TSE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



281 



But right here it seems to me we run 

 against a stump — or, at least, I fear there is 

 danger of it. Will not those combs built 

 from the heavy foundation, or, rather, that 

 having heavy side-walls, show very objec- 

 tionable ' fish-bone ' ? The Van Deusen 

 foundation, which seems to have the poorest 

 showing in the hive, may, when actually in 

 the mouth of the consumer, have the best 

 showing. The Van Deusens have advertised, 

 as a special feature of their wax, that it has 

 no ' fish-bone.' How far this is true, I do 

 not know from experience ; but 1 do know 

 that there is no perceptible ' fish-bone ' in 

 the very light grades of foundation used by 

 the Dadants, Hunt, and ourselves. If man- 

 ufacturers should agree uniformly to make 

 their surplus foundation with heavier walls 

 — that which has given, according to the ex- 

 periments of Mr. Taylor, fatter combs — con- 

 sumers would object to it as not being like the 

 honey of their fathers, and in time they 

 would refuse to buy it, on the false assump- 

 tion that it was manufactured, and therefore 

 not real honey. As foundation-makers, we 

 prefer to make our thin surplus just as it has 

 been made. 



In conclusion, let me say that I do not 

 question the correctness ©f Mr. Taylor's ex- 

 periments in the least. I accept them as 

 actual facts, for I saw the combs myself 

 while at his place this summer." 



Percolator Feeders ; Making Syrup in Large 



Percolator Cans, Syrup to be Fed in 



the Ordinary Way. 



By the time this reaches my readers it will 

 be too late to do any feeding this year, but, 

 onless these items of information are given 

 as they come up, while the subject is under 

 discussion, they are likely to be forgotten ; 

 besides, it is best to have all phases of a sub- 

 ject considered at the same time, hence I 

 copy the following from Gleanings ; 



" We have been continuing in the use of 

 the crock percolator, as described on page 

 769. They are still working nicely ; but to 

 test this plan further, we have been trying it 

 with different kinds of receptacles. Where 

 we desire to feed the colony up with one feed, 

 or, at most, with two, the two-gallon crock is 

 a little too large and unwieldy to be handled 

 easily, for the crock itself forms an incon- 

 siderable part of the weight. Looking over 

 our counter store, my eyes lit upon some 

 sap-pails. (Of course, those with holes near 

 the top rim for the sap-spile will not an- 

 swer.) 'There,' said I, 'here is just the 

 thing.' These were filled with sugar and 

 water, half and half, and then a shallow cake- 

 pan was set over, with three or four thick- 

 nesses of cheese-cloth between. The whole 

 was then inverted. But the flaring edge of 

 the cake-pan fitted so close to the rim of the 

 pail that it took the bees five or six days to 

 get the feed out. This would be all right 

 ordinarily ; but as it was getting to be a lit- 



tle late we desired to feed a little more rap- 

 idly. Instead of the cake-pan we finally sub- 

 stituted square pine boards ^g thick, just 

 large enough to cover the pail. These would 

 warp enough to let the air through the cloth, 

 and consequently the feed would run out the 

 more rapidly. These the bees empty in from 

 one to two days, and are then ready for an- 

 other feed. The fact that the board is warped 

 a trifle does not harm ; but it should be sta- 

 ted that the crocks or pails, whichever are 

 used, should be filled level full of sugar and 

 water, otherwise the slight amount of air 

 will allow some of the water to run out be- 

 fore it has incorporated the requisite amount 

 of sugar. 



COLD-WATEB SYKUP ; B. TAYLOB's PLAN. 



Well, it is getting so late that we thought 

 it inadvisable to continue the percolator 

 feeders on the hives much longer, inasmuch 

 as the syrup as fed was in the proportion of 

 half sugar and half water— too thin for late 

 feeding. Disliking to make syrup in the old 

 fashioned way (heating it and stirring it an 

 hour or two to get the sugar thoroughly dis- 

 solved), I thought I would try the percola- 

 tor plan, as it was said this syrup would not 

 granulate, and would be of the proper con- 

 sistency for late feeding in ordinary Miller 

 feeders. Our neighbor, Vernon Burt, told 

 me that he had used the plan described by 

 B. Taylor, with entire success ; that his 

 whole apiary of 180 colonies had been fed 

 without heating an ounce of syrup. The 

 plan that B. Taylor described was given in 

 Gleanings, page 49G. 



Briefly stated, it consisted of an ordinary 

 Dadant uncapping can. As most of you 

 know, it is simply one can set on top of an- 

 other — the top can having a false bottom of 

 wire cloth, and properly stayed to hold up 

 the center. Over this false bottom Mr, Tay- 

 lor laid over three thicknesses of old bed- 

 blanket, carefully tucked in around the 

 edges. On to this he poured the sugar and 

 water, and, in his own language, the result 

 was all he could desire ; for all he had to do 

 was to keep the top can supplied, and draw 

 off the clear liquid syrup from the can below. 

 Of course, I naturally concluded that, if Mr. 

 Burt and Mr. Taylor could make a success of 

 this, we could. In the first place, flannel is 

 rather expeneive, so I told our apiarist to 

 take six or eight thicknesses of cheese-cloth 

 and put them into the bottom of the can. 

 The sugar and water were put into the top 

 can, and I eagerly awaited results, when, 

 much to my disappointment, the syrup 

 drained through but little better than sweet- 

 ened water, and five pailfuls in only two 

 hours. It ought to have taken about ten. 

 It was drained off, and returned to the top 

 can. The result was nearly the same, except 

 that the syrup was a little thicker, Well, 

 thought I, the trouble lies in the cheese-cloth. 

 The sugar was taken out, and over this were 

 put three thicknesses of new flannel. Again 

 the results were not much more satisfactory. 

 Three thicknesses of heavy white felt were 

 then substituted, and still the syrup was too 

 thin. At last, in desperation, I went down to 

 Mr. Burt's, and asked him where my trouble 

 was. He could not tell. He had used old 



