into some empty comb, and then put the frame
containing it, directly into the hive; or I can set the feeder or honey
in the comb, in the hive near the frames which contain the bees. I have
already stated, (see p. 225,) that unless a colony can be supplied with
a sufficient number of bees, it cannot be aided by giving it food. If
the bees are not numerous enough to take charge of the eggs which the
queen can lay, or at least, of a large number of them, they can seldom,
unless they have a tropical season before them, increase rapidly enough
to be of any value. If they are numerous enough to raise a great many
young bees, but too few to build new comb, they must be fed very
moderately, or they will be sure to fill up their brood comb with honey,
instead of devoting themselves to the rapid increase of their numbers.
If the Apiarian has plenty of empty worker comb which he can give them,
he ought to supply them quite sparingly with honey, even when they are
considerably numerous, in order to have them breed as fast as possible;
not so sparingly however, as to prevent them from storing up any honey
in sealed cells; or they will not be encouraged to breed as fast as they
otherwise would. If he has no spare comb, and the hive is populous
enough to build new comb, it must be supplied moderately, and by all
means, _regularly_ with the means of doing this; the object being to
have comb building and breeding go together, so as mutually to aid each
other. If the feeding is not regular, so as to resemble the natural
supplies when honey is obtained from the blossoms, the bees will not use
the food given to them, in building new comb, but chiefly in filling up
all the cells previously built. If honey can be obtained regularly, and
in sufficient quantities from the blossoms, the small colonies or nuclei
will need no feeding until the failure of the natural supplies.

In all these operations, the main object should be to make every thing
bend to the most rapid production of _brood_; give me the bees, and I
can easily show how they may be fed, so as to make strong and prosperous
stocks; whereas if the bees are wanting, every thing else will be in
vain: just as a land where there are many stout hands and courageous
hearts, although comparatively barren, will in due time, be made to "bud
and blossom as the rose," while a second Eden, if inhabited by a scanty
and discouraged population, must speedily be overgrown with briars and
thorns.

If