T20 THE BLESSED BEES. 



from this cause alone. By keeping my bees in the 

 hive, during the early fall days, at work building 

 comb and filling it with honey, they would be saved 

 from collecting this poisonous food, and from its 

 fatal consequences in the winter. So I fed them all 

 they would take, and fed them in the morning, so 

 as to keep them from flying out. 



In nine days the boxes were full and the honey 

 sealed. They were taken off and stored in the shop. 

 To thirty-one swarms I had fed only linn honey : to 

 the others buckwheat. I found that all boxes came 

 off in good condition. They were full of honey, 

 and every cell was sealed, so that there was no 

 leaking. After removing the first set of boxes, the 

 bees were given a vacation of five days. I feared 

 that too great an amount of honey, quickly fed to 

 them, might overwork them, and make them lazy. 

 If nothing were fed them for five days they would, 

 it seemed probable, return to work with avidity. 



I had now fed to the hives 8,730 pounds. This 

 left 3,787 pounds — not quite enough to get forty 

 pounds of comb-honey from each of eighty-four 

 hives. But there were one hundred and thirty 

 pounds of honey from apple blossoms still on hand, 

 and I could spare enough from that which had been 

 set aside for the bees, to insure the filling of the 

 boxes. So I put on each of eighty-four hives, 

 boxes for forty pounds, as soon as the " vacation " 



