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NINTH CHAPTER. 



INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FEEDING OF BEES. 



ERRONEOUS SYSTEM OF FEEDING ADOPTED BY THE COTTAGERS OF THIS 

 COUNTRY — COARSE BROWN SUGAR A USELESS FOOD FOR BEES — THE 

 SPRING AND THE BEGINNING OF WINTER THE BEST TIME FOR FEEDING — 

 FOOD TO BE GIVEN IN ABUNDANCE— NOT TO BE GIVEN AT INTERVALS — 

 THE CANDYING OF FOOD IN THE CELLS PREJUDICIAL TO BEES — A SUPER- 

 ABUNDANCE OF FOOD NOT TO BE GIVEN — THE PREFERENCE TO BE GIVEN 



TO PERIODICAL FEEDING QUANTITY OF FOOD TO BE GIVEN AT ONE TIME 



— BEES NOT TO BE KEPT TOO WARM IN WINTER — THE EAGERNESS OF THE 

 BEES FOR FOOD, A CRITERION OF THEIR HEALTH — DURING THE FEEDING 

 IN THE SPRING, THE HIVES TO BE PROTECTED FROM ROBBERS — UPPER 

 AND LOWER FEEDING HONEY THE BEST FOOD FOR THE BEES — DIREC- 

 TIONS FOR MAKING A PROPER FOOD — METHOD OF FEEDING IN THE COM- 

 MON HIVE — PROCESS OF FEEDING IN THE HUISH HIVE — THE FOOD TO BE 

 COVERED WITH STRAWS OR PAPER- — DIRECTIONS FOR TOP FEEDING IN 

 THE COTTAGE HIVE — ERRONEOUS OPINION AS TO THE EFFECT OF FEED- 

 ING ON THE BEES — THE ADMINISTRATION OF FOOD NOT TO BE DELAYED 



ERRONEOUS SYSTEM OF THE FRENCH IN THE FEEDING OF THEIR BEES 



FLOUR RECOMMENDED BY DUCOUEDIC AS FOOD FOR BEES — INJURIOUS 

 EFFECT OF IT — LOMBARD RECOMMENDS BRANDY — DU HUMEL RECOM- 

 MENDS RUM TO BE MIXED WITH THE FOOD — THE CONSUMPTION OF THE 

 QUANTITY OF FOOD DEPENDS ON THE STRENGTH OF THE HIVE — QUANTITY 

 TO BE GIVEN TO A HIVE, ACCORDING TO HUBER — HONEY NOT CANDIED IN 

 THE CELL BY ANY COLD IN THIS COUNTRY. 



There is, perhaps, scarcely any department of the apiary to 

 which less attention is paid than to the feeding of the bees, 

 or in which a more erroneous system of management is more 

 generally adopted. If we examine the manner of feeding 

 adopted by the cottagers of this country, the above remarks 

 will be found to be amply verified. We have frequently 

 attempted, though in vain, to instil into the minds of those 

 prejudiced and superstitious people, an improved method of 

 feeding; but we always found them so riveted to their 

 antiquated habits, that all advice appeared to be thrown 

 away upon them. The old dames, in the fulness of their 

 bounty, and in the unbounded conceit of their own superior 

 judgment, determine on a sudden to feed their bees, without 

 perhaps consulting their actual necessity or the season in 

 which the food is administered. They proceed to buy about 

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