WINTER MANAGEMENT. 249 
taken up and pressed with the blade into the cells 
of the extracted comb. In about an hour he found 
that the bees had removed the excess of syrup, and 
rammed down the paste, just as if it had been the 
naturally-gathered pollen; and in two days he was 
astonished to see that every particle of it had been 
consumed, though he reckoned that it must have 
been about four ounces. He remarks that by this 
means, which did not necessitate a single bee 
leaving the hive, he accomplished what would have 
taken hundreds of the insects many hours if the 
meal had been simply supplied them in trays 
placed before the hive. 
This very simple procedure may therefore be 
recommended for general adoption during winter. 
But on the days when it is warm enough for the 
bees to fly abroad, and especially as the spring is 
approaching, the other course may answer every 
purpose, the meal being supplied in bulk; when 
the bees, as soon as they get to know its value— 
which some of them do not very readily at first— 
will take to it with the greatest eagerness, rolling in 
it till it colours them all over, and carrying it off 
in large quantities to their cells. But immediately 
that they can obtain the natural pollen, their relish 
for its substitute disappears. 
It is amusing to note the assertions still made by 
some as to pollen being an unnecessary article to 
bees. They tell us of instances in which brood has 
been reared and comb constructed at times when it 
was practically impossible for pollen to be found. 
Perfectly true; but they are forgetting Dzierzon and 
