FEEDING. 165 



In feeding bees, we have all our life long tried to do 

 the work simply and rapidly. Necessity is the mother of 

 invention. When we have one or two dozen of old hives 

 needing food, we do not call to our aid feeding-troughs of 

 any kind. The old stage-coach and even the parliamentary 

 train are rather too slow; we like to go by "express." 

 We simply pour the sugar-and-Water amongst the combs 

 and bees, and can easily give 20 lb. of sugar to fifteen 

 hives in half an hour. In doing this, we dose a hive 

 well with the smoke from corduroy, turn it up, hold it, say, 

 towards the east at an angle of 45 degrees or thereabouts, 

 the combs running from north to south. From a pitcher 

 or jug with a spout the syrup is gently poured first along 

 one comb and then another, till all are gone over ; then 

 turn the hive towards the west, with combs slanting as 

 before, and pour the liquid on the reverse side of the 

 combs in the same manner. Owing to the slanting posi- 

 tion of the combs, the syrup runs into the open cells 

 before it reaches the crown of the hive. Thus one hive 

 after another is fed ; and, if necessary or convenient to 

 give more, each hive can receive three such doses every 

 day. The liquid thus poured amongst the bees does them 

 no harm, as they lick it off one another quite clean in a 

 few minutes. 



This wholesale mode of feeding is perhaps the best, 

 when we in autumn find it necessary to give some of the 

 hives a considerable quantity. By giving it rapidly, 3 or 

 4 lb. a-day, the bees store most of it up, and then settle 

 down into the quiet of winter life. If the feeding con- 

 tinues for some days or weeks, the bees are kept in a state 

 of excitement, and may consume as much as they store up. 

 They may be induced to commence breeding at an un- 

 favourable season by feeding long continued. In the 

 spring and summer months, when the weather is unfavour- 



