"Decembers Husbandrie" - Tusser

Quote from "Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry", by Thomas Tusser:

Go looke to the bees, if the hive be too light,
    set water and honie, with rosemarie dight.
Which set in a dish ful of sticks in the hive,
    from danger of famine yee save them alive.

In period, the success of a hive was measured by its weight. A lighter hive would indicate too little honey or too few bees to sustain itself. Tusser is suggesting here to feed the bees in the lighter hives honey water with rosemary added. Sticks were placed in the dish so the bees could stand on them while drinking the honey water. Adding sticks to water dishes is a practice that is still used today.