FURNISHING AND STOCKING A BEEHIVE. 67 



dessert spoonful of salt and the same quantity of 

 vinegar have been added. Stir the syrup whilst 

 on the fire, and do not let it burn. Boil for three 

 or four minutes. Place the syrup in a large glass 

 jar, tie a piece of open textured calico over the 

 mouth, and invert it over the hole in the quilt on 

 the frames, when the bees will suck it down. 

 When the jar is empty, slide a piece of tin under- 

 neath, or smoke the bees down, and take it off, 

 refill, and replace. From 20 Ib. to 25 Ib. of syrup 

 must be fed to the bees to enable them to live 

 through the winter, and all feeding must be com- 

 pleted by the end of September. When the feed- 

 ing is finished, remove the frames not covered by 

 bees, close up the dummy to the side of the 

 frames, and cover up warmly till the spring. 



Another method of stocking is to buy in the 

 spring a straw hive containing a good stock of 

 bees ; place this on the top of the frames, of which 

 ten should be used, all filled with full sheets of 

 foundation. Close all openings at the top to 

 make the bees work through the proper hive en- 

 trance, and by the autumn the bees will have 

 transferred the breeding place to the frames, and 

 the straw skep filled with honey can be removed. 

 Still another method is to purchase a strong swarm 

 of bees in May, but in this case honey is seldom 

 taken the first year. 



