CHAPTER XXIII. FEEDING. A STOCK of bees will, generally, consume a pound of honey per month, betwixt the 1st of October and the 1st of March: from this time to the end of May, they will consume two pounds per month; if the spring be unfavourable for gathering early, and less than ten pounds of honey per stock have been left for their winter's support, and that winter have proved mild, the bees should be fed early in the season, and sometimes through a considerable part of the month of May. I believe the best spring food for bees is the following COMPOUND: A pound of coarse brown sugar and half a pint of ale or sweet wort, boiled to the consistence of a syrup, to which may be added a small portion of salt. According to Huber the coarsest sugar enables the bees to form the whitest wax. The above mixture is regarded, by some, as a useful food for bees even when there is no deficiency of honey; it is supposed to encourage early breeding, and to preserve the health of the bees; I administer it invariably from the end of February or the beginning of March till the bees seem to disregard it, which always happens as soon as the flowers afford them a supply of honey. There are two opinions upon the best mode of administering the syrup: one party gives the preference to daily feeding, in small quantities; the other, to introducing a considerable quantity at once, and repeating it as occasion may require. The majority of apiarians favour the latter practice; among the number are REAUMUR, THORLEY, ISAAC, MORRIS, &c. the latter gentleman obtained an award of ten guineas from the Society of Arts, for his method of feeding. The advocates of the first method are KEYS, ESPINASSE, and some others. Copious feeding is effected by filling the cells on one side of a spare drone comb, laid flat upon the floor of the hive; or by pouring the syrup into a dish, or an excavated floor board of twice the usual thickness, covering the food with short straws or pieces of reed, about half an inch long, to prevent the bees from soiling themselves. The stock being placed in an evening over the whole, in the course of the night, or the following morning, the bees will carry up the syrup, and store it in unoccupied cells. Where it has been ascertained that the bees have not stored a sufficient quantity of honey to carry them through the winter and ensuing spring, and it is determined. to furnish them with a supply in the autumn, I think this method of copious feeding is the best. But when they are fed in the spring, I think it preferable to give them about a table-spoonful a day. This has generally been accomplished, by introducing into the mouth of the hive a long boat, formed by scooping out the pith from an elder stem, and filling it with the composition. Upon this plan, no more is introduced than the case requires, and frequent opportunities are afforded of learning the condition of the bees, from the manner in which they receive the boon. If a little irascibility be exhibited, it is a symptom of health; and though indifference to the proffered bounty may not actually betoken mischief, yet it deserves attention, and should induce vigilance in the apiarian. Feeding upon the large scale in spring, tempts the bees to fill those cells which may be wanted for the queen to deposit her eggs in, and thus proves a drawback upon the strength and prosperity of the hive. It may also cause the bees to partake too freely of the syrup, and suffer from their intemperance. Whichever mode be adopted, the external entrances must be closed, during the time of feeding; and I know of no better contrivance for this purpose than Mr. Huish's tin guards. Without this precaution, unfed stranger bees, attracted by the smell of the syrup, will banquet upon it; and these marauders, having once tasted the repast, will not only return to it again and again themselves, but bring in their train a multitude of others, to the great injury of the well fed apiary. The way in which I feed my own bees is exceedingly simple, and attended with no risk to the apiarian. At the close of the gathering season, I turn my boxes and their floors a quarter round, and adapt to them a long narrow box with a glass top and two openings, one at the end, serving as a street door, the other in the side serving as a hall door leading into the box, as shown in the following sketch. In an evening, when the bees are all at home, I push in the slide of the floor board, raise the glazed box, and place the syrup under it: then I close the external entrance, and withdraw the slide to admit the bees to the food: by morning I generally find that my donation has been removed. I place the syrup in a small shallow saucer, covered over with Scotch gauze, through which the bees suck it without smearing their wings. If the gauze hang over the sides of the saucer, it |