THE BEE. 309 
and not unfrequently several stocks •will thus be destroyed before their 
depredations can be stopped. 
This feeder is so constructed and arranged, and so harmonizes with 
the construction of the hives, that there is little or no danger to be 
apprehended from other bees being attracted to the hive or gaining 
access into it or to the feed, as the feeder is placed in the case, at the 
side of the brood-hive, near the top, with a small communication into 
the feeder, near the top of the hive, and therefore the robbers must 
pass up among the bees and combs through the body of the hive, to 
gain access to the feed. This they will not do, if the instructions are 
followed, which are : “ to nearly close the entrance tube while feeding , 
leaving a space of only half an inch or so, that only one or two bees 
can enter at a time.” In this condition a few bees are able to defend 
themselves against all intruders. 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 
Fig 1 is a view of the feed-box. Fig 2, the float which is made to 
fit in it, to support the bees and prevent their becoming mired in the 
feed while feeding. 
Fig. 1 consists of a wooden box made of half-inch boards, and is ten 
or twelve inches long, six inches wide, and four and a half inches deep, 
having one or two apertures an inch or so in diameter, near the upper 
edge, to communicate with the hive while feeding. A square tin pan, 
two inches deep, is made to fit closely in the box, even with the bottom, 
and secured there with small tacks. 
The float, fig 2, is made of thin slats of light wood, about one inch 
wide, and one eighth of an inch thick, tacked on to a cross piece at the 
center, leaving a space between the slats of one eighth of an inch. The 
under side of the float is lined with strips of cork one eighth of an inch 
thick, tacked to the wood. A hole, five-eighths in diameter, is made in 
the center of the float, and a tin tube five inches long fitted in even on 
the under side. Another thin strip two inches wide is fitted across the 
top of the box, with a hole in the center one eighth of an inch larger 
than the tin tube, to receive it ; and on each side of this top strip, a pane 
of glass is fitted to confine the bees, and afford means to observe their 
operations while feeding. By means of the tin tube, the float can be 
raised when the feed is put in the feeder, and the feed poured through 
it with a tunnel. The float can then be eased down on the feed, and 
the bees come on to it and feed through the apertures between the slats 
without being mixed and drowned in the feed. It is surprising and also 
amusing, to see how eager they are to remove the feed and store it in 
