858 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FEEDING SUGAR SYRUP 



BY J. E. HAND 



One often hears it said that a pound of 

 sugar syrup, well ripened, and stored with- 

 in the combs, is the equal of a pound of 

 good honey as food for bees. While I am 

 not in sympathy with the assertion, yet, 

 taken in the abstract, it may, jjerhaps, be 

 near the truth. Considering the interim, 

 however, the statement is misleading in the 

 extreme. Indeed, if the life-history of the 

 bees, and its relation to the evaporation and 

 inversion of thin syrup were better under- 

 stood, there would be less talk about the 

 value of sugar syrui^ as food for bees. Not 

 so very long ago many were advocating 

 sugar syrup as a cheap and effective sub- 

 stitute for honey as food for bees. Some 

 even went so far as to exploit methods and 

 systems to comjael the bees to store their 

 honey in the sections in order to enable 

 them to realize a handsome profit by sub- 

 stituting sugar syrup as winter food at half 

 the price of honey. 



The delusion was far-reaching and wide- 

 sjDreading, but it finally became evident to 

 a few that the profits were coming out of 

 the small end of the horn, and it became 

 painfully evident, from the lost vitality and 

 premature deatli of the bees that inverted 

 the syrup, that its effectiveness did not ex- 

 tend along the lines that harmonize with 

 the financial interests of the beekeeper or 

 the welfare of his bees. I was forced to 

 this conclusion as a result of an extensive 

 experiment conducted with the vieAV of 

 ascertaining results along other lines; but 

 it was ecjually effective in enabling me to 

 ascertain the effects upon bees resulting 

 from long-continued feeding of thin sweet- 

 ened water, comprising a solution of 8 (o 

 10 parts of water to one of sugar. 



This feed was given in the open, and the 

 feeders were refilled daily from the middle 

 of July to the middle of September, and 

 required the nse of a considerable quantity 

 of sugar. The bees took the feed readily, 

 and without any excitement or quarreling, 

 and whenever the feeders became empty 

 they would quietly go about their own busi- 

 ness, and there were no robbers nosing 

 about. Indeed, so far as external condi- 

 tions were concerned, the process seemed 

 to have about the same effect npon the bee^ 

 as a natural harvest; for I could handle 

 them without smoke, and leave the hives 

 open, and combs of honey exposed, without 

 any attempt on their part at robbing, not- 

 withstanding there was a dearth of nectar 

 during the entire period. Tlie external con- 

 ditions were so highly satisfactory that I 



became quite enthusiastic concerning the 

 artificial honey-fiow. 



Since this was the main point concerning 

 which I was seeking information, I content- 

 ed myself with external observation only. 

 Finally, however, I made an examination 

 of the conditions within the hives, expect- 

 ing, according to theory, to find every thing 

 booming, with plenty of brood and bees; in 

 short, I expected to find conditions about 

 the same as during a continuous mild flow 

 of nectar from natural sources. My expec- 

 tations were not realized, for the examina- 

 tion revealed conditions of a far different 

 nature than I had hoped for and expected ; 

 for while the combs were well filled with 

 seemingly well-i"ipened stores, evidently the 

 ripening process had a deleterious effect 

 upon the bees, to the extent that in eacli,and 

 every case the colonies were greatly deplet- 

 ed in numbers, and unmistakably betokened 

 weakened \ itality and premature decay of 

 vital tissue. The condition of the brood 

 comjDared favorably with that of the bees, 

 and was away below normal, as represented 

 where no feeding was practiced. 



Notwithstanding these colonies were plac- 

 ed in winter quarters exactly the same as I 

 have practiced for a quarter of a century, 

 with practically no loss, more than half of 

 them were dead before the first of February, 

 and the remainder died before spring. There 

 was no indication of dysentery nor distend- 

 ed abdomens nor fermentation of the stores, 

 and the bees were an exceedingly hardy 

 strain of straight three-band Italians. They 

 were perfectly healthy at the beginning of 

 the experiment. The feed was composed of 

 the best grade of fi-ne granulated sugar ob- 

 tainable, mixed with pure water in the ratio 

 of eight or ten parts water to one part of 

 sugar. Not being qualified to form scien- 

 tifically correct deductions based on the re- 

 sults of chemical analysis, I could only rea- 

 son from analogy, based on the results of 

 external observation and comparison in a 

 general way. 



Reasoning thus, all the evidence visible 

 pointed to a loss of vitality and premature 

 death resulting from long-continued and 

 incessant labor of a very exhausting nature 

 in expelling the excess of water from the 

 feed, which can be performed only when 

 bees are on the wing. Hence two months' 

 feeding of so weak a solution would neces- 

 sitate a flight of hundreds of miles during 

 the season when bee nature demands relax- 

 ation from excessive activity, which un- 

 doubtedly accounted in a great measure for 

 the general lassitude and worn-out condi- 

 tion of the bees. This theory is supported 

 by the fact that the life-span of bees hatch- 

 ed too late in the season to assist in honey 



