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THIS BEE KKKPJilK'fcJ MANUAL. 



most admirably. If you have no wooden box that will 

 answer, a feeder may be made of pasteboard, and if brush- 

 ed with the melted mixture it will be honey-tight. By pack- 

 ing cotton or wool around it, it might be used in most hives, 

 even in the dead of Winter. Bees however, ought never to 

 need feeding in Winter, and if they do, it will alvcays be 

 unsafe at this season to feed them with liquid honey. 



I ought here to speak of the importance of water to the 

 bees. It is absolutely indispensable when they are building 

 comb, or raising brood. In the early Spring, they take 

 advantage of the first warm weather, to bring it to their 

 hives, and they may be seen busily drinking around pumps, 

 drains, and other moist places. As they are not noticed 

 frequenting such spots much, except in the early part of the 

 season, many suppose that they need water only at this pe- 

 riod. This is a great mistake, for they need it, and must 

 have it, during the whole breeding season. But as soon as 

 the grass starts, an<f the trees are covered with leaves, they 

 prefer to sip the dew from them. If a few cold days come 

 on, after the bees have commenced breeding, so as to pre- 

 vent them from going abroad for water, a very serious check 

 will be given to their operations. Even when it is not so 

 cold as to prevent their leaving the hive, many become so 

 chilled in their search, for water, that they are not able to 

 return. 



Every wise bee-keeper will see that his bees have an 

 abundant supply of water. If he has not some warm and 

 sunny spot where they can safely obtain it, he will furnish 

 them with shallow wooden troughs or vessels filled with 

 pebbles, from which they can drink, without any risk of 

 drowning, and where they will be sheltered from cold winds, 

 and warmed by the genial rays of the sun. I believe that 

 the reason why bees very much prefer the impure water of 



