42 BEE-CULTURE. 
FALL MANAGEMENT. 
Rarely do the Bees make any addition to their stores after the com- 
_mencement of autumn. On the first of October, if it is not done before, 
the boxes should all be removed from the hive, whether they are filled 
with honey or not, that the chamber of: the hive may remain empty or 
vacant during the remainder of the autumn and winter. If there is 
empty comb in the boxes, it should remain undisturbed, for use in the 
spring, and is to be returned to the Bees at the proper time, in the 
same condition in which it was taken from them. The hive is now to 
be set upon the ground and weighed, and the weight of stock to be 
noted upon the memorandum. One tin slide is now to be placed in 
the chamber, over the central part of the hive, in such a position as to 
close entirely the two central channels which communicate with 
the main body of the hive below, and in such a position as to leave the 
two outer channels, one on each side, open, for the purpose of allowing 
the rarefied air to ascend into the chamber, to prevent a deposition of 
moisture upon the walls of the hive in frosty weather. If the movable 
slide or bottom is thoroughly scraped or cleaned of wax and Bee-glue, 
late in autumn, as it should be, it will remain free during the cold 
season. If it is found after weighing that any hive is not furnished 
with sufficient winter stores, now is the time to supply the deficiency. 
A cheap kind of honey, which can be procured for about sixty cents 
per gallon, or six cents per pound, should be placed in a feeder, and 
put into the chamber of the hive under one of the surplus honey boxes, 
that the Bees may transfer it to their cells below, a thing which they 
never do in cold weather. They will starve before they will go into 
the chamber of the hive in severe weather. The quantity of honey 
which is needful for winter stores, varies, usually, from twelve to twenty 
pounds, according to the size of the swarm, or the number of Bees to 
be wintered. A medium sized swarm usually consumes about fifteen 
pounds. I once had a large swarm which consumed twenty-six pounds 
in a single winter. Any swarm which has less than twenty pounds of 
honey, should be fed until they have this quantity, unless the number 
of Bees in the hive is lessthan usual. ‘There is no harmin giving them 
a little more than will be consumed. It will not be lost.” 
