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 often 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 in 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