the 

 North by the way of Wewahitchka, to visit the 

 noted orange-groves and large apiaries located 

 there. 1 long for home, and to see Gleanings, 

 which I have missed for some time. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 



St. Andrews, Fla.. Apr. 11. 



SULPHURIC acid IN WAX-RENDERING; HOW TO 

 PROPORTION THE WATER AND ACID. 



Will you please state in Gleanings, in plain 

 United States, how many spoonfuls of sulphuric 

 acid should be used to a gallon of water when 

 rendering old combs. Some one has stated it 

 once in milliliters; but Dago is incomprehensi- 

 ble to the average American. Does the use of 

 the acid injure the tin vessels in which the wax 

 is rendered? Must the combs be soaked in the 

 solution some time before boiling, or can we 

 simply pour the acid into the water, throw in 

 the wax, and start up the fire? 



Newhall, Cal., March 26. Wm. G. Heaves. 



[The proportion of acid that we have recom- 

 mended is 1 lb. of acid to 4 pails of water. This 

 would be reducing the acid about 100 times; 1 

 lb. of acid means 1 pint: 4 pails would make 

 about 50 quarts; 1 drachm is equivalent to 

 about 1 teaspoonful. Therefore in 1 gallon 

 there would be sojiiewhere about 1000 drachms 

 or 1000 teaspoonfuls. According to our propor- 

 tion you would want to take about 10 teaspoon- 

 fuls of acid to a gallon of water; but you must 

 remember that the acid will attack the spoon 

 unless you dip it in melted wax, and then you 

 will destroy the proportion, because the spoon 

 won't hold as much. To get the matter correct- 

 ly, measure ten teaspoonfuls of water into a 

 glass tumbler; make a note of the water-line; 

 pour out the water, and then fill up with acid 

 to this water-line, and then this you can put 

 into youi' gallon of water and have the propor- 

 tions about correct. It will do no harm to in- 

 crease the amount of acid, providing your wax 

 is very dirty. We sometimes make it in pro- 

 portion of from 1 to .50 and 1 to 75. It depends 

 on how much dirt there is to be clarified out. 

 Use a kind of stone crock that is used for cook- 

 ing; pour in your water and then the acid, and 

 then your refuse pieces of wax. Let it boil over 

 a slow fire for a couple of hours. Move it back 

 on the stove, and keep it just barely hot for 

 about five hours. This will allow all impurities 

 to settle. At the end of this time dip off the 

 wax. Be careful not to stii' it up too tiiuch. — 

 Yes, theracid before dilution, and to a propor- 

 tionately less extent after, will injure tin uten- 

 sils. Wooden or crockery ware should be used. 

 No, the combs do not need to be soaked before 

 heating the acidulated water.] 



IN FAVOR OF ABSORBENTS. 



Ever since you have been agitating sealed 

 covers I felt prompted to write. Such an article 

 as friend Dadant's ought to carry conviction 

 with it. I have had bees for 7 or 8 years; have 

 wintered 40 stands some of the time, and — well, 

 a little fishy — but I have never lost a single 

 stand by being poorly wintered— have never 

 lost more than four or five from (tny cause dur- 

 ing the winter in all this time. Those were 

 queenless, or something of that nature. I live 

 ten miles north of Terre Haute, Ind., and have 



