176 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



plates may be used instead of feeding-boards ; but tteir 

 use necessitates the lifting of tbe bive every time the bees 

 get a fresh supply of syrup. By the end of fourteen days 

 every hive so filled and fed •will be found nearly, if not 

 quite, full of combs, and many of the combs well fiUed 

 with eggs and brood. When the bees creep together by 

 reason of colder weather, their ekes may be taken from 

 them ; and if some of the combs have been built down 

 into the ekes, they should be shortened to fit. 



These sugar-fed stocks are generally very prosperous 

 hives next year, their combs being young and containing 

 scarcely any farina. Almost every cell yields brood in 

 spring. But it should be stated and understood that 

 combs made from sugar are more brittle and easUy broken 

 than combs made from honey gathered in the fields. We 

 have frequently known every hive put down for honey, 

 and all the stock prepared as now described. We think 

 it was in 1864 when a cousin of ours realised ,£40 profit 

 from nine stock-hives. He found all too heavy for keep- 

 ing, hence he took all the honey, and formed his stock by 

 feeding. 



