700 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



and locality like mine, alike in all re- 

 spects, and had a cellar just like mine, 

 had wintered bees always out-doors with 

 an average loss of 6 per cent., while I 

 had wintered mine in the cellar with a 

 loss of 5 per cent., I should say to him, 

 " Stick to your out-door wintering. You 

 know that, and you don't know cellar 

 wintering. True, you lose one colony in 

 a hundred more than I, but if you try 

 my plan you may lose ten more than I, 

 and if I should try your plan I might 

 lose 20 more than you." There's a great 

 'deal in being used to a thing. 



Latitude is not a thing to be depended 

 upon too much. I am in latitude 42° 

 north. The same latitude on the At- 

 lantic coast is very much milder. I 

 think the winters north of me, in Wis- 

 consin, are not so severe on bees. Per- 

 haps one reason may be the greater 

 sweep of wind here. Possibly less snow. 



As to fires in cellars : Some object 

 seriously to anything of the kind. "It 

 isn't natural. Who ever heard of bees 

 in a state of nature having fires?" True 

 enough. Then comes the objection, " I 

 know that fires are bad, for I tried it 

 one winter, and that's the only winter I 

 lost heavily in the cellar." But, my 

 friend, while I am willing to say that 

 your experience may be a safe guide for 

 you, it may not be so for everybody else. 

 My experience has been just the re- 

 verse, and perhaps it is the wise thing 

 to conclude that in your case fires are 

 bad, and in mine good. 



"But fires are artificial, and every 

 one has noticed that people who are 

 kept in the house beside the fire all the 

 time are not so rugged as those who 

 spend their lives mostly out-doors. Will 

 not the same rule hold with bees ?" In 

 reply I may say that people are not 

 bees, but admitting that they are the 

 same, and admitting that all you say is 

 true, I'm not sure that it proves that my 

 cellar is better without fire. I grant 

 you that as a rule the air is not so good 

 where there is a fire, and that people as 

 well as bees are better in the open air ; 

 but it does not follow that in all cases it 

 is the fire that does the mischief. The 

 man who sits all day long in his count- 

 ing-room with a comfortable fire on a 

 December day, is not so healthy as the 

 man out in the snow hauling wood ; but 

 would the man in the counting-room be 

 any better off without the fire ? 



I think there was never so much mold 

 and bad air in my cellar as last winter. 

 A fire kindled there would have changed 

 the air and if the air had been kept pure 

 there would have been no mold. I have 



no quarrel with you because you do not 

 need fire in your cellar. If you can keep 

 it warm enough without, by all means 

 keep the fire out, but even if you must 

 believe that fire does harm, if the cellar 

 cannot be kept warm enough without it, 

 I insist that the fire will not do as much 

 harm as a depressingly low temperature. 

 Marengo, Ills. 



Feeders for Feeding Bees their 

 Winter Stores. 



Written for the American Be-t Journal 

 BY C. A. BUNCH. 



After trying several bee-feeders to 

 feed up for winter stores, I have come 

 to the conclusion that no perfect bee- 

 feeder will ever be constructed where 

 the bees have to climb up the sides of 

 the feeder, then down to the food of 

 syrup. My reasons are these : 



Some colonies refuse to, and cannot, 

 be coaxed to go up into a pan or wooden 

 butter-dish to get their food, which is 

 quite aggravating when winter is com- 

 ing on ; but so far the pepper-box feeder, 

 or a two-quart Mason fruit-can of syrup 

 with the lid perforated (this to be in- 

 verted right over the colony to be fed), 

 has the desired effect. A better feeder 

 is made as follows : 



Get a tin-smith to make a square tip- 

 box about four or five inches deep, and 

 as large as the top of the hive ; the top 

 and bottom of the tin-box should be 

 soldered on tight. Now make a lot of 

 perforations on one side of the feeder ; 

 next solder on a flange all the way 

 around on the outside, this to be % . of 

 an inch high to make a bee-space. The 

 feeder is now finished. 



To fill with syrup, place the top side 

 down, the flange or side-boards will 

 keep the syrup from running down the 

 sides. It can now be quickly inverted 

 over a pan to catch some syrup that will 

 run out. Now place it over the colony 

 to be fed, and the bees will do the rest. 

 Of course we all know that the idea is 

 old, but the feeder is the best that I 

 know of. By the way, who will make 

 these feeders and keep them for sale ? 



Now that the majority of bee-keepers 

 who produce comb honey use the eight- 

 frame hives, which are too small to hold 

 honey enough to last over until white 

 clover, I think that entrance feeders 

 would come into good play, to be made 

 with a snout or trough to be pushed in 

 at the entrance right under the cluster 



