188 
MANAGEMENT IN SPRING. 
deficiency.* No branch of bee-management requires 
more attention than the feeding operation, and very 
many hives, we fear, are irretrievaldy injured by the in- 
judicious manner in which supplies of food are admin- 
istered. Giving them in a cold state, or in a state of 
fermentation, or at improper periods, costs every year 
the lives of thousands of bees. No food should be 
given in spring till the bees shew by their coming 
abroad, that it may be offered them with perfect safety. 
A simple mode of feeding is by means of a small 
drawer, having a float pierced with holes, inserted in 
the thickness of the floor-hoard, at the back of the 
hive. Liquid honey, or syrup of sugar, a little warm, 
may be poured into this drawer in the evening, after 
the bees have retired in-doors from the labours of 
the day. It is taken up immediately, and the smell 
is completely gone before the morning. 
It is of very material importance in feeding, to 
guard against the admission of stranger bees to the 
feeding vessel. This may be effected by shutting up 
the hive completely after the feeding-drawer, above 
described, has been inserted, allowing only the admis- 
sion of air. One circumstance, however, may render 
this precaution abortive ; some of the liquid may be, 
and very often is, accidentally spilt in pushing the 
trough inwards, the consequence of which is, that the 
smell of the syrup, when the hive isopened, will attract 
* The food given to bees in autumn may be either honey 
or sugar ; but in spring- it should always be honey, as sugar 
does not form so good an ingredient of the jelly which nour- 
ishes the young brood. 
