FEEDING BEES 
Bees should be reared so as to give the bee-keeper 
some surplus honey, instead of requiring to be fid by 
him, and if the foregoing d rections are observed, but 
few stocks will need feeding. The feeding shoulld be 
attended to, when necessary, at the proper time; by 
the use of movable-comb hives, deficient colonies may 
be supplied with one comb or more, containing honey, 
from a colony having a surplus. Enough food should 
be furnished them in the fall to last them until fruit 
trees begin to bloom in the spring ; if done in the be- 
ginning of October, the bees will cap over the honey 
before cold weather begins ; uncapped honey absorbs 
impurities, often sours in the cells, dampens the air in 
the hive, and frequently causes dysentery among the 
bees. If the needy colony is in the Champion hive, 
any partly filled box of honey may be placed upon the 
hive; the large openings from every comb in the hive 
and the direct communication induces them to take 
possession of its contents readily, even during freezing 
weather. Bees, in common hives, or in hives having 
a honey board or air space between the frame and the 
box, would sooner starve than enter a honey box in 
cold weather. If needy stocks are not thoroughly fed 
in the fall, or if an unfavorable summer is followed by 
a severe winter and late spring, feeding may become 
necessary in the spring "In the spring the prudent 
