and its Economic Management. 297 



Messrs. Abbott have long had something similar, though 

 more simple and less expensive ; but there is one great 

 disadvantage with all bottle feeders, in that they are sub- 

 ject to atmospheric pressure, and with a sudden rise of 

 temperature the expansion causes much waste of syrup- 

 The syrup has usually been boiled when prepared for this 

 class of feeder, but for my own use I have large cylinders 

 on the self-acting feeder principle which reduce about 2. 

 cwt. of loaf sugar at a time, the sugar being drawn off by 

 a treacle valve at the bottoni. The syrup-can illustrated 

 (Fig. 53) will also be found very suitable for smaller 

 quantities, saving much time and trouble in cooking : the 

 self-acting principle being the great feature in this, as in, 

 my Champion Feeders. 



Inexpensive Bottle Feeders 



are as shown by Fig. 012 ; a double thickness of cheese- 

 cloth, or old linen, being tied over the mouth of a common 

 jam jar, the bottle is inverted and placed flat on a thin block 

 at the back of the hive. If slow feeding is desirable, 

 then use the plain side of the block as on the left : if 

 faster then invert it over the grooved side ; or for rapid 

 feeding, tilt the bottle up at one corner. Of course, in 

 this case two or three of the combs are removed from the 

 hive, and it is not only inexpensive, but has the advan- 

 tage over top feeders in that the syrup is soon raised to 

 the temperature of the hive, as also is the case with my 

 frame feeders. 



Feeding up 100 Colonies in a Week. 



A very simple feeder is one adopted by myself many 

 years since, and by its use it is possible to feed up one 

 hundred colonies in less than a week, each stock being 

 capable of carrying 12 to 15 lbs. of syrup from the feeder 



