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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



because this part of bee-keeping has 

 been given less attention than some of 

 the other branches ; they have not been 

 educated to feed, and have not the 

 proper arrangement for doing the work. 



Most bee-keepers, when obliged to 

 feed, make the syrup in small quantities, 

 perhaps on the kitchen stove, and then 

 do the feeding with anything that can 

 be picked up. There must be some kind 

 of a tank on a stove in the honey-house. 

 This stove may be a wood-stove, or it 

 may be gasolene or kerosene. I have 

 always used the latter. The tank must 

 be large enough to make a large quant- 

 ity of feed at one time. The tank that 

 I used held 100 pounds. 



There must be a gate at the bottom to 

 draw off the feed. To carry it to the 

 hives, a large watering pot is a good 

 thing. Then have feeders of such a 

 style, and so arranged that it is only 

 neccessary to walk along and slide back 

 the covers and pour in the feed. The 

 Heddon feeder will hold as much as 15 

 pounds. Two fillings would be sufficient 

 to supply any colony with stores for 

 winter. When feeding is made a busi- 

 ness, and everything is properly ar- 

 ranged, it loses its annoying features, 

 and becomes as pleasant as any apiarian 

 work. 



Sugar syrup for winter ought to be 

 about the consistency of thin honey, and 

 about one-fifth honey added to prevent 

 granulation. 



Feeding ought not to be delayed later 

 than September. I have fed earlier than 

 this, but found no advantage in so doing. 

 If done in time for the bees to seal the 

 stores, it is sufficient. 



If feeding has been delayed uutil it is 

 so cool weather that the bees are not 

 inclined to leave the cluster, they may 

 be fed by putting some rather hot feed 

 in the feeder and setting it under the 

 hive, when the heat from the feed will 

 rouse up the bees and they will come 

 down and take the feed ; but feeding 

 • ought not to be neglected until this plan 

 is necessary. 



HOW MUCH HONEY TO FEED. 



To know how much honey to feed, 

 take enough combs from the hives to 

 fill a hive. Extract the honey. Put 

 them in an empty hive, and weigh all 

 together. Add from 3 to 5 pounds for 

 the bees. Weigh each colony, deduct 

 the weight of hives and combs, and the 

 remainder will show about how much 

 honey is in the hives. For out-door 

 wintering, I feed until there are 20 



pounds in each hive ; for in-doors, I give 

 15 pounds. Very large colonies might 

 need more. Better have too much than 

 too little. — Bee-Keepers* Review. 

 Flint, Mich. 



T3ae Honey-Bees of Ceylon, 



W. W. LYON. 



Here is what Sir Samuel Baker says 

 about the honey-bee in his " Eight Years 

 Wandering in Ceylon :" 



VAKIETIES OF CEYLON HONEY-BEES. 



" The honey-bees are of four very dis- 

 tinct varieties, each of which forms its 

 nest on a different principle. The 

 largest and most extensive honey-gath- 

 erer is the • bambera.' This is nearly as 

 large as a hornet, and it forms its nest 

 upon the bough of a tree, from which it 

 hangs like a Cheshire cheese, being 

 about the same thickness, but 5 or 6 

 inches greater in diameter. 



" The honey of this bee is not so much 

 esteemed as that from the smaller va- 

 rieties, as the flavor partakes too 

 strongly of the particular flower which 

 the bee has frequented ; thus, in differ- 

 ent seasons, the honey varies in flavor, 

 and is sometimes so highly aperient that 

 it must be used with very much caution. 

 This property is, of course, derived from 

 the flower which the bee prefers at that 

 particular season. 



" The wax of the comb is the purest 

 and whitest of any kind produced in 

 Ceylon. So partial are these bees to 

 particular flowers, that they migrate 

 from place to place, at different periods, 

 in quest of flowers which are then in 

 bloom. 



"This is a very wonderful and inex- 

 plicable arrangement of Nature, when it 

 is considered that some flowers which 

 particularly attract these migrations 

 only blossom once in seven years. This 

 is the case at Newera Ellia, where the 

 nillho blossom induces such a general 

 rush of this particular bee to the dis- 

 trict, that the jungles are swarming 

 with them in every direction, although 

 during the six preceding years hardly a 

 bee of the kind is to be met with. 



"There are many varieties of the 

 nillhe. These vary from a tender dwarf- 

 plant to the tall and heavy stem, to the 

 common nillho, which is nearly as thick 

 as a man's arm, and about 20 feet high. 



"The next honey-gatherer is very 

 similar in size and appearance to our 



