. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 144 FITTING THE ALEXANDER FEEDER By John Protherue I have always been a firm believer in the advantages of the Alexander feeder. To me the bottle eivtrance feeder is an abomination. It has many objectionable characteristics. It is the cause of nine-tenths of the outbreaks of fighting in queen yards, where feed- ers of one sort or another have to be almost constantly employed. It is in- curably messy; the best that one can do with it is to dip it in a bucket of water after filling, dry carefully, and wipe around the neck with a kerosened rag—a lengthy
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 144 FITTING THE ALEXANDER FEEDER By John Protherue I have always been a firm believer in the advantages of the Alexander feeder. To me the bottle eivtrance feeder is an abomination. It has many objectionable characteristics. It is the cause of nine-tenths of the outbreaks of fighting in queen yards, where feed- ers of one sort or another have to be almost constantly employed. It is in- curably messy; the best that one can do with it is to dip it in a bucket of water after filling, dry carefully, and wipe around the neck with a kerosened rag—a lengthy and tiresome opera- tion. Theoretically, the wooden holder should always be dry and clean; practically, owing to some of the holes being a fraction too large, they manage to get into a puddly con- dition. The "shiny professionals" know all about it; wherever there is a leak or a messy bottle, there do they congregate, furtive, hairless, sneaking, parasitic rascals; starting up trouble and demoralizing respectable bees. The best that one can say for the bot- tle feeder is that with a large three- pint bottle and holes of exactly the right size you can get a continuous flow of small volume, instead of small regular doses given in the Alexander. In the case of hot sunshine the bottle is also liable to develop fermentation. Nectar naturally comes in doses, and not in a steady flow all night, so that the process is not copying nature. Nectar naturally comes with a rush in the morning and then gradually tapers off to nothing. If you wish to copy nature, that is how you should feed. So don't produce the "nature" argument against the Alexander. When preaching the advantages of the Alexander feeder, I have usually been met with the objection, "It is so unsatisfactory to fit. You cannot get the hive to rest evenly over the ;. Now, that is just exactly what you can do; that is the strong point of the Alexander. It is possi- ble to use it year in, yea
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
