§ XIX.] FEEDING. 279 



For instance, instead of the cord being tied round the 

 hive, three or four strong irons, with a screw at one end 

 and a ring at the other (known by ironmongers as " eyes "), 

 could be screwed into the floor-boards, to which the 

 attachments might be made fast. It will scarcely be 

 necessary to hint that great care is necessary that full 

 provision should be made securely to support the in- 

 creasing weight ; a fall would be most ruinous, and ter- 

 ribly enrage the bees. 



The weight of the hive should be marked on it when 

 empty, so that the exact amount of its contents may at 

 any time be ascertained. Experienced apiarians are able 

 to judge of the weight of a hive by lifting it a few inches 

 from the stand ; or by looking in at the window of a 

 stock hive a conclusive opinion may be formed as to the 

 state of the colony. If the combs within view be well 

 filled and sealed, it will be safe to consider that the hive 

 contains sufficient stores to carry the bees through the. 

 winter. 



§ XIX. FEEDING. 



The bee-keeper, after the honey harvest, should ascer- 

 tain the state of the stock hive, because it sometimes 

 happens that hives which were very strong and productive 

 during summer have been left poorly off for the winter. 

 The bees, no doubt under the impression that those 

 nicely filled supers would prove to them an ample sus- 

 tenance, have given up the whole stock hive to the queen 



