ON FEEDING BEES. 75 



The question often arises — How shall I feed my bees ? 

 and what kind of food will be the best and most profitable 

 to use ? 



I have frequently been amused by the primitive utensils 

 still in use for offering food to bees. The most common 

 way of giving liquid food is in pieces of elder-wood. A 

 straight stem of elder is cut out of the hedge, about the 

 thickness of the thumb, and a slice cut off equally all 

 the way down, so as to expose the pith. The pith is 

 scooped out with the point of a penknife, and each end is 

 stopped with a plug of wood ; it is then ready for use. 

 This bee-feeder has the recommendation of simplicity. It 

 is also simple in use, for after filling it with honey, or 

 sugar, it is thrust through the mouth of the hive. I dis- 

 tinctly recollect my parents feeding their bees by placing 

 sugar on plates, then lifting up the hives and placing it 

 beneath the combs. Many villagers have a large soup- 

 plate, which is half filled with the food, and left exposed 

 near the bee-bench. This way of feeding I must condemn 

 as being worse than useless. The first summer I kept 

 bees, one stock, being rather feeble, required much feed- 

 ing. I tried the elder-trough, and placed it full of syrup 

 teneath the hive ; however, it taught me a lesson which 

 I shall never forget. It had not been beneath the hive 

 longer than an hour when I noticed a few robber bees 

 from another apiary busy taking away the spoils ; these, 

 ■of course, soon returned home, and brought with them a 

 large band, who commenced speedily a war of extermina- 

 tion with my weak stock. The battle for about three 

 hours was the most fierce I have ever witnessed. The 

 ground around the apiary was strewn with hundreds of 

 jead and dying bees, and at one time the air was literally 

 <Iarkened vnth bees in my small garden. Fortunately for 

 me, a heavy thunderstorm came on in the afi:ernoon of 

 the same day ; this, together with the precaution of com- 



