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the proper season to preserve all kinds of autumnal fruits: 
Apple and pear jellies may be made, and quinces perfectly 
preserved with honey. ‘This is the season also to prepare 
sirups to feed the bees in the latter part of winter and be- 
ginning of spring, particularly late and weak swarms, which ~ 
are in danger of being lost in bad weather. ‘These sirups — 
may be composed of the mast of wine, cider, perry, or hy- 
dromel, and one pound of honey to each bottle of either of 
the liquors. ‘To some of the bottles a handful or two of salt 
_may be added, in case the dysentery be apprehended. This 
amalgam should be boiled on a slow fire, to a proper con- 
sistence, and then bottled for use. . ; 
NOVEMBER. 
In this month a new visit must be made to the apiary. 
It will require two men to raise the two cases of the 
Scottish hive, and to hold them up without separating 
them, while a third rubs the stand perfectly clean with aro- 
matic herbs or plants; the hives should then be weighed, 
to ascertain how much the bees have consumed in the first 
months of bad weather. The late swarms should not be 
neglected, and if it be judged necessary, they may be 
nourished within their hives, by meal of oats, maize, wheat, 
potatoes, or buckwheat. Whichever kind is used, some 
fine common salt should be mixed with it, the whole sifted, 
put on plates, and set on the stand within the hive. 
If any of the late swarms should have died since the preced- 
ing visit, their boxes or panniers must be removed and wrap- 
ped in packcloth, to secure them from spiders and night mil- 
lers. ‘They must be kept in a dry place, secure from rats, 
mice, and other noxious animals, to be used for receiving new 
swarms on the return of fine weather, or to be self-restored 
if the panniers be full, or even three-fourths full of combs, 
well preserved. See Chapter XIV., on the re-establish- 
ment of dead swarms. ‘ 
DECEMBER. 
The same cares and attentions are now required as 
in the last month. The different families must be weigh- 
ed, in their panniers, and those which are Scottish must be 
weighed in their double boxes, without separating them. — 
The quantity consumed by the bees can be thus accurately 
ascertained, and a correct judgment formed of the suf- 
ficiency of subsistence, by the weight which remains. If 
