FEEDING. 167 



perhaps, is ready to ask, Won't it cost more than it 

 comes to ? I answer this objection by asking, Is a 

 prime article of clover honey not more valuable than 

 either West India honey or refined sugar ? It requires 

 a certain amount of honey or saccharine matter for the 

 consumption of the bees in the varied manipulations 

 necessary to advance the colony to the desirable condi- 

 tion previously referred to ; hence, is it not better and 

 more profitable to supply them with a cheaper article 

 at the time indicated (which will serve their purpose 

 quite as well as clover honey, as we have fully at- 

 tested), which is simply exchanging a cheap for a 

 dear article of honey, besides saving much valuable 

 time, thereby securing an increase of colonies and a 

 greater yield of the best quality of surplus honey. 



All writers on bees agree upon this one point, that 

 to be successful you must keep all your colonies 

 strong; but they fail to give us satisfactory directions 

 how to do this. I have experimented to find the 

 solution of this enigma, and have succeeded to my 

 own satisfaction, at least. It may be stated in few 

 words: Feed judiciously, and you can not only keep 

 your stocks strong, but if you have any weak colonies 

 you can also make them strong. 



Mr. Langstroth says (3d edition, p. 177): "Bee- 

 keeping, with colonies which are feeble in the spring, 

 except in extraordinary seasons and localities, is 

 emphatically nothing but folly and vexation of spirit," 

 &c. I admit the truth of this, if left to themselves. 

 But suppose we take just such a colony as he con- 

 templates in this extract ; we will imagine it has a 



