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THE AMinUCAN BEE-KEEPER 



4L 



understanding ot the habits of bees. 



Did you ever see a really successful 

 bee-keeper, who was not something of 

 an enthusiast over his pets? Who did 

 not enjoy working with them'"' To him 

 their methods of house-keeping, brood 

 rearing, and the gathering of supplies 

 have an interest higher than that • of 

 pure mercenary gain. The construction 

 of the cell, the "bee line" to and from 

 the distant clover field, the evident 

 recognition of strangers, these and 

 many other traits point to a higher or- 

 der of intelligence than is usually ac- 

 corded to insect life. While much has 

 been written about them, there are vol- 

 umes yet to be learned. Surprising in- 

 cidents are of frequent occurrence if we 

 but note them. Those w^ho know the 

 bee understand that it goes not about 

 seeking whom it may sting, but simply 

 attends to its ow'n business and bravely 

 resents the intrusion of others. 



Careful study of the bee increases our 

 interest in it, our respect for it. And 

 the awakening of love and kindliness 

 toward the lowest of God's creatures 

 naturally extends to His masterpiece, — 

 man. 



Harmonsburg. Pa.. Dec. 2,^, 1901. 



Feeding Bees — Candy Plan a 

 Failure. 



(By W. T. Stephenson.) 



THE TIME for winter (or spring 

 feedingi will soon be here. A 

 few hints dropped in the right 

 place might save some one a good deal. 



I was once rather indifferent in re- 

 gard to giving my colonies the required 

 amount of feed in the fall. That, how- 

 ever, was a very poor and impractical 

 policy. I had heard so much about the 

 candy plan of feeding that I rather 

 wanted the condition of my bees to be 

 such that I would be compelled to re- 

 sort to candy for stores. Well, two 

 years ago I fully satisfied my "cranky" 

 curiosity. I found my bees perfectly 

 destitute in February. I at once laid 

 in a supply of sugar, which in due time 

 was made into candy. I already could 

 hear 'in my mind's ear) the bees sing- 

 ing my praises for delivering them from 

 starvation's clutches. 



I made my candy according to the 

 common method of making hard can- 

 dy, viz.: Put the sugar and a little wa- 



ter into a vessel and let it boil until 

 when a little is cooled in a spoon it 

 makes a thick syrup. Then as it cools. 

 I stir it to make it white and hard. I 

 molded it in to six-inch squares about 

 an inch thick. One of these I laid over 

 the cluster in each hive. As long as 

 the weather was moderately cold the 

 candy furnished ample provisions; but, 

 alas, a cold "snap" came, the cluster 

 contracted and left the candy and 

 starved. 



I had so much confidence in the plan 

 that I did not pay much attention to 

 ihem until I saw that the grim reaper 

 li.id reaped a good part of my apiarian 



W. T. STEPHENSON. 



populace. There was but one redeem- 

 ing feature in the whole transaction. I 

 had lots of candy to eat. 



Well, I'll never feed any more candy 

 unless it is in summer in queen cages. 

 The weather never gets too cold to 

 feed sugar syrup. Let the syrup barely 

 come to a boil, and before it is entire- 

 ly cold (perhaps better say while it is 

 quite warm to experienced bee-keep- 

 ers) pour into a warm comb through 

 a perforated bottomed can. But if you 

 have some candy ready made it can be 

 fed with a reasonable amount of safety 

 in this way: Spread the frames about 



