FEBRUARY 15, 1915 



wide in which the bees < lustered, liatigiiifj- in 

 festoons upon the cakes of candy placed 

 over the opening. The first examination 

 was made on the third day after the candy 

 was .q'iven theoa. A good start was found to 

 be made on the honey candy, while that 

 containing no honey was untouched. To 

 our astonisliment a piece of comb was found 

 built attached to the edge of the pie-plate 

 containing the hard candy. This comb is 

 shown in the enoravinir. Now. why did the 



bocs build thai cunib, and where did they 

 get the material"? It does not seem probable 

 that they would consume honey from the 

 combs for that purpose. If that is tnie we 

 must eonclndo that they consumed more 

 candy than they needed for food, and con- 

 verted it into wax to build combs to fill in 

 the vacant space. 



These experiments will be continued, and 

 the readers given the benefit of the obser- 

 vations. 



BROOD-REARING SUCCESSFUL WITH ALBUMENIZED CANDY 



BY T. RAYMENT 



Several correspondents view with skepti- 

 cism the editor's thesis of bees breeding 

 during cellar confinement. The basis of this 

 unbelief is ratlier dilTRcult to define. If the 

 conditions existing in tlie repository were 

 favorable for the inauguration of brood- 

 rearing, then the absence of young (not the 

 jiresence thereof) should bo the occasion of 

 any wonderment. 



In this far antipodean land the wintering 

 of bees presents special problems. It is 

 generally true that no 

 locations in Australia 

 call for cellar protec- 

 tion ; but it is undoubt- 

 edly correct that the 

 majority of our apiar- 

 ists would be well ad- 

 vised to give the ques- 

 tion more earnest 

 thought. This vast 

 commonwealth — which 

 at times i-uns the whole 

 gamut of climatic 

 changes — experiences 

 meteorological condi- 

 tions not quite unlike 

 those of i^ortions of 

 the United States. 



A.s many are aware, 

 the quality of the foofl 

 exercises the predom- 

 inating influence on 

 insect life during the 

 rigors of the winter. 

 The accumulated store of vital energy 

 is a strong fad or governing the ultimate 

 success of the insect cycle. All life is one 

 continuous seaich after that most valuable 

 element, nitrogen ; and this is especially true 

 of the Apidae. When the food supply con- 

 tains the maximum of nitrogenous albumen 

 or proteid (i. e., the true value of the life- 

 sustaining portion of all food), there is. 

 therefore, a surplus available for conversion 



into eggs and larvas. This last year during 

 our spring overhaul (August .'), 1914), we 

 were careful to observe the condition of 

 certain grouj;s of colonies that last autumn 

 were s])ecially fed up for winter. All the 

 colonies are housed in single-story dove- 

 tailed hives, eight-frame size, with solid 

 bottom-boards and covers of one-inch eleated 

 boards protected with galvanized metal. 

 Each hive contained a one-year-old Italian 

 queen (all these were the progenj^ of the 



Canrly plarrd above the brood-frames in a space provided by the 

 addition of a li,Ainch rim. 



same mother), and about four pounds of 

 bees. Something like sixty were wintered 

 on natural stores gathered from Victorian* 

 spotted gum (Eucalyptus Gomocalyx). A 

 few colonies contained slabs of candy made 

 by simply ])ouring boiling syrup on dry 

 beet sugar, stirring slightly, and allowin.L; it 

 to set in paper molds. These were then 



* One of the vast family of eucalyptus indigenous 

 to .Vustralia, 



