494 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



spreading diseases or foul brood. I would 

 rather feed sugar syrup. It is safer, and 

 cheaper and better in the long run. Besides 

 feeding in the Hquid form, cakes of sugar 

 candy can be placed over the cluster. This 

 is preferable for winter feeding. Cakes of 

 solid granulated blocks of honey will answer 

 for this purpose most admirably. 



The syrups are fed in two ways— either 

 in the hives, or outside, in long troughs. 

 Here in the South, and for wholesale feed- 

 ing especially, the latter is mostly practiced. 



We have tried several ways of outdoor 

 feeding, both in spring for stimulative pur- 

 poses, and in fall and spring for stores when 

 "the bees had run short." The most sitis- 

 factory way has been that of S. I. Gilbert, 

 Jr., of Carrizo Springs. While I was at his 

 apiary the bees were having a glorious time 

 —a heavy honey-flow was on, yet the sur- 

 rounding country was bare of any bloom. 



The source was soon located. The season 

 was a poor one, and wholesale feeding had 

 to be done, and outdoor feeding was the 

 most practical, economical, and cheapest in 

 this case. Extracted honey was fed several 

 hundred yards from the apiary. There is 

 one good point well worth remembering 

 when feeding in this way. The distance the 

 feed is placed from the apiary makes a dif- 

 ference. It should be far enough away to 

 make the bees fly home more as though they 

 came from the fields during a honey-flow. 

 When the trough is too near or even in the 

 apiary, as I have seen in several instances, 

 there is greater danger of robbers molesting 

 after the feeding is over. There seems to 

 be little danger on this score when the feed- 

 ing-trough is further away. 



After all the syrup needed has been fed, 

 water is added to the liquid, adding a little 

 more at intervals until pure water remains 

 in the trough. In this way the bees are 

 weaned, and robbing prevented. 



At the yard of 260 colonies (shown else- 

 where), located on the banks of the Nueces 

 River in West Texas, seven barrels of sugar 

 were used in feeding for winter stores late 

 in the fall, after a poor season. But such 

 should be very seldom. 



STORAGE- CRATES FOR COMB HONEY AND 

 SECTIONS. 



The engraving shows a pile of storage- 

 crates filled with sections except the top 

 one, which is empty, the better to show the 

 construction. The engraving is a little faulty 

 in that the tops of the sections in the fiU- 



The trough used is very simple in con- 

 struction, and easily made, hence I should 

 prefer it. A long fence board or plank, 1X6 

 inches by about 16 feet long, can be found 

 around almost any bee-keeper's or farmer's 

 home. Also two others of about the same 

 length, but only 4 inches wide. These 

 are nailed on the sides of the six- inch plank 

 to form a long narrow trough (see sketch of 

 cross section). Short end-pieces are nailed 

 on each end, and the whole is covered with a 

 narrow piece of common screen wire cloth 

 in such a way that the cloth will sag down 

 to the bottom of the trough in the center. 

 The edges of the cloth are tacked all along 

 to the upper edge of the sides of the trough. 

 This screen prevents the drowning of the 

 bees, and the syrup can be taken by them 

 to the very lowest level. 



Distance A to B should be less than C to A instead of 

 greater. 



ed crate nearest the top do not show as they 

 should, through the open bottoms of the 

 empty crate. To understand more fully the 

 construction and uses of these crates I would 

 refer the readers to page 75 of Gleanings 

 for Jan. 15. These crates are made of any 

 cheap lumber, the only point where a mistake 

 is likely to be made being the making of 

 them of unseasoned lumber, so that the side 

 pieces, when they shrink, are less than the 

 height of the section. I pile these crates up, 



