FEEDING. 353 



course will be to make an equitable division of the honey. 

 This may seem to be a very Agrarian sort of procedure, 

 and yet it answers perfectly well in the management of 

 bees. Those that were helped, will not spend the next 

 season in idleness, relying upon the same sort of aid ; nor 

 will those that were relieved of their surplus stores, remem- 

 ber the deprivation, and limit the extent of their gatherings 

 to a bare competency. With men, most unquestionably, 

 unless they were perfect, such an annual division would dc' 

 range the whole course of affairs, and speedily impoverish 

 any community in which it might be attempted. 



I always prefer to remove some honey from stocks which 

 have too generous a supply, replacing it with empty worker- 

 comb ; as I find that when bees have too much honey in the 

 Fall, they do not ordinarily breed as fast in the ensuing 

 Spring, as they otherwise would. A portion of this honey 

 should be carefully put away in the frames, and kept in 

 a close box, safe against all intruders, and where it will 

 not be exposed to frost ; so that if some colonies in the Spring, 

 are found to be in want of food, they may be easily supplied. 

 The inexperienced should remove any surplus, in the Spring. 



In the Spring examination, if any colonies have too much 

 honey, a portion of it ought by all means to be taken away. 

 Such a deprivation, if judiciously performed, will always 

 stimulate them to increased activity. Every strong stock, 

 as soon as it can gather enough honey to construct comb, 

 ought to have one or two combs which contain no brood re- 

 moved, and their places supplied with empty frames, in 

 order that they may be induced to exert themselves to the 

 utmost. An empty frame inserted between full ones, will 

 speedily be replenished with comb, and often the combs 

 removed will be so much clear gain. If at any time there 

 is a sudden supply of honey, and the bees seem reluctant 

 30* 



