810 FEEDING. 



"because it saves the bees the labor of putting the 

 honey in the cells." But this is an error. The bees evi- 

 dently remove it, and re-store it, probably to exclude the 

 air, and secure a more thorough evaporation of the water. 



HONEY IN COMBS FOR SPKIKG FEEDING. 



A colony should never be without sealed honey during 

 spring months. It is much easier to ascertain the presence 

 of such h oney than th»t of uncapped honey. The last sealed 

 honey in a comb will usually be at the top. By using a 

 smoker, the bees may be driven from this part of the 

 combs, and the amount of capped honey observed, with- 

 out disturbing the frames. Any deficiency thus discov- 

 ered may be supplied by furnishing combs of sealed honey, 

 preserved for the purpose the previous season, as has been 

 elsewhere suggested. I anticipate the extensive adoption 

 of this plan of feeding. To stimulate breeding, it will 

 only be necessary to break the capping of such combs by 

 rubbing the edge of a knife over them, when the bees 

 will remove the honey. 



FEEDING TO SECURE SURPLUS IN BETTER FORM. 



The practice of freely feeding extracted honey, to be 

 stored in boxes, is becoming quite common. If a suita- 

 ble time is chosen, and the weather is warm, it will be 

 found advantageous when boxes are partly filled, and 

 would not be otherwise completed. Strong colonies 

 should be selected for the purpose, and should contain 

 only such combs in the brood-nest, as are well filled 

 with brood and honey, and but a limited number of 

 frames. They should be fed as rapidly as they will ap- 

 propriate the honey. For this purpose, a large feeder 

 should be used. One holding at least 10 pounds would be 

 preferable. 



