Difficulties, and How to Overcome Them. 73 



else. As prevention is always said to be better than 

 cure, it will be desirable to see how that is to be 

 effected. Bees appear to know what kind of honey is 

 best for themselves ; therefore keep the brood nest 

 sufficiently large to allow the bees room to store spring 

 honey in the brood apartment, and don't extract it, but 

 leave it for the bees. It is much better for them than 

 honey obtained late in the summer. When packing 

 up the bees for winter, contract the brood apartment 

 as much as possible, so that the bees may be kept 

 warm, and see that the roofs are all water-tight. Bees 

 can endure cold much better than they can damp. 

 Some persons have recommended that bees should be 

 brought into a warm room, and a kind of cage placed 

 over the entrance. The bees would be enticed out of 

 their hives into the cage, and would possibly, though 

 not certainly, void their excrements in the cage. The 

 writer has never adopted that plan, nor does he intend 

 to, as it has many drawbacks. The proper treatment 

 seems to be (i) keep the bees strong, by uniting weak 

 lots to others; (2) feed only with cane sugar syrup 

 when feeding is necessary ; (3) keep the hives snug 

 and dry, a;nd let the coverings be porous ; (4) don't 

 prevent them flying in winter ; better to let a few drop 

 down from cold than miss a healthy flight. Never 

 give the bees syrup during the four winter months, 

 i.e. November, December, January and February. If 

 they require food, then give them candy properly 

 made, and not burnt. 



