322 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVlJ<<i/i>. 



It is admitted that something may be said 

 on the other side but in my estimation noth- 

 ing formidable. The strongest point is the 

 fact tliat the honey thus produced is more 

 liable to the change denominated candying. 

 But that it is inevitable is not very mate- 

 rial, for the consumption of this honey, as it 

 is but a small proportion of the whole crop, 

 can easily be secured by a little CR,re on the 

 part of the apiarist before the danger of that 

 change begins and before it is desirable to 

 move the main crop. But it is not certain 

 that the candying process need necessarily 

 follow. Experiments indicate that by prop- 

 er methods of feeding and proper handling 

 of the honey when removed from the hive, 

 that difficulty may be avoided. The labor of 

 feeding of course amounts to semething but 

 to no more perhaps than that of extracting 

 the honey from the sections to be completed 

 by the feeding. On the whole it is safe to 

 say that the advantages to be derived from 

 the course suggested, leaving out of view the 

 increased value of the product, easily com- 

 pensate for the necessary labor and other 

 drawbacks and leave the increase in value 

 clear profit, which is found by actual trial to 

 amount to from 30 to 60 per cent., acccrdine 



sections to be completed are adjusted, with 

 an empty hive or other bee proof rim sur- 

 rounding it, the hive cover to be placed se- 

 curely over all when the feeding has been 

 done. Care must be taken that no opening 

 for the entrance of robber bees be left or 

 trouble may be anticipated. There must be 

 provided for each pan a piece of cotton cloth 

 at least three or four inches larger each way 

 than the diameter of the top of the pan, and 

 when the pan is filled the cloth must be so 

 placed over it as to permit the bees to take 

 up the honey without getting into it, or if 

 any get into it so as to enable them to regain 

 a foothold on the cloth. The best way I 

 have discovered to adjust the cloth is this : 

 Take the cloth and dip one corner three or 

 four inches into the honey then place the 

 cloth on one edge of the pan so that the 

 sweetened part hangs over so as to touch the 

 section case on which the pan stands, thus 

 forming a bridge for the ascent of the bees, 

 then fold under loosely the further parts of 

 the cloth so that it will drop inside the pan 

 and settle with the honey. There is the most 

 danger of the bees getting drowned at the 

 first feeding when they are greedy. It is not 

 necessary to be careful that all parts of the 



218% 



205 



135^ 



65.3 



58,4 



61.8 



PM o 



1.53 

 1.70 



1.61 



to the degree of advancement to which the 

 sections have arrived when devoted to this 

 purpose. Of course the Itss the work which 

 has been done on the sections when taken 

 to have them completed by feeding, the less 

 would be the per cent, of profit. 



As to feeders, either for this kind of feed- 

 ing or for feeding for winter stores, theHed- 

 don or Miller feeder is the most convenient, 

 as the work of feeding can be done without 

 any interference from the bees of the colony 

 at all, but, on the whole I have the best sat- 

 isfaction from the use of common milk pans : 

 the bees take the honey more rapidly from 

 these and there is not the danger of the comb 

 honey getting a twang from the incliu ition 

 of the dampness in the wood of the other 

 feeder to induce incipient fermentation. 



To use the milk pan feeder, place it on the 

 open top of the colony to be fed, after the 



surface of the honey be covered — it is more 

 important that the cloth is so placed that it 

 will fall as fast as the honey is taken out. 

 A new cloth is best — a very old one, that is, 

 one that has been much used and washed, 

 will, particularly if a little damp, settle at 

 once to the bottom of the pan. 



Owing to the extremely unpropitious 

 character of the honey season the amount of 

 material was small so that the experiment 

 made was not an extensive one — only two 

 colonits being u.^ed in it. They were not ex- 

 cessively strong ones as each had passed the 

 entire season in a single section of the new 

 Heddon hive. Tlie extracted honey used 

 was diluted after weighing at the time of 

 feeding by the addition of from 15 to 20 per 

 cent, of hot water and was fed as rapidly as 

 the bees would take it. Each colony was 

 given two cases of sections with foundation 



