HOW TO KEEP BEES. 37 



slight, it is good policy to stimulate the production of brood. Prob- 

 abl}^ the very best way to do this both for economy of labor and 

 material and for the excellence of the results is to hang in each brood 

 chamber one of the " division board " feeders (Fig. 19), filled with soft 

 "Coffee A" sugar. Do no« add any water to it. This system was 

 devised by Mr. Samuel Simmins, an eminent British beekeeper, and 

 is one of the best things he ever gave to the public. The bees feed 

 on the sugar just fast enough to keep the queen laying well. They 

 do not store any of the liquified sugar in the combs. 



By the time the first frost cuts short the flowers, the colonies will 

 be found to have a large population of young and vigorous bees. 

 If the " fall flowers " did not yield enough to fill the combs well with 

 honey the bees must be fed at once. Syrup of granulated sugar and 

 water is the proper thing to use. Do not use " Brown " sugar. Make 

 the syrup half sugar and half water, or if you have delayed too long, 

 until the daj's as well as nights are cool, make it two-thirds sugar and 

 one-third water. Feed enough so that the bees have not less than 

 thirty pounds of stores. A Langstroth comb when filled contains 

 about six pounds of honey, and in estimating supplies remember that 

 brood combs contain much pollen and if hive and contents are weighed 

 and from the gross weight the weight of a dry hive and set of combs 

 are deducted, remember that old leather}^ or pollen-filled combs weigh 

 very much more than new ones and that the bees weigh from three to 

 six pounds or even more in a very strong colony. Better give more 

 than you think they need, and then some more. 



Bees do not use much food in winter (sometimes as low as two 

 pounds) , but when they get right down to brood rearing in the spring, 

 stores vanish like snow in the summer 's sun. When all colonies are 

 supplied with food, see that all covers are water tight, that the hives 

 are level, or tilt slightly toward the entrance, fix the covers so they 

 cannot blow off and then let them strictly alone until late spring. 

 If mice are numerous it is a good plan to put across each hive entrance 

 a piece of wire cloth with meshes large enough for bees to pass, but too 

 small to admit mice. 



