SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 49 



would be necessary to use sacks or some kind of cloth to condense the 

 space in the supers. It must be remembered that bees have to keep the 

 temperature up in their hives dviring cold or cool weather in order to exist; 

 therefore the more we help them do this, the better it is for them, and 

 the less food they have to consume to do it. 



There are two objects in feeding bees. One is to avert their starva- 

 tion, and the other is to stimulate them and cause them to spread their 

 brood more rapidly than they otherwise would. But this is not necessary 

 in the South, for the early honey-plants will do this except, perhaps, in a 

 few sections where they have no early pollen or honey-plants. 



Some bee-keepers practice outdoor or wholesale feeding by placing 

 the feed out where all the bees have access to it. This is a good plan 

 where all bees need feeding, or where it is desired to feed them to stimu- 

 late them; otherwise it might not be good practice, for some colonies 

 will get too much feed, and crowd the brood-nest with it, and if colonies 

 have plenty of stores they should not.be fed. So by feeding them in the 

 hives we can feed the colonies which need it, and stop as soon as they 

 have been fed enough. If wholesale feeding is done, it should be during 

 the middle of the day and not when the weather is cool, or the bees 

 mav be chilled and many of them lost. Such feeding is likely to excite 

 robbing, while feeding them in their hives late in the evening will not 

 excite robbing, and there can be no better or safer way to feed bees ; and, 

 besides, you have the consolation of knowing that your own bees get 

 all the feed, and that you are not feeding your neighbors' bees as you would 

 be sure to do in outdoor feeding. 



Before feeding weak colonies the entrances should be contracted so 

 that only one or two bees can pass at a time; then feed late in the after- 

 noon, and there will be no danger of robbing. Also the covers on the 

 hives of colonies fed should fit down well all around, for such an open- 

 ing is the best place around hives for robbers to collect and rob out the 

 weaker colonies. 



Bees should never be fed anything but honey or syrup made of equal 

 parts of granulated sugar and water. Stir the sugar until it is well dissolved, 

 ard it will be a thick clear ?yrup, ready to be poured into the feeders. 

 There can be no better feed for bees than this syrup; and, in fact, it 

 is preferred to honey. 



Never feed bees common cane syrup ; for, as long as there is any in the 

 comb, it will give you trouble. I have tried it to my sorrow. I have 

 also tried a syrup made of light-brown sugar, and the sugar made of the 

 common cane; but results were not satisfactory, for, when the bees fed on 

 it were confined to their hives for a few days by a cold snap they were 

 threntened with dysentery. So the best feed is none too good. 



