April 14,1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
299 
purposes. Immediately upon the removal of the last 
super at the close of the honey season every stock must 
be examined and an estimate formed of the amount of 
food contained in the brood combs. If less than 15 lbs. 
is found in August an immediate supply must be given, 
but if there is a quantity sulhcient to tide over until the 
middle of September it will be quite as useful to give the 
syrup required for use in the winter at that time instead 
of in the preceding month. The well-being—the very 
life in fact—of every stock depends upon a copious supply 
of honey or syrup, with which life may be sustained until 
the following year affords a new supply, being given in 
autumn. Every stock in the middle of September must 
contain at least 20 lbs. of honey or syrup stored in sealed 
cells. If the cells are not sealed disease may probably 
attack the stock. If the supply is given later than the 
month of September some of the brood which will be 
raised under the excitement of food coming in in quantity 
may be chilled and the stock weakened when above all 
other times it should be strong. 
Again, in April there should always be at least 10 lbs. 
of honey in every stock, so that the bees may be rendered 
to some extent independent of the new supply. If there 
are no sources of honey in April or the weather is bad a 
supply of syrup must be given to make up the deficiency. 
Throughout the summer, indeed, the brood combs should 
always contain sufficient honey to last the stock for at 
least ten days even if the supplies from the fields should fall 
very far short of what may be expected. To keep stocks 
supplied with food sufficient for a day or two only, to 
attempt to raise stocks filled with brood and bees without 
a supply of honey to keep them in health and full vigour 
when a season of failing honey supply comes on unex¬ 
pectedly, perhaps in the very middle of the summer, is an 
insane management. The difficulties experienced in such 
a case when, say, a hive has sixty sections tiered upon it, 
the anxieties to which such a state of things give rise, can 
only be conceived by those who have experienced them; 
for in the early season even sixty sections on a hive with 
comb drawn out may contain but very little honey, and 
this honey in bad weather the bees are unable to utilise 
in the brood nest because the cold prevents their fetching 
it from the upper combs. To remove these tiers of 
sections at every break in the honey flow is both impolitic 
and impossible, and when there is a sufficient supply 
below unnecessary. A stock to be in good condition for 
supering must be filled with bees and brood and honey. 
Ten pounds of honey is perhaps enough, but 12 or even 
15 lbs. is not too much for even the brood frames to 
contain in the early part of the supering season. The 
bees then use this honey stored in the brood combs, and 
it suffices to maintain them when outside supplies fail. In 
a lengthened period of scarcity an extra supply must be 
given and continued until a natural supply can again be 
obtained. The question of stimulative feeding in spring 
and autumn is so important that it must be reserved for 
special discussion. The chief points to be remembered 
in connection with feeding bees are — 
1. Too much is better than too little. 
2. At no time of the year must bees experience want. 
3. At the time of removing the last super special 
attention is required. 
4. All swarms should be fed for some days after hiving 
however favourable the weather may be. 
5. Supered stocks should always contain honey in the 
brood frames. 
C. To last from September to April 30 lbs. of sealed 1 
store is sufficient. i 
The advantage derived from feeding swarms is so great 
that it can hardly be over-estimated, but we must return 
to this point on a future occasion. In autumn, when food 
has to be supplied in quantity sufficient to last over some 
eight months, it is necessary to give a large supply of 
syrup, unless the combs already contain a larger amount 
than may usually be expected when supering arrange¬ 
ments have been successfully carried out. Such a supply 
can be given by an ordinary bottle feeder, but it is easier 
and much more practical to give the syrup in a feeder of 
which the following is an accurate description :— 
The feeder itself consists of a round tin 6 inches in 
depth and 10 inches in diameter. In the bottom there 
should be a hole 2 inches in diameter. To the sides of 
this hole should be attached a tube of perforated zinc of 
double thickness, arranged so that liquid will not pass 
through it. This tube must be 5 inches in height only. 
To the outside of the tin a funnel 2 inches by 3 inches 
should be attached, having connection with the bottom of 
the inside of the feeder by means of a slit 2 inches wide 
and 4 inch in height. This slit must be covered with a 
small piece of perforated zinc to prevent the ingress of 
the bees into the funnel. The top of the funnel must be 
covered also with a'moveable lid of tin or other material. 
A float quarter of an inch or less in thickness and 
9^ inches in diameter, with a hole in the centre 2 k inches 
in diameter, must also be made. This float must be 
pierced with holes a quarter of an inch in diameter about 
half an inch distant from one another. The lid of the 
feeder may consist of tin or wood or glass, but if glass is 
used it must be well covered with some warm material. 
With a feeder such as we have described a glass lid is 
wholly unnecessary and more expensive than a plain and 
equally useful covering of tin or wood. When the feeder 
is empty the float lies at the bottom of the tin, but as the 
syrup is poured in at the funnel the float rises. As the 
syrup rises in the feeder it will also rise correspondingly 
in the funnel, so that it is unnecessary to lift the lid to 
see how much syrup has been taken, and therefore the 
feeding can be accomplished with ease and absolute safety. 
The sole object of the tube which rises in the centre of 
the feeder to within an inch of the top being made of a 
double thickness of perforated zinc is to enable the bees 
to have a firm foothold, the space between the top of 
the tube and the lid of the feeder being of course left for 
the purpose of the ingress and egress of the bees to and 
from the feeder and the hive. Such is the most useful 
feeder it has ever been my good fortune to use ; a better 
1 never expect to see and do not desire. If stimulative 
feeding is practised in spring, the wisdom of doing so 
will hereafter be discussed. A. small bottle, holding about 
2 ozs. of syrup, will be required, and the top may be 
covered with “cheese cloth,” the bottle being inserted 
on a piece of perforated zinc placed on the top ot the hive, 
and the whole kept warm and snug by wrapping with 
warjn material. Other feeders there are for this pur¬ 
pose, but they are no more useful and a great deal 
more expensive than the now despised “ bottle.” For 
use in summer, when the outside supplies fail, a bottle 
holding about 2 lbs. of syrup may, with advantage, be 
used, but in all other respects the same plan must be 
adopted as with the smaller bottle feeder. 
How must the syrup be made? This is of course a 
most natural question, and admits of a very short reply. 
For ordinary use in the apiary a syrup made of a 
cheaper sugar may be used, but lor the purpose of 
winter food the best loaf sugar is, although rather more 
expensive, the cheapest in the end. In all other respects 
