1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



499 



SPRING FEEDING. 



How Stimulative Feeding Helps to Give a Good 



Working Force of Bees in Time for the 



Honey Harvest ; How it Pays 



in Dollars and Cents. 



BY E. W. ALEXANDER. 



In order to acquire the best results from 

 our bees it is quite necessary to do all we 

 can to build them up into good strong colo- 

 nies early in the season, especially where 

 our main harvest is from clover. We all 

 know from sad experience what the result 

 will be if it takes three or four weeks of the 

 best of the summer to rear a working force 

 to gather the little that is left when the har- 

 vest is nearly over. So let us see what can 

 be done in order to have a good working 

 force in every hive at the commencement of 

 our first harvest of surplus. I know of only 

 one way to accomplish this, and that is by 

 stimulative feeding from the time they com- 

 mence to gather pollen until their hives are 

 crowded with bees and brood. This can be 

 acquired within 35 days from the time they 

 first gather pollen, and costs only about 40 

 cents' worth of honey or sugar per colony, 

 and a little time to build them up into strong 

 full colonies ready for any harvest that may 

 come, and is much better than to let those 

 precious days go by and see your bees dwin- 

 dle away to a mere nucleup. 



THE ALEXANDER FEEDER AND HOW />PPLIED. 



With the feeder that is here shown which 

 I will describe, it requires only one hour or 

 less to feed 200 colonies; and in doing so you 

 need not kill one bee nor waste a drop of 

 syrup nor lose any heat from the colony you 

 are feeding. 



First, you see the feeder alone by the side 

 of the hive; then you see it in position under 



the back of the hive ready to fill, and a 4X4 

 block at the end of the hive to cover the end 

 of the feeder when it is filled and in use. 

 We feed the thin syrup quite warm; and the 

 heat and odor as they rise up to the cluster, 

 even though the cluster may be only a mere 

 handful of bees, will start them at once for 

 the feed, and in a short time the syrup will 

 all be taken out of the feeder and put into a 

 nice circle around the brood. There is not 

 any other one thing connected with bee- 

 keeping that I have tested more thoroughly 

 in all its different phases than 1 have spring 

 feeding; and if any other man had invented 

 this feeder and the way of using it I should 

 not hesitate one minute in saying that it was 

 the most practical feeder that had ever been 

 devised, for it is as convenient to use in the 

 fall to feed winter stores as it is in the spring 

 to stimulate early breeding; only in the fall 

 put two or three under your hive at a time, 

 and feed thicker syrup, all they may require, 

 at once or twice. They are not in the way 

 if left under the hive all summer; and if we 

 have a cold wet spell in midsummer, as we 

 sometimes do, causing many colonies to de- 

 stroy large quantities of their brood, all you 

 have to do is to pour in a little syrup once a 

 day while the bad weather lasts, and you will 

 save their brood, and prevent them from be- 

 coming discouraged. And, oh how they will 

 work when the flowers again commence to 

 secrete nectar! I can truthfully say that, 

 with us, spring feeding has been the means 

 of our securing fully twice the amount of 

 surplus honey from nearly every colony that 

 we ever fed in this way, over what we could 

 secure when the bees were left unfed, and 

 they had to use three" or four weeks of the 

 clover harvest to rear brood and bees to 

 gather the little they could find after the 

 harvest was practically over. 



The cut does not show the under cover of 

 our hives. This has a J-inch bee-space on 

 each side, and it is very handy to cover over 

 the top of the hive when extracting. It 

 forms two dead air spaces between the out- 

 side cover and the top of the combs, which 

 is valuable both in extremely hot or cold 

 weather. You will also spe in the cut the 

 entrance to our hive, and the blocks we use 

 to close the same when we wish in cool 

 weather, so only one or two bees can pass 

 at a time. I wish I could impress the im- 

 portance of this one thing, spring feeding, 

 on the minds of bee-keepers in its true light; 

 for I am sure that, if we give our bees the 

 proper care in this respect, they will repay 

 it in a bountiful harvest at the close of the 

 season. 



I am receiving letters frequently from 

 parties wanting some of these feeders for 

 spring use; but as we have nothing connect- 

 ed with bee-keeping for sale except extract- 

 ed honey in the fall, I must refer you to The 

 A. I. Root Co., which, I think, will supply 

 you with all you may want, at a moderate 

 cost. 



I am well aware that I am again in the 

 minority on this important part of spring 

 management; and I assure you it is not 



