No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 357 



and stir till the syrup becomes clear, then take off the stove. There 

 are several good feeders you can buy of dealers in bee supplies, but 

 if you have none of these you can feed the syrup in combs. 



]*ut an empty brood-comb flat in a tub or something of the sort, 

 and pour into it from a height of four feet or so the syrup. It should 

 fall in very line streams, and for this purpose you may use an empty 

 baking powder can, with its bottom punched full of nail holes. 

 The hotter the syrup the more readily it will enter the cells, but if 

 too hot it may melt the combs. If necessary, you can add water to 

 thin the syrup, or you can use a larger proportion of water in the 

 first place. 



The crock-and-plate plan of feeding is less dauby and may suit 

 you better. For this the syrup may be hot or cold, as it happens. 

 Put the syrup into a common stone crock — a one-gallon crock is all 

 right — cover over the crock one or two thicknesses of flannel or 

 woolen cloth, or else five or six thicknesses of cheese-cloth, and over 

 this put a dinner plate upside down. With one hand under the 

 crock and the other over tlie plate, quickly turn the whole thing 

 upside down, and set it on top of the brood-frames. A hive-body 

 must now be put over and the hive-cover put on, so that no bee can 

 get in from the outside. 



It is better to do feeding in the evening, for if done earlier in the 

 day robber-bees may be attracted. 



SPRING OVERHAULING. 



Having made sure that there is no danger of starvation, the bees 

 may get on without further attention until it is time to put on surplus 

 receptacles. Indeed, if the right care was taken in August or Sep- 

 tember, or even in October preceding, to make sure that abundant 

 stores were in the hive, there may be no absolute need of attention 

 from fall until summer. 



With movable combs, however, it is considered worth while by 

 many to give a kind of overhauling a little after the fashion of 

 spring cleaning in house-work. The object is to see that all is right 

 in every hive; that each colony has a good queen, and to make further 

 assurance that there is no danger of starvation before the honey 

 harvest comes. 



Keep in mind that ten pounds of honey more than actually neces- 

 sary will do no harm, while ten ounces too little means loss of the 

 whole colony. You may be surprised to find how rapidly the honey 

 in the hive will disappear after brood-rearing gets fairly under head- 

 way in spring. It is not enough that bees at such a time be given 

 from time to time just what they will use. They seem to look ahead, 



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