FIFTY YEAES AMONG THE BEES 93 



meal is perhaps the poorest feed I have used. As to the rest I 

 hardly know -which is best, and I have of late used principally 

 corn and oats ground together, partly because I was using that 

 for horse and cow feed, and partly because I think it may be 

 as good as any. 



When the feed-boxes are put in place, in the morning (and 

 I commence this feeding just as soon as the bees are out of the 

 cellar), I put in each box at the raised end about four to six 

 quarts (the quantity is not very material) of the feed. The 

 more compact, and the less scattered the feed the better. The 

 bees will gradually dig it down till it is all settled in the lower 

 end of the box, just the same as so much water would settle 

 there. This may take an hour, or it may take six, according to 

 circumstances. As often as they dig it down, I reverse the 

 position of the box, just whirling it around if it stands on the 

 edge of the ditch. This brings the meal again at the raised end 

 of the box. When the bees have it dug down level there is little 

 to be seen on the top except the hulls of the oats, and what fun 

 it is to see the bees burrow in this, sometimes clear out of sight ! 



It is always a source of amusement to see the bees working 

 on this meal, and the young folks watch them by the half-hour. 

 By night the oatmeal and finer parts of the corn are nearly all 

 worked out, and after the bees have stopped working, the boxes 

 are emptied, piled up, one on top of another, and at the top, 

 one placed upside down so that no dew or rain may affect them. 

 If I think it is not worked out pretty clean, I may let them work 

 it over next day, putting three or four times as much in a box. 

 When the bees are done with it, there will be empty oat-hulls on 

 top, and the coarse part of the corn on the bottom. It do'es not 

 matter if it is not worked out clean, for it is fed to the horses 

 or cows afterward. 



After the first day's feeding, the boxes must be filled in 

 good season in the morning, or the bees annoy very much by 

 being in the way, and throughout the day, while the bees are at 

 work, if I go among the feed-boxes to turn them, or for any 

 other purpose, I must look sharp where I set my feet, or bees 

 wiU be killed, as they are quite thick over the ground, brushing 

 the meal off their bodies and packing their loads. Before many 

 days the meai-boxes are deserted for the now plenty natural 



