864 FEEDING. 



into the cells, and disgorging the contents of their " honey- 

 bags." That the contents of their sacs, undergo no change 

 at all, during this short time, I will not absolutely affirm, 

 because, through this whole treatise, I have endeavored to 

 refrain from confident assertions, in the absence of positive 

 evidence ; but that they can undergo only a very slight 

 change, must be evident from the fact that when thus stored 

 up, the different kinds of honey or sugar, can be almost, if not 

 quite, as readily distinguished as before they were fed to the 

 bees. The only change which they appear to undergo in the 

 cells, is to have evaporated from them, the excess of water 

 which was added from ignorance, or the vain expectation that 

 it would be just so much water sold for honey, to the de- 

 frauded purchaser ! This evaporation of the water, by the 

 heat of the hive, is about the only marked change that honey 

 appears to undergo, from its natural state in the nectaries of 

 the blossoms ; and ii is exceedingly interesting to see how 

 unwilling bees are to seal It up, until brought to such a con- 

 sistency that there is no danger of its souring in the cells. 

 They are as careful in this matter, as the good lady of the 

 bouse is, to have the syrup of her preserves boiled down to 

 a suitable thickness, to keep them sweet. 



Let all who for any purpose whatever, feed bees, keep 

 this fact in mind, and never add more water than is abso- 

 lutely necessary. Such conduct is as stupid as to pour a 

 barrel of water into the sugar pans, for every barrel of sap 

 from the maples, or juice from the canes ! If a strong 

 colony is set on a platform scale, it will be found on a pleas- 

 ant day, during the height of the honey harvest, to gain a 

 number of pounds ; if examined again, early next morning, 

 it will be seen to have lost considerably, during the night. 

 This is owing to the evaporation from the freshly gathered 

 honey, of the water which often runs down in a stream from 

 the bottom-board. 



