824 
FALL MANAGEMENT. 
Setting out honey to feed all at once, I condemn 
wholly. These disadvantages attend it : strong stocks 
that do not need an ounce, will get two or three 
pounds, while those weaker ones, needing it more, 
will not get one. Nearly every stock, in a short time, 
will be fighting. Probably the first bee that comes 
home with a load, will inform a number of its fellows 
that a treasure is close at hand. A number will sally 
out immediately, without waiting for particular direc- 
tions for finding it ; and mistaking other hives for the 
place, alight there, are seized and probably dispatched. 
As soon as the honey given them is gone, the tumult 
is greatly increased, and great numbers are destroyed. 
If any of your neighbors near you have bees, you must 
expect to divide with them. 
If the honey to be fed is in the comb, and your 
hives are not full, and they are to be wintered in the 
house, bottom up, it may be done at any time through 
the winter, merely by laying pieces with honey on 
those in the hive. The bees readily remove the con- 
tents into their own combs; when empty, remove 
them and put in more until they have a full supply. 
They will join such pieces of comb to their own ; yet 
there will be no harm in breaking them loose. The 
principal objection to feeding in this way, will be 
found in the tendency to make them uneasy and dis- 
posed to leave the hive, when we want them as quiet 
as possible. A thin muslin cloth, or other means, will 
be necessary to confine them to the hive. 
I have now given directions to avoid killing any 
family of bees worth saving, if we choose. 
