THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 255 
Alexander feeder fitted in a wooden collar at the rear of the hive may 
be used. (fig. 17.) This has the advantage of not requiring exposure 
of the colony in replenishing the feeder. The pepper box feeder con- 
sists of a metal cylindrical box, with a perforated cover and is in- 
verted over the frames in an empty super. (fig. 18.) This can be 
used for spring feeding if the super is packed with a chaff cushion or 
blankets. A good feeder can be made by setting a pan filled with 
syrup in an empty super. (fig. 19.) Stimulative feeding in the spring 
will usually yield large dividends in added returns at the time of har- 
vesting. The best time in the day for feeding is towards evening, 
when the bees will not have time to start robbing, which often results 
after feeding, particularly if syrup has been carelessly scattered about. 
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_ Fig. 19.—Pan feeder. 
There will always be colonies that contain a large amount of brood 
compared with others. Frames of brood can be taken from these 
strong colonies, to aid the weaker ones. By judicious manipulation of 
frames in this manner, all colonies can often be increased to about uni- 
form strength for the honey harvest. 
Colonies can also often be advantageously stimulated to increased 
brood-rearing by resorting to what is termed “spreading the brood.” 
This consists in inserting an empty comb between two frames already 
containing brood. The bees attempt to cover the brood thus enlarging 
the cluster, and the queen will lay in the empty frame. This procedure 
should not be undertaken while the weather is unsettled, because a few 
cold days following a warm period will result in the bees contracting 
the cluster and the brood which has been lifted to one side is left out- 
side of the cluster where it perishes. 
There will always be colonies that appear in the apiary in spring in 
a weakened condition. Such colonies should be carefully fed and 
contracted so that they will not be forced to attempt to keep a whole 
brood chamber warm. Such contraction of the brood chamber can 
