How To Feed Bees

The proper time to apply the followmg advice given by Mr. J. M. Hicks in the tíermantown Teleyraph, can be ascertained by reading answer No. 1, in tliis department: "Xow is the proper time to see that your bees have fresh food, such as sirui . preparedthus: take good A coffee sugar and make a sirup about the same as we oi'ten liave for warm buckwheat cakes at breakfast, and wheil it has cooled yon can lay some bits of oíd eomb in the top of your bive and poní on a few spoonfulsof sirup, which thej will willingly take down and feed tlieir i fiueen; this will stimulate her to laymg eggs for early brood. It is also a very good plan to have some rye ttour ground and placed in shallow boxes, two or three rods off from your bees' that they may visit and carry to their laves as bee-bread. If you cannot get rye, shorts will do. It is often the case that we flnd many who are ing bees the oíd post-áuger style, who should also feed their bees, which can ' be done by filling np glass tumblers vvith the irap tbus made and tie a cotton cloth over them and turn upside down over holes in top of their hives, and the bees wfli sooa twtee the sirüp all down through the cloth, which can be ïeadily seen through the glass tumblers and again refilled. You should cover the tumblers over with somebix or cap, as such beekeepers usually have pienty ofruch applianceslayingaround loose." Stimulative Feediis- Thickness of Chaff Hives- Chaff Hives for Will you be kind enougb to answer the following questions? lst. Will it do any harmtoatimulate bees by feeding when there is danger of bad weather which will prevent opening of hives and henee put a stop to feeding, provided the bees have a good supply of sealed honey in the hives? 2nd. In making chaff hives, how thiek ïnay the packing be, or in other vvords, how long a passage will the bees come through? 3rd. Have chaff hives any paiticular advantages ia summer, and i f any what are they? AmATEUK. Answebs. 1. The only lianu done t# the bees wi nM l)o this, the rearing oí yonng bees wears out the energies of the old bees, and uniese their pla.-.es are sujiplied by a nnmerous brood of workers, the hive will become weak; now, if no bad weather comes, there will be plenty of young hees to replace the old ones, and the colony will be in fine order for the spring work, bnt if a few days even of cold, stormy weather interrupt the stiinulative feeding, even if plenty of sealed honey be present, the bees are apt to cease starting more brood ; often they remove from the eells, and the hive all larvse not y et sealed over, and in some instances, they even tear open sealed cells and ding forth the immature bees. It is best, tlien, to let the bees remain perfectly quiet, (except one or two llights during the latter part of the winter,) so far as they--wi inclined to do so, until you are pretty certain not to be iiiterrupted in l'eed ing by anything besides a good flow of honey - and any bee-keeper will be able to stand such an interruption. i 2. As it is not desirable to have the bees come out often during the winter it is quite as well to have six to ten inches of packing on all sides of the combs.. "VVhen the air becomes pretty thoroughly warmed the bees will come through a paasage-way eight or -ten inches in length - perhaps even longer, though I see no necessity of more tlian eight inches in thickness of chaff. 8 In summer, chaff hives merely keep the bees cool, i. e., they keep the rays of sunlight or the heat reflected from the side of a building, hillside, or other object, from affecting the hees, iind tlius aid in repressing the disposition to swarm, and also facilítate the building of comb, for the bees oíten become too warm inside the hives and Bither swarm or cluster outside their habitations instead of in the surplus boxes. Shade of any sort, if equally complete, would answer as well as ehaff hives.