RECEIPT BOOK. 193 



To feed bees. 



With the aid of feeding it is peribcily easy to 

 bring any hive of bees through the winter; but to 

 ensure the success of a very light stock, it is es- 

 sential to keep it always warm and dry. Feeding 

 is absolutely necessary when more honey has been 

 taken than the hive can afford, by means of small 

 hives or glasses. Such stocks as are intended to 

 be kept through the winter should weigh twenty 

 pounds or upwards, at the enu September, but 

 casts and late swarms seldom attain this weight, 

 unless two or more should have been united. The 

 composition for feeding consists of moist sugar 

 and new beer, the proportion of one pound of su- 

 gar to a pint of beer, simmered to the consistency 

 of treacle: to be inserted into the hives, by means 

 of small troughs, at night, and removed the next 

 morning early. Should a hive be very poor and 

 weak, it is better to feed in larger quantities each 

 time. 



To manage h4mey. 



To judge of the best honey, it should be of a 

 bright pale color, thick, and a little aromatic. To 

 obtain it from tne combs in its pure state, it must 

 be left to run from them without pressing. The 

 colour shews whether it is fine or inferior. If 

 wanted to press some in the comb, choose the fair- 

 est and such as have not been broken: wrap each 

 comb in white paper, such as lines the blue cover 

 of loaf sugar. Set it edgeways as it stood in the 

 hive, and it may be preserved many mouths The 

 combs meant to be drained, must be cut in slices. 

 Lay them on a hair-search, supported by a rack 



