14 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



if confined without a flight for four or five 

 months. For out-apiaries the house has 

 many advantages, especially for extracted 

 honey, for with this we may safely dispense 

 with a constant attendant. The house can 

 be locked against intruders, no wintering 

 cellar is required, and the house need not 

 be more costly than an open yard, and I 

 know that first-class results can be pro- 

 duced. 



My new feeders are the first ones with 

 which I was entirely satisfied. They are 

 simply wooden boxes four inches square and 

 six inches deep. The bottom is of tinned 

 wire cloth ^h inch mesh, with a I4 inch square 

 strip of wood nailed around the outer edges 

 to raise the wire cloth bee-space from the 

 bottom. The feeder proper in which the 

 syrup is poured is a round tin cup 'S^-^ inches 

 in diameter and .5^2 inches deep, the bottom 

 being of cotton sheeting held in place by a 

 band of tin like an old fashioned milk strain- 

 er. This cloth can be removed for cleaning 

 and replaced. The cup has no cover. A cup 

 is set in each little box with the cloth bot- 

 tom directly on the wire cloth bottom of the 

 box, and the box packed in the sawdust 

 right over the center of the hive and cluster 

 of bees. The cover of the-hive is removed 

 and a square of burlap spread in its place 

 with a square hole cut in it under the feeder 

 thus giving the bees an opportunity to suck 

 the feed through the wire cloth of the box 

 and through the cotton cloth bottom of the 

 tin cup, without leaving the cluster, and I 

 can feed in the coldest weather if need be. 



These tin cups areremoved from the boxes 

 when packed for winter and the boxes filled 

 with waste paper. Each box has a cover. 

 As soon as the weather is warm enough for 

 the bees to fly nicely in the spring I will give 

 each colony a few ounces of sugar syrup 

 each evening regardless of their having 

 stores in their hives below. By feeding in 

 the evening all excitement is prevented and 

 the bees are ready to go to the fields for pol- 

 len or honey during the day. All danger of 

 robbing is removed and I have fed twenty- 

 four colonies in five minutes by the watch. 

 Each colony in the yard will have one of 

 these feeders packed over the top of it when 

 removed from the cellar. 

 Mr. Spaeth says of Mr. Weygandt : 

 " He has no spring dwindling. As soon as 

 the bees bring in natural pollen, he com- 

 mences stimulative feeding, and breeding 

 once commenced in good earnest never is 

 checked by cold spells or poor weather. He 



has giant colonies at the time of fruit bloom 

 and of rape, which is one of his main crops. 



Some brag that they winter their bees with 

 success in the old way. But it is one thing 

 to winter bees that just pull through and are 

 kept busy till the latter part of .June getting 

 ready for the harvest, giving no spring sur- 

 plus whatever ; and another thing to bring 

 out very strong, rousing swarms which give 

 the least work for the bee-keeper but the 

 most pleasure and profit. 



He claims that it pays to have such a house 

 and saves time, money and work."' 



In my judgement, here is the key to suc- 

 cessful surplus honey production. Stimula- 

 tive feeding, if done properly, is of great 

 value, but the feed must be offered in a way 

 that the bees can got it without leaving the 

 cluster, so that when once started the bees 

 will get their daily supply regardless of what 

 the weather is outside. 



The house-apiary offers perfect conditions 

 for practical stimulative feeding far greater 

 than is possible in single hives, in the open 

 yard, and the new handy feeder is perfection 

 for giving the feed. No heat escapes from 

 the hive and the bees cluster permanently 

 right up to the bottom of the feeder, and 

 will take the feed on days so cold that not a 

 bee would leave the cluster in search of the 

 needed supply. 



I have said that the house is adapted to the 

 needs of the professional honey producer 

 and it is the ideal for the city or country 

 business or professional man who wishes to 

 keep from ten to fifty colonies for pleasure 

 and profit, and it will not be many years 

 until such houses will be numbered by the 

 thousands. The house-apiary has come to 

 stay. 



FoKESTViLLE, Minn. .Jan. 1, 1894. 



Bee-Keepers' Review. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSOfl, Ed. & Pt»op. 



Terms : — $1.00 a year in advance. Two copies 

 $1.90 ; three for $2.70 ; five for $4.00 ; ten or more. 

 70 cents each. If it is desired to have the Review 

 stopped at the expiration of the time paid for, 

 please say so when subscribing, otherwise it 

 will be continued. 



FL/n/T, MICHIGAN JAN. 10. 1894. 



Vermont bee-keepers will hold their an- 

 nual convention January 24th and 2r>t\\, at 

 the Van-Ness House in Burlington. 



