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138 should be thin when finished, as it is better to let the bees attend to the ripening of it.

There are two general plans for feeding bees. One is to place the syrup outside the hive, and the other to place it within the hive. The first is much more convenient for the apiarist, but unless the work be done very carefully or in the evening, and the syrup well guarded, the bees may become demoralised and begin robbing. Feeding outside the hive can be done only during warm weather. There are several simple feeders in which the syrup is placed at night, and taken away in the morning; but the method most generally followed is to fill a Mason fruit can with the syrup and place on it a perforated cover, then invert it in a box in front of the hive; the entrance to this box is so connected with the entrance to the hive that robbing is impossible. The box and cover are sold under the name of the Boardman feeder. As there is very little air in the can, the syrup oozes out very slowly through the perforated cover, and the bees take it as fast as it comes. This feeder is satisfactory in that we can tell at a glance when it needs replenishing.

However, most apiarists follow the custom of feeding within the hive, and strive to accomplish this without loss of warmth in the brood-chambers, and without disturbing or daubing the bees. Of all the devices for feeding within the hive, the division-board feeder is the most practical. It