492 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



CONDUCTED BY 



• Jem 



Floyd, Hunt Co., Tex. 



Bee-Feeders, How to Feed, Etc. 



Mrs. Atchley, as we have had a poor 

 season in north Texas this year, I will 

 be forched to feed my bees to get them 

 in condition for winter. Will you please 

 tell me a good plan for feeding, that is 

 cheap and reliable ? E. C. 



Friend E. C, I will give you the plan 

 I use when I have- to feed, which is 

 cheap, reliable and quick. 



Take a pan or vessel that will hold 

 say a half-gallon, or more if you wish ; 

 fill it with syrup made from common 

 brown sugar made a little thinner than 

 you would use on the table. Cut a piece 

 of cheap, thin domestic, just to fit the 

 inside of the vessel, leaving a strip to it 

 to reach over the edge and clear down 

 to the frames. Let this strip be two or 

 three inches wide. 



Now turn back the quilt at one corner, 

 place the can on the frames, fill it with 

 syrup, and let the strip go right down to 

 where the bees can reach it. Place on 

 an upper story. Pour the food in just 

 about sundown, and always place the 

 cloth smoothly down on the syrup, 



To start the bees quick, pour some 

 food on the strip from the bees up to the 

 food in the pan. You can feed 20 to 30 

 pounds in a short time in this way, and 

 no bees will get drowned, if you use 

 care. 



I do not like any feeder that lets the 

 feed run on out, whether the bees want 

 to take it or not. A cool snap might 

 check them from taking the food fast 

 enough, and a fearful mess is the result. 



To make the syrup, take two meas- 

 ures of sugar and one of water. Place 

 on the stove, and let it strike a " boil ;" 

 set it off to cool, and it is ready. To 

 keep from granulating add a little cream 

 of tartar — a piece as large as a marble 

 to a gallon of syrup. Now give the bees 



all they need of this food, and they are 

 safe for winter, as far as food is con- 

 cerned. 



We should all see that the bees have 

 at least 20 pounds of food to the colony 

 as early as Nov. 1st in the South, and 

 only a moderate colony is necessary for 

 the South. It is too expensive in this 

 locality to winter large colonies, as a 

 moderate colony will build up sufficiently 

 strong long before the honey harvest, 

 so more than a half-gallon of bees are 

 fed at a loss to the owner. 



Now, don't you Northern bee-folks 

 laugh at this, for I tell you it is true. 

 We need the honey, especially for 

 spring, but half the bees that you need 

 will do for us. 



An Experience with. Queens, Etc. 



I received two queens recently, and 

 put them on frames as directed. I 

 opened the hives in one week, and two 

 days after I looked in, and as I raised 

 the cloth from the frames, the queen 

 was on the box, and flew out before I 

 could get the cloth down. She seemed 

 very lively, and I could not catch her. 

 She was out of sight in a twinkling. 

 That was the last I saw of her. The 

 other one is all right and laying. 



We are having a fine flow of honey — 

 the first for nearly four weeks. My bees 

 have averaged about 40 pounds per 

 colony, spring count — all blacks. I 

 bought them last spring, some in very 

 poor condition. I have 28 colonies, and 

 wish to start with 30 next spring ; will 

 get some in box-hives and transfer them. 

 A. Bishek. 



Baird, Tex., Sept. 6, 1892. 



Friend Bisher, if you will shake a 

 frame of bees at the entrance of the 

 hive when the queen happens to take 

 wing, the roar of the bees going in will 

 attract the queen, and she will return 

 and enter her own hive, and not get lost. 



Bee-Keeping- in Texas. 



I began bee-keeping for myself 12 

 years ago at Village Mills, Hardin 

 county, Tex. After three years, my 

 wife died, when I sold everything there, 

 and rambled over Texas, Louisiana, 

 Mississippi, Tennessee, New Mexico, 

 and Old Mexico, before locating here in 

 Tyler county. I got my start in bees 



