1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



185 



It has been said, "Up to this time, comb Mu. has 

 not been a decided success." Now, pure bees-wax 

 fdn., with proper manag-cment, can not he a failure ; 

 and T verily believe that, if all who make it for sale, 

 would keep Iho niaiiap'cinent I have !ii\<'n oonstaiit- 

 Iv before the people, there would be no further com- 

 plaint. I). U. Baker. 



KoUersvillo. O., May 2d, 187^. 



In addition to yonr kind suggestion, friend 

 B., I would suggest that tJie sheet of fdn. 

 be hung in sucli a part of the hive, that the 

 bees be" induced if possible, to build out both 

 sides at once. We generally secure this in 

 our apinry. It is true, occasionally, a bad 

 comb will be found now and then, but the 

 worst cases can be brought out in good shape 

 by the i)lan you suggest. A pocket knife, 

 and a very little time, will be all that is 

 ]ieeded. Wliile extracting, we can bring 

 bulged combs into shape with a very little 

 touching up with the fingers and honey 

 knife. 



F2i;3^E?EnS. 



THE HAINS' FEEDER. 



^^|OME time ag-o, I sent you a tin feeder, which 

 ^*lj you noticed in Gleanings for April. In re- 

 '^ sponse to your wish to know who sent it, I 

 dropped you a postal card. After reading- my 

 Gleantnos, I concluded this card did not reach you; 

 -therefore 1 take this occasion to say you are wel- 

 come to use it. I never had a thought of patent (as 

 hinted at, by a correspondent), or of making' money 

 out of it. I never saw or heard of it, imtil I made it 

 for my own use. T like It better than any other I 

 ever used. For inside feeding-, I use them long: 

 enough to reach from honey board to bottom, and 

 IVi inches in diameter, a row of them taking: the 

 place of a frame. I also send you today a cover on 

 the same principle, to fit the Mason .iar. 



I wintered .5U swarms; have reduced to 40 by 

 uniting the weakest; all are in excellent condition. 

 They consumed on on average, during- the winter, 

 11 lbs. 10 oz. of honey; the largest quantity used by 

 one swarm, was 20 lbs.: the smallest, SI4 lbs. Win- 

 tered on summer stands, in solid rows, protected on 

 the north side, and covered with sacks of chaff and 

 autumn leaves. J. B. Hains. 



Bedford, O., May 13th, 1878. 



Below we give an engraving of the device 

 to be fa.steiied on a quart fruit jar. 



1 





nArsrs' feeder for a fruit jar. 



The jar may be filled level full, l^efore the 

 cover is ptit on, and it is then to be inverted 

 quickly, in the same manner as the pepper 

 box feeders. The advantage it has over the 

 latter is that it feeds more rai)idlv, the 

 places of exit being larger, and the"^ holes 

 never get stopped up and need punching out. 

 Those who remember the article, "Water For 

 Bees," page 74. Vol. V. will recognize the 

 principle as being exactly the same ; friend 

 Mains has attached the sliallow dish to the 

 glass jar. so it may be inverted with it, and 

 that is all. I have cheerfully paid him the 

 §10. for the suggestion, and am willing to 

 pay for any device which T tliink well 

 enough of to adont and manufacture. 



THE DUNHAM FEEDER. 



This is simply carrying the idea that friend 

 Ilains almost strikes on, in his letter above, 

 a little farther ; instead of making the feed- 

 er round, it is made oblong, and the depth 

 of a frame, and is in fact made to liang in 

 the hive, just like a frame. The lady v.ho 

 invented it, uses it as a pepper box feeder; 

 that is, she simply has the bottom perfor- 

 ated. As tliis arrangement is much more 

 apt to be leaky, especially, if the hive and 

 machine are not ke])t exactly level, I would 

 prefer the Ilains plan of having a shallow 

 dish at the bottom, instead of iiertVirations. 

 We give below a drawing of l)oth kinds. 



DUNHAM FEEDER. 



]?.iY IMi MOVEMENT. 



Our friend writes as follows in regard to it. 



If you are willing to engrave and describe the 

 feeder in Gleanings, naming it "The Dunham 

 Feeder," and say that I am not going to have it 

 patented,— which would only raise the price,— and 

 that I hope all bee keepers will respect my right to 

 it, T will be sincerely obliged to you. If you are not 

 willing to do so, ; much prefer that you say notfcing 

 whatever about it, for the present. 



You suggest what you think an improvement; I 

 decidedly prefer it as it is, and, even if I did not, 

 would not think it right to take, or rather steal anj- 

 one else' idea. The only improvement I have made, 

 is to make it 5 instead of 9 inches in depth. 



Thanking you for your kindness to a lathi, I remain 

 yom-s truly Francis Dunham. 



Depere, Wis., April 23d, 1878. 



I think we will all respect your wishes, my 

 friend, and as an encouragement of the in- 

 ventive genius of yonr sex, 1 will offer you 

 S25. for the privilege of manufactvu-ingyour 

 feeder, with the Ilains' modification I have 

 suggested, at any time when you may see 

 fit to allow me to do so. 



There is one difiiculty with all these at- 

 mospheric feeders, and that is, that they 

 have all got to be removed from the hive to 

 fill them, which is not the case with the Sim- 

 plicity feeders, and all of like construction. 

 As the.Dunham feeder, or even the other, 

 can be made to hold 25 lbs., or sufficient for 

 winter, at one feed, it does not very much 

 matter, unless we wish to feed a little every 

 day for stimulating purposes; I confess my 

 experience in feeding has led me to con- 

 clude that too much is far better than not 

 quite enough. Still, it is not very good 

 economy, to fill our hives with syrup or 

 gra|)e sugar to such an extent, that it re- 

 mains stored in the combs, and in the way. 

 To sum up, I really do not know which 

 kind of feeders I prefer, all t/iings consider- 

 ed. Feeding gra])e sugar syrup, in the o])en 

 air, in Ilains' feeder, seems now to be the 

 least trouble, and to give best satisfaction 

 ail aroimd. Just now, between fruit blos- 

 soniH and clovej-, the bees are taking it with 

 great avidily. 



Of course the Ilains' feeder, and almost 

 any other, for that matter, can be made of 

 any desired size, and I once used one made 

 of a barrel. Where one has a, large apiary, 

 it may be quite a saving of time, to make 

 such a one, and then have no furtlier trouble 

 with feeding. This of coiu'se. is to be used 



