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 WOBKING FOBCE OF BEES 



IN TIME FOB THE HONEY HARVEST; HOW IT PATS 



IN DOLLABS 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 nuclsus. 



THE ALEXANDER FEEDEE 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 



