POULTRY AND BEES. 51 i 



until all are strong. Put two or tliree of tlie fullest honey 

 combs in the centre of the hive. If any stocks have not a large 

 supply of honey feed them, the last of this month, or the first 

 of next. Cut a hole through the centre of each comb near the 

 top for winter passage. 



November. "Last season I had three swarms of bees. In 

 November two of them died, leaving no honey in either hive. 

 On examination, I found the third swarm alive, but their honey 

 was nearly gone. Being anxious to preserve my stock, I de- 

 termined upon an experiment in feeding. I obtained twenty- 

 three pounds of Southern honey for this purpose, costing seven- 

 teen cents per pound. My hive was of the Langstroth pattern. 

 In place of the surplus box, I put a box containing a part of 

 the Southern honey. As the bees emptied the box, it was re- 

 filled, until in three days they had disposed of the twenty-three 

 pounds. The swarm wintered well, and from the fifteenth to 

 the thirtieth of last June the bees swarmed three times. Dur- 

 ino; the summer and autumn, I took from the old swarm two 

 boxes of honey, weighing eighteen pounds, and from the first 

 new swarm six boxes of honey, weighing fifty-eight pounds. 

 The four hives are large and are now filled with comb and 

 honey — fifty pounds or more in each hive — making in all two 

 hundred and seventy-six pounds of comb and honey. Last 

 season, one of the most disastrous +o the bee keeper of any I 

 have ever known, my neighbors' bees all died, one of them los- 

 ing twenty-two swarms. Forty-four swarms died in our neigh- 

 borhood last autumn and winter, most 'or all of which, in my 

 opinion, might have been saved by feeding." — Cor. N. E. 

 Farmer. 



Mrs. Ellen S. Tupper, of Brighton, Iowa, one of the best 



apiarians in the country, says : "In the fall in every apiary 



some weak stands will be found. Some will have too few 

 31 



