FEEDING BEES 143 



who invented the best entrance-feeder practises this, 

 with the result of getting more honey than other bee- 

 keepers of his neighbourhood, who do not feed at 

 this time. It is especially valuable in years when the 

 honey is scarce, for then the bees store all the honey 

 they gather in the supers. However, there is one thing 

 to consider carefully in this feeding, and that is the 

 relative price of syrup and honey. If the market 

 is glutted and honey is plentiful and cheap, this sort 

 of feeding would better be practised cautiously; 

 but when honey is scarce and dear, it is certainly a 

 safe experiment. 



FEEDING BACK 



When the sections are not well filled in the late 

 season, it is the practice of some apiarists to feed 

 extracted honey in order to fill them. For this only 

 the best honey is used; it is mixed with water, ten 

 pounds of honey to one of water, and heated so that 

 it is a fluid and then poured in the larger kind of 

 feeders, and is put in at night, as the smell of the 

 heated honey particularly incites bees to robbing. 

 However, the flavour of honey which has been fed 

 back is inferior to that which is only once made, and 

 but a few apiarists practise feeding back successfully. 



WATERING BEES 



If there is no fresh water in the immediate vicinity 

 of the hives, special provision should be made to 

 secure it, as it is a highly desirable adjunct to a well- 

 regulated apiary. While there are times during the 

 season when the bees get most of the moisture they 



