SPRING MANAGEMENT.—Chapter XIX. 
we recommended, he may 
feed the candy immedi- 
ately under the mat; but 
if he has wintered in 
some other way and has 
no room for the candy 
between the tops of the 
frames and the cover, it 
will be necessary to put 
on a two-inch rim or an 
Hard candy fed to the bees in a paper pie-plate in- empty shallow super (or 
verted above the cluster. a full-depth super if he 
hasn’t a rim or shallow 
super) to provide room for the candy on top of the frames. If it is a time 
when cool weather may yet occur (any time before the main honey flow in 
the northern regions of the United States), cover the candy and fill the 
space of the added rim or super with mats, cloths or other packing, to con- 
serve the warmth of the hive. When in exceptional cases it is necessary to 
feed candy after the supers are on, just preceding the honey flow, the feed 
may be placed on the floor at the back of the hive. To do this, raise the 
front of the hive and shove the candy to the back of the floor beneath the 
frames. 
The one only best way of feeding, however, is to provide sufficient 
stores in the fall, thus making early spring feeding at least unnecessary. 
In some locations where there is no early pollen available, as in some 
parts of the arid region, beekeepers purchase or save combs of pollen for 
use the following spring. The use of pollen substitutes is of questionable 
value. 
Need of Water. 
Whenever brood is being reared it is necessary for the bees to have 
water. This they can sometimes secure from thin nectar that is being 
gathered at the time. But lacking a natural water source, it should be sup- 
plied at some warm, sheltered spot in or close to the apiary. In providing 
such water supply care must be taken that the bees do not drown in getting 
the water. Any open dish or pail may be used to hold the water, pro- 
vided that plenty of floating material, such as bits of board or sticks or 
straw on which the bees may . 
alight, be placed on the surface. 
Uniting. 
The putting together of two or 
three colonies or nuclei of bees to 
make a single colony is called 
“nniting.” The beginner must un- 
derstand that, except during a ‘Vessels of water for the bees, with floating 
8 5 material on which the bees may alight while 
good honey flow in spring, sum- drinking. 
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