FEEDING. 175 



tion to the number of bees which each colony con- 

 tained. I would mention, that our principal apiary 

 was about a mile from where any other bees were 

 kept. The result was highly gratifying. From each 

 imported colony, which in the spring was both small 

 in quantity of combs, and weak in bees, we had an 

 average increase of over five swarms during the past 

 summer, all in good condition for wintering. It 

 would have been quite impossible to have obtained 

 such results in one season by any other system, from 

 such small stocks. A majority of the imported col- 

 onies did not average over a quart of bees on the first 

 of March, with an average of about 525 square inches 

 of comb, or enough to fill the hives one-third. The 

 most that could have been realized from such stocks 

 in one season, without feeding, would have been to 

 double the stock, and have them all in fair condition 

 for wintering. 



First class stocks, that stood over winter full of 

 combs well stored with honey and pollen, having a 

 strong, healthy and vigorous swarm of bees, say the 

 first of March, can be increased in California to five or 

 six during the season, without feeding; but if fed 

 properly they can be augmented quite as easily to ten 

 or twelve ; so that the difference is very considerable 

 in favor of feeding, even in one of the very best honey 

 growing districts in America ; and it would be much 

 more so in all districts of country where the honey 

 harvest is reduced to but a few weeks, as is the case 

 in most of the Eastern and Middle States. 



