April 23, 1SS7. ] 
343 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTFR 
although working on fine clays, does not seem to have the 
same number of bees as the stocks on either side. Pollen 
may not be carried in so freely. The brood nest is 
extended more slowly, and the stock does not seem to make 
the progress which we have a right to expect, and yet the 
queen may be in the prime of life and vigour. 
Again, there may be a stock in which the food supply 
has been rather short, and the patches of brood raised in 
the two preceding months arc therefore very small. In 
such a case many advise syrup sufficient to last for two 
months to be given at once, and then a’l feeding to be 
stayed. From such advice I dissent. In short, whenever 
a hive which has been carefully prepared in autumn does 
not seem to make satisfactory progress—whenever a hive 
lias been neglected in autumn, and therefore will, we 
know, unless extra precautions are taken, be later in 
arriving at the time when there is a population large 
enough to work in supers—then stimulative feeding may 
be resorted to as a means of rectifying a present evil. 
A stock, then, in March seems to demand extra care and 
attention, and we determine to feed it gently until honey 
comes in freely. We must first take care to see that the 
combs contain at least 10 lbs. of honey, and if they do 
not contain that quantity syrup must be given at once to 
make up the deficiency. After this has been supplied 
gentle stimulative feeding may be commenced, using the 
small bottle feeder described in the last article, and 
known to every bee-keeper in this country. Special care 
must be given to four points when stimulative feeding is 
contemplated .— 
1, The brood combs must never Joe “glutted/’ with 
honey. 
2, If the weather is severe stimulative feeding must 
on no account be commenced. 
3, Hive and feeder must be wrapped up as warmly as 
possible. 
4, When once commenced it must be [regularly con¬ 
tinued every day. 
In small hives the first point demands special atten¬ 
tion. A stock on ten standard frames may be seriously 
injured if too great a quantity of food is contained 
in the combs in spring, because the queen has, even 
if every cell was available for brood, not sufficient 
room, and therefore every cell unnecessarily occupied by 
honey is an evil. In larger hives the same attention must 
be paid to this point, unless honey is b ing used Lr feed¬ 
ing purposes instead of syrup, especially if it is intended 
to extract from the combs the surplus We must take 
care never to sell syrup, even by accident, and call it 
honey ! 
It is often said that stimulative feeding should be 
commenced in March; this is most dangerous advice. 
The time for beginning to stimulate must be entirely 
regulated by the weather. Early in March in some 
seasons this stimulation may be commenced, while in 
other seasons it would be most hazardous and almost im¬ 
possible to interfere with a hive before April. If the 
weather about the second or third week in March is open 
and mild an effort may be made at once to induce the 
bees to extend their operations. If the weather is severe 
we must wait until it becomes mild and open, and then 
begin to feed. This year I have been making some experi¬ 
ments re'ative to stimulative feeding, which shall when 
the result is determined be described. Hives and feeders 
must be very warmly wrapped up, and there must be no 
escape of heat from the top of the hive. A feeder if badly 
p'accd on the hive will allow a great and injurious escape 
of heat, and the stock will therefore be retarded rather 
IE AXD COTTAGE GARDEXER. 
than advanced. If a stock is to be fed each day the 
following method is a simple and easy one to adopt. 
Over the feed hole a piece of perforated zinc should 
be placed; on the top of this a quantity of warm material 
—old pieces of carpet, anything that can be pressed into 
service—cutting a hole in each piece just large enough to 
allow the bottle to pass through it, and laying these pieces 
on the zinc, there to remain permanently until feeding is 
over and the super takes place of the feeder. When the 
feeder is in p isition another small piece of carpet with 
a still smaller hole should be taken and pressed over 
the top of the bottle until it arrives at the neck, thus 
effectually preventing any escape of heat which the other 
pieces might allow. With a feeder so managed all the 
heat of the hive is retained, especially if the whole feeding 
apparatus is covered with some heat-retaining material; 
and feeding is done without disturbing the bees and with¬ 
out the slighte-t inconvenience to the bee-keeper. Two 
ounces a day is sufficient'for every stock which has a good 
supply of honey, and if managed on the system here 
advocated every stock will have a good supply, even inde¬ 
pendent of the driblets thus to be a Iministered. 
It has been said that stimulative feeding in spring 
causes the loss of many bees by exciting them to fly when 
the Weather is unfit for flight. I have not found this to 
be the case in spring, for when the season is advancing all 
stocks in my apiary go forth to labour even when the day 
is cold and it would be better for them if they stayed 
within. In spring the common bees will go out when 
possible, and their loss is, I believe, not so great as it is 
believed to be by many. In autumn stimulative feeding 
is, I believe, absolutely and entirely injurious. It is 
expensive and troublesome and dangerous; it incites to 
robbing, disturbs the bees when Mature leads them to 
save their energy, and so prolong their lives—thus insur¬ 
ing the safe wintering of the stocks. A little brood is 
raised at the loss of many bees which would have survived 
the winter. The queen is overdone, and consequently 
commences egg-laying in the following year; the expense 
is considerable, the labour great, and the result no better 
than that which follows from a management which enables 
a man in a few days to supply the food requisite to 
strengthen his stocks and pack up his bees for winter. 
In spring robbing may be induced when feeding is 
going on by a careless exposure of honey, but in autumn 
every bee is on the look out for spoils, and a determined 
attack is sure to be made on every stock if there is the 
slightest drop of honey left lying about, or syrup to which 
the bees can obtain access. The trouble often occasioned 
in autumn by the raids of robber bees is very great, and 
nothing like it is experienced in spring, but still at all 
times of the year the greatest possible care must always 
be taken not to wake in the bees the desire to obtain 
stores from other hives. 
It will he sufficiently apparent, I think, to all that I 
am not a great advocate for stimulative feeding at any¬ 
time, although I recognise certain circumstances which 
may occasionally make it advisable to adopt a system 
which in other circumstances would be of no benefit to 
the persons following it out. The only time when stimu¬ 
lative feeding is really profitable is, I believe, when there is 
a break in the honey flow, and it is necessary at whatever 
expense and trouble to keep the bees prosperous and happy 
under adverse circumstances. If honey- cannot be got in 
the fields in April, May, June, and July every stock and 
swarm should be fed gently, for it is absolutely essential 
to successful management that there shall be a strong 
hatch of brood in July, and this there will not be unless 
