150 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Cnse, of Frenchtown, alternate. Dr. E. F. 

 Phillips, of Wasliinglon, D. C, an honorai'v 

 member of the Xew Jersey association, was 

 authorized to represent the organization at 

 the convention of the National association 

 in Denver. 



Owing- to a heavy rain and wind storu: 

 during the thirty-six hours before the open- 

 ing day of the convention, the meeting- was 

 not so well attended as previous meetings 

 have been. 



Hoboken, N. J. 



CANDY FOR WINTER FEEDING 



Some Experiments in our Machine-shop Cellar 



BY GEORGE H. RE A 



Readers of Gleanings will remember that 

 about a year ago we made elaborate experi- 

 ments with hard candy for feeding. (See 

 Gleanings for Januai-y 1, 1914.) It was 

 found that candy made simply of sugar and 

 water would granulate too much. The bees 

 would eat away the softer portions and 

 waste the hard crystals, which would be 

 found in considerable quantities on the bot- 

 lom-board. This trouble was overcome by 

 making the candy with about one pint of 

 honey to twenty-five pounds of sugai'. We 

 are again testing this out in oui' lUt^chine- 

 shop cellar. 



On January 9 ten small colonies, of an 

 average strength of about four frames of 

 bees and honey, were taken for the experi- 

 ment. Over the clusters, right on top of 



1 lie hard granules are thrown to the bottom- 

 board and wasted. 



On January 26 two other lots of candy 

 were made — one with one pound of honey to 

 twenty-five pounds of sugar, or 4 per cent 

 honey, and the other with half a pound of 

 honey to twent^'-five pounds of sugar, or 



2 per cent honey. The bees seem to be con- 

 suming both of these about equally, except 

 tliat there appear to be some hard portions 

 in the latter which the bees seem to be eat- 

 ing around, and may later discard. 



A point to be taken into consideration is 

 that our machine-shop cellar is extremely 

 dry, and it is possible that in a moist cellar 

 the harder candy might become sufficiently 

 soft so that all parts of it could be con- 

 sumed by the bees. 



Two cakes of candy were plared over the same colony. One of them (the one at the left, above) con- 

 tained 10 per cent honey. The other was merely boiled-down susar or syrup. As can be expected, the candy 

 containing the honey was taken readily by the bees while the other, up to the time the picture was taken, 

 had not been touched. It Ls interesting to note the small piece of comb which the bees built on the edge of 

 one of the plates as a result of the stimulation. 



the frames, we placed two cakes of candy 

 molded in paper pie-plates. One cake was 

 liard candy made simply of sugar and wa- 

 ter, wliile the other contained about 10 per 

 cent honey. 



As we expected, that containing the honey 

 was rapidly consumed, while the hard candy 

 remained untouched for several days. The 

 percentage of honey was found to be loo 

 high, and the honey became too soft after 

 a few days in the hive. To-day, February 

 3, it is just about all consumed, w'hile that 

 made of sugar and water is barely touched. 

 Where the bees are working on the latter 



There is no drijj whatever from the candy 

 containing 4 per cent honey, and for a dry 

 cellar this is undoubtedly the nglit pro]~)or- 

 lion. We do not believe it would become 

 too soft, even in a damjj cellar. 



Another interesting fact is that the colo- 

 vAvs fed with this candj' are rearing brood 

 quite freely. Observation yesterday showed 

 brood in all stages, and the queen laying as 

 though it were summer time. The results of 

 liiis will be reported later. 



In one of the colonies the brood-nest was 

 split through the center by spreading the 

 combs, leaving a space about two inches 



