314 miner's AMERICAN 



to attract the bees to it ; at the same time rapping on 

 the hive to cause the bees to ascend ; or place it below, 

 and shut the bees in until it is emptied. Families may- 

 be fed at any time during the winter when the sun 

 shines, by having a temporary, or permanent glass door 

 to the chamber, or super of the hive, that will admit the 

 sun's rays pretty freely upon the division board, upon 

 which the small feeder filled with honey should be 

 placed. I once fed a very small family in this way, that 

 had not a drop of honey in the fall. It was no trouble. 

 Every day that the sun shone, the bees were up in the 

 super in great numbers, even in the coldest weather ; and 

 in the following spring they increased rapidly in num- 

 bers, and soon filled the hive. 



Some people are in the habit of merely mixing a little 

 water with the sugar, and not heating it at all, and in this 

 condition feed it to the bees. This is downright ruin to 

 them. In a few days the water evaporates, and the 

 sugar hardens in the cells, so that it is of no more use 

 to the bees than so much flint stone, to say nothing of 

 its destroying every cell that it hardens in for any 

 further use. I recommend honey to be fed in the fall, if 

 convenient, and syrup in the spring. 



WINTER MANAGEMENT. 



This is a critical season for bees, and their proper 

 management is but very imperfectly understood at this 

 period. The great principle that should actuate the 

 apiarian, is to keep his bees as cool as possible, as I have 

 before inculcated. The practice of burying hives in 



