336 VEGETABLE FORCING 
to the hives if they are placed outside the greenhouses. 
Unless the colonies are well supplied with honey, it 
will be necessary to furnish additional feed, except when 
the colonies are outside and there is satisfactory bee 
pasturage in the neighborhood. The feed may consist of 
honey or sugar syrup. The bee needs a certain amount 
of water. Some growers think it is an advantage to keep 
water in a few crocks, with thin boards floating on the 
surface. By most growers it is believed that the bees get 
all the water they need without any special provision. 
Care should be exercised not to spray the plants when 
the bees are working for they are easily knocked to the 
ground and drowned. Early morning watering will usu- 
ally avoid any trouble of this kind. 
The bee moth is especially destructive to greenhouse 
colonies. The hives should be examined at frequent 
intervals and the larve of the moth removed before they 
have done much injury. Mice are also destructive to 
bees and the openings to the hives should be so small 
that mice cannot enter. 
With fair treatment, a colony of bees kept inside will 
last at least 8 weeks, or long enough to pollenize a spring 
crop. If the colonies should become weak and inefficient 
at any time, new ones should be promptly substituted. 
An additional argument for placing the hives outside 
the houses is that fumigation with tobacco or cyanide 
will not impair the health of the bees, as it certainly will 
unless the hives are removed at such times. 
Intercropping.—The cucumber, on account of its large 
leaves and vigorous habit of growth, is not well adapted 
to companion cropping. However, lettuce and other 
vegetables are sometimes grown for a time with cu- 
cumber plants. For details, see Chapter XXI on systems 
of cropping. 
Frame culture—The cucumber is well adapted to 
frame culture and the crop is largely grown in frames of 
