HOW TO KEEP BEES. 45 



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

 water is the proper thing to use. Do no< use " brown " sugar. Make 

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

 until the days as well as nights are cool, make it two-thirds sugar and 

 one-third water, and feed it hot. 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 leathery 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. Err on the safe side. 



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

 pounds), but when thej'- 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, lay across the tops of the frames two 

 or three pieces of lath and cover the hive top with a piece of burlap 

 or similar cloth. Put on an empty super or body and fill in with dry 

 leaves or sawdust and put on the cover. The protection on top of 

 the frames is even more important than that about the hive. 



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 the bees 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. 



A somewhat more convenient plan is shown in Fig. 25, where a 

 wooden rim has burlap tacked on bottom and top and is filled with 

 ground cork. An extra piece of burlap is laid over the frames before 

 this cushion is put on, so the bees will not cut through into the cushion 

 and let the cork fall out. 



