668 



GLEANINGvS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



the bees go into the hive does not call for 

 cooling air-currents through the supers.— Ed.] 



HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN BEE-FEEDER. 



I have kept bees for over fifteen years, and 

 have always made my own bee-feeders— first 

 wooden boxes and lately a kind of pepper-box 



;^^3 



feeder that does not cost me much, and will 

 answer the purpose better than any that I 

 have before seen or seen described. No doubt 

 many a bee-keeper who has old fruit-cans or 

 the like lying around woiild like to know of 

 some good use he could put them to. To such 

 I will describe my method of converting them 

 into bee-feeders. 



First take a quart or 3-lb. can, such as toma- 

 toes or canned squash is put up in, and cut 

 out one end, if it is not already out, and solder 

 on to this end a screw top pricked full of holes 

 like Fig. 3. You will find the screw top that 

 you will want, mentioned iii Root's bee-keep- 

 ers' supplies, page 24. Get the 4-inch cap. 



Fig. 4 is a feeder completed. After the 

 screw top is .soldered on to the end of the can, 

 Fi''- 4, it is inverted and pushed through the 

 hole of a box or base. Fig. 2 ( which is made 

 for the purpose), far enough so the screw top 

 will be on the under side of the box, the re- 

 mainder of the can being above, as at Fig. 4. 

 This box is about one inch high, without bot- 

 tom, and is made in this way : 



Take a sheet of tin a little over 6 inches 

 square, and cut into it about one inch, and 

 clip part of the corners out as shown in Fig. 1, 

 and then the sides are bent over where the 

 dotted lines appear, which forms the box. 

 You will see some dotted lines on the lower 

 side, which should be bent out where these 

 dots are, and the ends of this part bent down 

 so as to form a lip that will slide into the 

 entrance of the hive. This projection is shown 

 at Figs. 2 and 4. I use these, either as en- 

 trance feeders by putting the projection into 

 the entrance so no robber-bees can molest the 



feed, or it can be placed on the frames inside 

 of the hive. As there is no bottom to the base 

 I can fill the can with syrup, screw the cap on, 

 then invert it and place it where wanted, giv- 

 ing the bees access to the perforations, and it 

 will work on the atmospheric principle, so that 

 the feed will run out no fa.ster than the bees 

 can take it. It will hold one quart and half a 

 pint. I have in use larger 

 ones that hold a gallon, 

 made on the same princi- 

 ple, or nearly the same, out 

 of the gallon cans that are 

 advertised on page 24 in 

 your catalog. I make the 

 can tight so no air can get 

 in ; and, after making an 

 opening, and soldering a 

 screw top (the screw top can 

 be placed on the end or side 

 of the can over the opening), 

 I solder a strip of tin one 

 inch wide around on the 

 under side of the can, so as 

 to raise it up and have it 



answer the same purpose 



' — -.- that the base does to the 

 ^-' other. I make the projec- 

 tion by soldering on a nar- 

 row strip of tin against an 

 opening made for the bees 

 to get under on the under 

 side of the tin rim. 



J. L. Hyde. 

 Pomfret Landing, Ct., May 14. 



LANGSTROTH MONUMENT ; ANTS A NITISANCE 

 IN K.\NSAS. 



Inclosed please find amount for the Lang- 

 stroth monument fund. I should like to say- 

 to you that the monument should be made of 

 stones that would be low and heavy rather 

 than slim and tall, for the reason that they 

 should last for all time, as it were. I should 

 like it if the upper stone of the monument 

 could be made in the shape of a bee-hive, say 

 like the chaff hive put up by the A. I. Root Co. 



In looking over the ABC of Bee Culture I 

 find in regard to ants that they will do no 

 datriage ; and in proof of the assertion we read 

 they did not trouble the hives containing 

 old honey. Now, old honey is not the nectar 

 from the flowers that new and fresh hone}- is, 

 as I understand it. The ants out here get up 

 a raid on a colony, and, like Grant in the Wil- 

 derness, the}- get all the help the}- can. The 

 raid is made in the night time, and the morn- 

 ing sees all the bushwhackers at home again. 

 I tell you it will not always do to let them 

 have the field to themselves. I use a crusher 

 made like a man's slipper, but made of wood, 

 with the bottom shaped like an old log canoe, 

 or dugout. Attached to the wooden foot is a 

 long handle. I run the crusher sidewise over 

 the ground, and crush the ants quite fast. I 

 find that after a rain is the best time to crush 

 the ants. I do not get rid of them all, but I 

 keep the numbers down so that the bees can 

 master them. The little black ants are the 

 worst. 



