OR, MiNtfAt OJf THE APIARY. 265 



winter— for no apiarist, worthy of the name, will suflFer his 

 faithful, willing subjects to starve, when so little care and 

 expense will prevent it. This is peculiarly true in Southern 

 California, where severe drouths often prevent any harvest, 

 and these may occur on two successive years. 



If we only wish to stimulate, the amount fed need not be 

 great. A half pound a day, or even less, will be all that is 

 necessary to encourage the bees to active preparation for the 

 good time coming. For information in regard to supplying 

 stores for winter, see Chapter XVIII. 



Bees, when very active, especially in very warm weather, 

 like most higher animals, need water. This very likely is to 

 permit evaporation in respiration, and the necessary cooling 

 of the body. At such times bees repair to pool, stream or 

 watering-trough. As with other animals, the addition of salt 

 makes the water more appetizing, and doubtless more valuable. 

 Unless water is near, it always ought to be furnished to bees. 

 Any vessel containing chips or small pieces of boards to secure 

 against drowning will serve for giving water. In case bees 

 trouble about watering-troughs, a little carbolic acid or kero- 

 sene-oil on the edge of the trough will often send them away. 



WHAT TO FEED. 



For this purpose I would feed granulated sugar, reduced to 

 the consistency of honey, or else extracted honey kept over 

 from the previous year. If we use two-thirds sjrup and one- 

 third good honey we save all danger of crystallization or 

 granulation. We add the honey when the syrup is hot, and 

 stir. The price of the honey will decide which is the more 

 profitable. The careful experiments of R. L,. Taylor show 

 that nearly three times as much honey as syrup will be con- 

 sumed. This argues strongly for the syrup. Dark, inferior 

 honey often serves well for stimulative feeding, and as it is 

 not salable, may well be used in this way. To make the 

 syrup, I use one quart of water to two of sugar, and heat till 

 the sugar is dissolved. Mr. R. I^. Taylor first boils the water, 

 hen stirs in the sugar till all boils, when he says it will not 

 granulate even with no acid added. This also removes all 

 danger of burning the syrup, which must never be done. By 



