FEEDING. 327 



with the mixture, so that the honey may not soak into the 

 wood. Make a float of thin wood, filled with quarter inch 

 holes, with clamps nailed on the lower sides to prevent 

 warping, and to keep the float from settling to the bot- 

 tom of the box, so as to stick fast : it should have ample 

 play, so that it may settle, as fast as the bees consume the hon- 

 ey. Tacks on the clamps will always be sure to prevent 

 sticking. Before you waste any time in making small holes, 

 for fear the bees will be drowned in the large ones, try a float 

 made as directed. In one corner of the box, fasten with 

 the melted mixture, a thin strip of wood, about one inch 

 wide ; let it project above the top of the box about an inch, 

 and be kept about half an inch from the bottom ; this 

 answers as a spout for pouring the honey into the feeder, 

 and when not in use, it should be stopped up. Have for the 

 lid of the box, a piece of glass with the corner cut off" next 

 the spout, so as to cover the feeder and keep the bees in, 

 and at the same time allow the bee-keeper to see when they 

 have consumed all their food. The feeder is now complete, 

 with one important exception ; it has, as yet no way of ad- 

 mitting the bees. On the outside corners of one of the ends, 

 glue or tack two strips, inch and a half wide, extending down 

 to the bottom of the box, and half an inch from the top ; 

 fasten over them a piece of thin board, (paste-board will 

 answer.) You have now a shallow passage without top 

 or bottom, outside of your feeder ; give it a top of any 

 kind ; cut out just below the level of this top, a passage 

 into the feeder for the bees. It is now complete, and 

 when properly placed over any hole on the top of the hive, 

 will admit the bees from the hive, into the shallow pas- 

 sage which has no bottom, and through this into the feeder. 

 Such a feeder will not only be cheap, but it might almost 

 be made by a child, and yet it will answer every purpose 



