The morals of our favourites are here a good deal at fault, for the stronger hives, when their inordinate passion is thus stirred up by the carelessness or want of knowledge of the bee-keeper, attack and prey upon the weaker ones. To be "forewarned is to be forearmed"--and "prevention is better than cure." We strongly recommend closely covering up the feeder; one of the middle-size bell glasses put over it makes a close-fitting cover, should the regular cover to the hive not be sufficiently tight. When bees are not kept in a bee-house, and are, on that account, more accessible, this extra care is particularly needed. The right time for feeding is in the autumn or spring. As stated at page 76, it is requisite to ascertain the condition of the hive at Michaelmas, and, if wanting, the deficiency can then be made up.[13] It is not wise to defer feeding until later in the season, because it is important that, when the food is placed b the cells, the bees should seal it up; and a tolerably warm temperature is required to enable them to secrete the wax for the delicately-formed lids of the cells. If the food remained unsealed, there is danger of its turning sour, and thereby causing disease among the bees. It is not well to feed in mid-winter or when the weather is very cold: bees at such times consume but little food, being in a state of torpor, from which it is better not to arouse them. [Footnote 13: A much greater quantity of food will have to be administered than the actual weight required to be furnished, because there is a very considerable decrease after it is taken by the bees.] A little food in the spring stimulates the queen to lay more abundantly, for bees are provident and do not rear the young so rapidly when the supplies are short. In this particular, the intelligence of bees is very striking; they have needed no Malthus to teach them that the means of subsistence must regulate the increase of a prosperous population:-- "The prescient female rears the tender brood In strict proportion to the hoarded food." Evans.