78 BEE-FARMING. 



are two excellent ways of feeding at the top of the hive. 

 One of these ways is by the Lancashire bee-feeder ; it is a 

 simply constructed appliance, made of tin, zinc, wood, or 

 earthenware. I prefer the latter. Bee-masters seldom 

 wash and keep scrupulously clean the bee requisites. It 

 is better, if this be so, to use the earthenware feeder,, 

 because this will of itself be sweet. Wood especially, and 

 often tin and zinc, are apt to turn the food sour, which 

 causes dysentery and death. 



The wood-cut represents the. Lan- 

 cashire bee-feeder. It is made usually 

 of tin, and will hold about six pounds 

 of syrup ; it is 9 inches in diameter, 

 as sold in the Manchester seed-stores. 



LANCASHIRE BIE-FEEDER. -y^J^gj^ gjjgjj ^JjJ^ jj^g fo^^J^ Jj Jg ^OVBred 



with a tin lid, which fits closely. I prefer it when 

 coverea with glass, because you can then watch the bees- 

 taking up the food, and can more easily ascertain when it 

 is empty. After filling with syrup place it on the hive, 

 with the circular opening seen in the illustration over the 

 hole you have made in the crown of the hive. The 

 entrance is through the centre of the feeder. Both the 

 inside and the outside of the entrance are lined with per- 

 forated zinc, so as to present a rough surface for the bees 

 to climb, and the top of the entrance tube is half- an-inch 

 lower than the sides of the feeder, so that when covered 

 v/ith its lid it will allow the bees to climb over to the wood 

 float, which rests on the surface of the syrup, and sinks as 

 the bees take it to store it in the hive. With this feeder 

 I have given a starving stock as much as six pounds of 

 syrup in the course of one night. When the feeder is 

 first given to the hive, it is well to smear the entrance- 

 t\xhc with honey, and to drop a little through the hole 

 into the hive amongst the bees ; this will at once attract 

 them, and cause them to ascend quickly into the feeder. 



