1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTtiRE 



123 



page 142 she says, "The unbolted rye flour, 

 or even oatmeal, or whole-wheat flour, may 

 be used by the beee as a substitute with per- 

 fect success. The meal may be mixed with 

 the candy if it is desirable." Now, this is ex- 

 plicit; but I should much like it if some de- 

 tails as to methods of cooking had been in- 

 cluded. 



"A Modern Bee-farm," by Simmins, is a 

 book I like to read in the winter time to 

 wrestle with his startling ideas and devices, 

 trying to dig the essentials out of his rather 

 involved languaee. Recently I found he also 

 has something to say on the flour-candy 

 proposition — just four words, and then he 

 leaves it in peace. Let me quote the whole 

 paragraph, be^finning on page 189 of the 

 1904 edition: 



The act of breeding, which recommences, in normal 

 colonies, about mid-winter at the center of the cluster, 

 is not in itself a disturbing influence, for as yet its ex- 

 tent is never developed beyond the means at hand for 

 its moderate continuance. But when the owner be- 

 gins unduly to feed candy, and meal added thereto, then 

 the elements of additional unnecessary excitement are 

 immediately apparent in a large death-rate caused by 

 the premature flight of the workers in search of large 

 quantities of water. The cluster expands unnaturally, 

 and thereafter a serious drain is made upon the vitali- 

 ty of the bees in keeping up a higher temperature gen- 

 erally. 



There the proposition rests, so far as I am 

 concerned, for I am unable to find any more 

 references in the bee literature at my dis- 

 posal. But I am intensely interested in this 

 method of giving the bees a substitute for 

 pollen, if it is practicable, for the indications 

 are that this part of the world may have a 

 repetition of the seasonal conditions of last 

 spring. This is written exactly one year 

 from the day when the abnormal zero wave 

 struck us; but there are no signs of its being 

 repeated. Instead we are having steady 

 cool weather, the thermometer hanging 

 around the freezing-point, and have had 

 since the end of November. My bees are 

 wintering on about 16 pounds of honey-dew 

 and 11 pounds of syrup, so the prospect is 

 not altogether cheerful, seeing that they have 

 not had a flight for over a month at the date 

 of writing, and may be confined three weeks 

 more at least. In most winters here I am as- 

 sured there are many flight days each month, 

 but this one is different. 

 Victoria, B. C, January 4, 1910. 



[It is unfortunate for you that you did not 

 have at your command the back volumes of 

 this journal, particularly for the years from 

 1877 up to 1884 and 1885. During that time 

 there was considerable discussion on the 

 subject of giving bees what was then called 

 " flour candy." This is made by mixing one 

 part of rye meal with three parts of white 

 sugar, and wetting it down with a little wa- 

 ter. It is then placed over a slow fire and 

 cooked until it is ready to ' ' sugar off. " Th is 

 point can be determined by dipping the fin- 

 ger in cool water, then into tlie kettle of 

 candy, and immediately back into the water. 

 Whtn the film of syrup breaks like eggshells 

 from the end of the finger the candy is just 

 right. 



It is now taken off the stove; and as soon 



as it begins to harden on the sides of the 

 kettle the mixture is given a good stirring, 

 the stirring being kept up until the candy is 

 so thick that it can just be poured. Greased 

 tin pans should be in readiness, when the 

 contents of the kettle are poured into the 

 pans and allowed to cool. Cakes of this 

 candy are laid on the brood-frames in the 

 spring, or about the time when brood-rear- 

 ing will permit. Sach candy will supply the 

 bees with syrup as well as a farinaceous 

 diet, so they will rear brood. 



The question is raised right here, "Why is 

 there so little said about this kind of candy 

 now? Why should not full directions be in- 

 corporated in our text-books of to day?" In 

 the first place, a flour candy, such as is de- 

 scribed, is very difficult to make. Even a 

 confectioner has to try several batches be- 

 fore succeeding. In the second place, the 

 meal or flour in the candy is quite likely to 

 stimulate brood-rearing out of season; and 

 brood out of season that chills and dies by 

 subsequent cold weather puts a severe drain 

 on the colony, if it does not kill it outright. 

 For that reason it seemed best generally 

 speaking, to let nature handle the problem 

 of a farinaceous diet for the bees. Ordina- 

 rily, brood-rearing should not commence 

 much before natural pollen can be gatht red. 

 There is only an occasional season like that 

 of 1909, when bees really suffer from a want 

 of nitrogenous food. It is during such sea- 

 sons that a meal or flour candy in the hive 

 would be worth everything to the bee-keep- 

 er; but even then it would be far better to 

 place dry rye meal on trays outdoors and let 

 the bees themselves gather it and carry it to 

 their hives. It is much safer for the begin- 

 ner to furnish rye meal in this way than to 

 give it in the hives. The bees can not, of 

 course, gather this rye meal before they can 

 use it to advantage, and right here is the 

 reason why we recommend meal outdoors 

 instead of meal candy in the hive. If, on 

 the other hand, the meal be given in the 

 hive they are almost sure to begin brood- 

 rearing whether conditions are suitable or 

 not outside. For that reason we dropped all 

 reference to flour candy from our A B C of 

 Bee Culture, because we found that begin- 

 ners were inclined to overdo it; and some, 

 strangely, would uive it during midwinter 

 just when it would cause dysentery. There 

 is no doubt that 11 )ur candy could have been 

 given in many yards last spring to very good 

 advantage. The weather happened to be 

 warm enough fur bees to rear brood, t)ut too 

 inclement for them to fly very much; and 

 when they c 'uld fly, there was no natural 

 pollen. If meal had iDeen given in the hive 

 with the candy, there is no doubt that a large 

 amount of brood would have b* en savt d 

 last spring. As it was, dead brood from all 

 over the country was sent to this office, he 

 senders inquiring whether the brood died 

 from disease. In almo-t every case a diag- 

 nosis showed that the brood probably died 

 from a want of the nitrogenous element in 

 their food. After natural pollen was sup- 

 plied broud ceased dying. — Ed.] 



