THE NEW BOTTLE-FEEDER. 141 



bell glasses put over it makes a close-fitting cover, should 

 the regular cover to the hive not be sufficiently tight. 

 When bees are not kept in a bee-house, and are, on that 

 account, more accessible, this extra care is particularly 

 needed. The right time for feeding is in the autumn or 

 spring. As stated at page 76, it is requisite to ascertain 

 the condition of the hive at Michaelmas, and, if wanting, 

 the deficiency can then be made up.* It is not wise to defer 

 feeding until later in the season, because it is important 

 that, wheii the food is placed b the cells, the bees should 

 seal it up ; and a tolerably warm temperature is required 

 to enable them to secrete the wax for the delicately- 

 formed lids of the cells. If the food remained unsealed, 

 there is danger of its turning sour, and thereby causing 

 disease among the bees. It is not well to feed in mid- 

 winter or when the weather is very cold : bees at such 

 times consume but little food, being in a state of torpor, 

 from which it is better not to arouse them. 



A little food in the spring stimulates the queen to lay 

 more abundantly, for bees are provident and do not 

 rear the young so rapidly when the supplies are short. 

 In this particular, the intelligence of bees is very 

 striking; they have needed no Malthus to teach them 

 that the means of subsistence must regulate the increase 

 of a prosperous population : — 



* A much greater quantity of food will have to be administered 

 than the actual weight required to be furnished, because there is 

 a very considerable decrease after it is taken by the bees. 



