30 ALEXANDER’S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 
of the worst things we could do, as it would cause almost every colony 
to have the dysentery before mid-winter. 
You may think that, if a colony requires feeding, it is of but little 
consequence when, how, or what it is fed; but there is a right and a 
wrong way to do all things, and our bees are certainly very exacting 
in their requirements. There is a great deal to be gained in turning 
sugar syrup into bees in early spring, and by it saving their lives dur- 
ing the winter; but remember, even if the law would allow us to do it 
there is not a particle of profit in feeding sugar syrup to bees to get 
them to turn it into either comb or extracted honey. 
April, 1908. 
HOW STIMULATIVE FEEDING HELPS TO GIVE A GOOD WORKING FORCE OF BEES 
IN TIME FOR THE HONEY HARVEST; HOW IT PAYS 
IN DOLLARS AND CENTS. 
In order to acquire the best results from our bees it is quite neces- 
sary to do all we can to build them up into good strong colonies early 
in the season, especially where our main harvest is from clover. We all 
know from sad experience what the result will be if it takes three or 
four weeks of the best of the summer to rear a working force to gather 
the little that is left when the harvest is nearly over. So let us see 
what can be done in order to have a good working force in every hive 
at the commencement of our first harvest of surplus. I know of only 
one way to accomplish this, and that is by stimulative feeding from the 
time they commence to gather pollen until their hives are crowded with 
bees and brood. This can be acquired within 35 days from the time they 
first gather pollen, and costs only about 40 cents’ worth of honey or 
sugar per colony, and a little time to build them up into strong full 
colonies ready for any harvest that may come, and is much better than 
to let those precious days go by and see your bees dwindle away to a 
mere nucleus. 
THE ALEXANDER FEEDER AND HOW APPLIED. 
With the feeder that is here shown which I will describe, it re- 
quires only one hour or less to feed 200 colonies; and in doing so you 
need not kill one bee nor waste a drop of syrup nor lose any heat from 
the colony you are feeding. 
First, you see the feeder alone by the side of the hive; then you see 
it in position under the back of the hive ready to fill, and a 4x4 block 
at the end of the hive to cover the end of the feeder when it is filled and 
