BEES, BEE-HIVES, AND BEE OULTUKE. 63 



persevering accumulation. Yet it is only owing to the labours of 

 successive inventors that we are now enabled to watch "the very 

 pulse of the machine " of the bee-commonwealth : — 



" Long from the eye of man and face of day, 

 Involved in darkness all their customs lay, 

 Until a sage well versed in Nature's lore, 

 A genius formed all science to explore ; 

 Hives well contrived, in crystal frames disposed, 

 And there the busy citizens disclosed." — Mukphy's Faniere. 



THE NEW BOTTLE FEEDEE. No. 44. 



It has long been acknowledged that the best mode of 

 feeding bees is through an opening at the top of the stock 

 hive. The " new bottle feeder " is a simple and good means 

 of administering food when a stock requires help in that 

 way. Any kind of hive that has an opening at the top may 

 thus be fed ; bees can take the food from it without leaving the hive. 

 Another important feature is the cleanliness with which liberal feeding 

 can be accomplished ; and few operations require more care than does 

 feeding. If liquid sweet is left hanging about the hive, it tempts 

 robber bees, and when once the bees of an apiary have had a taste, 

 there is no knowing where their depredations will stop ; they 

 resolutely attack and endeavour to rob other hives, fighting and 

 killing one another to a considerable extent. Even if no hives be 

 completely destroyed, weakness from loss of numbers will be the 

 portion of most, if not all, the hives in the garden. 



The morals of our favorites are here a good deal at fault, for the 

 strongest hives, when their inordinate passion is thus stirred up by 

 the carelessness or want of knowledge of the bee-keeper, attack and 

 prey upon the weak. To be' " forewarned is to be forearmed " — 

 and " prevention is better than cure." We strongly recommend 

 closely covering up the feeder ; one of the middle size 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 

 more particularly needed. The right time for feeding is in the 

 autumn or spring. A stock of bees at Michaelmas ought to weigh 

 20 lbs. exclusive of the hive, and if then it weigh less, the deficiency 



