210 FEEDING. 
‘because it saves the bees the labor of putting the 
honey in the cells.” But this is an error. ‘T'he 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 SPRING FEEDING. 
A colony should never be without sealed honey during 
spring months. It is much easier to ascertain the presence 
of such honey than thet 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. 
