232 PROPER SEASONS FOR FEEDING. 



a quarter of a pound of coarse brown sugar ; which having 

 obtained, they repair to the first alder-bush, and having cut 

 off a branch, the pith is scooped out, and the vacuum filled 

 with sugar. It is then thrust into the opening of the hive, 

 and the provident dame sits down to her needle, with the 

 pleasing satisfaction that she has performed her duty towards 

 " the poor creatures." Should the hive happen to die 

 during the winter, it is not the eloquence of a Cicero or a 

 Demosthenes which would convince her, that the death has 

 been occasioned from a want of food ; whereas in regard to 

 any actual benefit, which her bees derived from the food 

 which she did give them, had she given them a good plate 

 full of potted beef, the bees would have been as thankful for 

 it. It is only by the proboscis that the bee imbibes its food, 

 and consequently that food must be liquid ; it will nibble at 

 the sugar with its forceps, but as to any deposition of it in 

 the cells, it is wholly out of the question. 



The spring and the beginning of the winter may be con- 

 sidered as the two proper seasons for the feeding of bees, 

 but the principle on which it is administered in each of those 

 seasons, is of a distinct character. The feeding of the former 

 season is frequently adopted to cheer and invigorate the bees, 

 whereas that of the latter is purposedly administered to 

 them for their support until the return of the honey season. 

 There cannot be a more erroneous method adopted than that 

 of a niggardly system of feeding : feed well and plentifully, 

 or not at all. We were in the early periods of our apiarian 

 education, an advocate for the administration of food to bees 

 at intervals ; but we have had cogent reasons for altering our 

 opinion, and especially as far as regards the winter feeding. 

 When the bees have once assumed their hybernating state, 

 every thing that tends to disunite them, cannot but prove 

 injurious. The temperature of the hive becomes diminished, 

 which is chiefly maintained by the reciprocal heat of the bees, 

 and many of the insects become so benumbed, that they can- 



