TREATMENT OF SWARMS AND STOCKS. 



59 



myriada of bloom whieh clothe with such unspeakable beauty our orchard 

 trees. How then can we secure the abundance of labourers when the 

 harvest is plenteous P By antedating the natural supply of honey by 

 feeding — commencing if the weather is open, at the end of February. We 

 may use any kind of feeder ; but ^jhe bottle, as recommended at the begin- 

 ning of the chapter, allows the bees to regale themselves while clustering 

 in the warmest part of the hive, while no heated air is suffered to escape : 

 advantages combined in no other form. But the bottle on perforated zinc 

 is not the ne plus ultra of feeding. It lacks the gentle regularity of the 

 normal inflow of Nature's sweets. It gives to the bees so rapidly that 

 they, in their greed and excitement, fill up the cells of the brood nest, and 

 before the stimulus for ovipositing has taken possession of them -the 

 supply is gone. To 

 overcome this difficulty 

 we invented the rotat- 

 ing stage (Fig. 42), con- 

 sisting of vulcanite, and 

 having holes pierced in 

 it, as in the illustration. 

 Vulcanite is smooth and 

 flexible, quite incapable 

 of being chemically 

 acted npon by any bee 

 food, as zinc may be, 

 and above all, is an ex- 

 ceedingly good non-con- 

 ductor of heat. ■ The 

 plate is fixed upon the 

 hive board by »■ screw 

 (A), to receive which a hole is first made in the vulcanite with a red 

 hot wire. The dotted circle shows the position of the feed hole, 

 which should stand exactly between A and the stop (B), a locksmith's 

 screw, BO placed that its head laps over the edges of the plate and 

 holds it in position, while it permits its rotation either way, until 

 one of the two projections touches the screw. The plate may be 

 pierced with a red hot knitting needle, the burrs removed by scraping, 

 and the under side roughened by deep scratching with a sharp knife, so 

 that the bees may have foothold. If the plate be placed as represented, 

 only one hole would be reachable by the workers beneath, and this 

 would be cut off from them if the plate were rotated as far as possible 

 to the right, so that the bottle may remain on without giving anything 

 to the stock. If, however, the movement be made towards the left, hole 

 after hole is brought into position, until the maximum is reached, 

 when the stop arrests the further rotation of the vulcanite. The effect 



I'la. 42. Cheshiee Feediho Stage. 



