THE FLOEAL WOULD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 85 



FEEDING BEES. 



IE would remind those of our readers who keep bee3, that 

 the season approaches when these useful insects should 

 be attended to. Like all other live stock, they pay best 

 when best fed. During the depth of winter it is un- 

 necessary to feed them ; an occasional mild day may 

 entice them abroad, and our own plan being always to thwart nature 

 as little as possible, we allow the exit to remain open for them to take 

 advantage of, a boon which it is evident they may enjoy without 

 risk. If the previous weather have been severe, their food within 

 the hive will not be exhausted, and they will refuse any that may 

 have been prepared for them, and even placed close to their hives. 

 They appear, indeed, to be roused from their torpidity merely to 

 sport in a sunny gleam, for they buzz continually about their homes, 

 are never seen at a distance from them, nor are they found wearied 

 and dying, as in early spring ; but as soon as their brief and doubt- 

 less necessary exposure to the open air is over, they retire to their 

 hives, and quietly settle to another season of sleep or torpor. But 

 as the spring advances, and their stored provisions become lessened 

 in consequence of the bees being more frequently called into activity 

 and requiring food, they ought to be supplied with nourishment 

 every day on which they may venture abroad, until they find flowers 

 sufficient*, for their subsistence. It is said, but we know not if the 

 assertion may be relied on, that the earliest flowers of spring yield 

 only the substance of which the wax is made. The best food which 

 we know of, excepting honey, and which we have always found to 

 succeed, is thus made : — ■ 



A quarter of a pint of water, a quarter of a pint of beer (ale), 

 one pound of moist sugar, and a very little salt, i.e., about 

 half a teaspoon ful (bees are fond of salt) ; boil all together till 

 it becomes a syrup. A small quantity of this is to be poured into 

 a large dinner-plate, which is to be placed near the hives, with a few 

 slender twigs put across it, on which the bees may rest while tbey 

 eat, to prevent their wings from becoming clogged. Some sticks of 

 elder, about half a foot in length, with the pith extracted, excepting 

 an inch at each end, should also be filled with the mixture, and 

 placed on each stand. 



CAPE BULBS. 



|LTHOTJGrH the number of half-hardy Irids of this class, 

 capable of successful cultivation in the open border, 

 is very considerable, they are, with the exception of the 

 Ixias and a few others, so rarely Been in gardens of only 

 moderate size, that it is difficult to resist the conviction, 



that to a largo class of amateurs the treasures of this beautiful 



tribe are comparatively unknown. 



March. 



