34 
BEE-CULTURE. 
But no bee-keeper should depend on winter or spring feed- 
> ^ or if * s most invariably perplexing and unsatisfactory. 
But in September, as soon as bis bees cease storing honey, he 
should examine them, and should feed lavishly all such as 
have not sufficient to last them until the next honey-makiDg 
season. I say, feed lavishly for economy’s sake, for when 
bees are excited by feeding they will eat freely. Suppose 
you feed a gill daily, the bees will be likely to consume nearly 
all of it, but feed them a quart and they will eat but little 
more than the gill, and will store the remainder in their cells. 
So feed them as rapidly as you can get them to carry it away, 
and have done with the feeding as soon as possible and let 
them become quiet. If food is given warm they will work 
much more readily. If the bees are in a box hive and the 
top close, invert the hive and pour from a pint to a quart of 
honey over the bees and combs. Leave the hive sitting bot- 
tom up until you have done feeding. Cover closely except a 
small entrance for the bees. Do not fear drowning the bees, 
they will lick the honey all off from one another, and feel nc 
more annoyed than a flock of geese would by being dashed 
with a bucket of water. I have had colonies carry off a quart 
in three or four hours. Feed bees in the best possible man- 
ner, and they will not stow away all that is fed them. In the 
fall of '63, I selected for feeding thirty-three colonies which 
had almost no honey. I fed them each an average of thirty 
pounds of Cuba honey; by so doing the average increase in 
weight was twenty pounds. A little of this additional weight 
must be allowed for brood, although I caged the queens in 
some of the hives to prevent their laying. 
Feed early in the season that the honey may be stored 
whilst the weather is warm, so that the wax with which they 
cap their honey may be soft; for they cannot seal it over in 
cold weather, and the uncapped honey is very apt to sour and 
disease the bees, besides they store much faster in warm than 
in cold weather. 
The advantages of fall feeding are. it can be done quicker, 
takes less food, and is then put just where they will need it 
n cold weather when they cannot be safely fed. A good rule, 
given by an old author, runs thus ; “In the spring feed spar- 
ingly ; in the fall feed bountifully ; in the winter feed none 
at all.” 
Another object in feeding is to induce breeding in tho 
