Vol. XII. 



DEC. 15, 1884. 



No. 24 



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I A. I. ROOT, MEDINA, OHIO. [fh"irp.u.!'4pl?ye!^"e\!irr ''"" °' 



SUGAR SYRUP. 



HOW TO PREPARE IT, TO FEED BEES. 



HY, Bro. Root, I am surprised at what jou 

 have to say in your foot-notes under Bro. 

 Doolittle's article on p. Vei, Gleanings for 

 Nov. 15. It is not so strange that Bro. L>. 

 should have so little knowledge of a branch j 

 of apiculture so new to his experience. Bro. D. j 

 does not say so, hut it should he remembered that j 

 grape sugar, glucose, and honey, are not equal to j 

 cane-sugar syrup, with which to winter bees; and 

 any recipe for preparing their winter food, which 

 necessitates the use of any of them is not a good I 

 one, nor is any such addition at all necessary. | 



Are you not aware, that there is a great differ- ! 

 ence in the crystallizing tendency of different lots 

 of pure granulated* sugar? Are you not also aware, j 

 that when the bees hold the syrup in their bodies | 

 they add more or less formic acid to the syrup, and 

 the quantity which they add has much to do with 

 whether the liquid will crystallize or not, after be- 

 ing deposited in the cell? Also, that there is quite 

 a difference as regards crystallizing, as to how 

 much water is added to the sugar, and how hot 

 when added? 



On four different occasions I have fed sugar to 

 my bees to winter upon, the past month giving 

 them twenty barrels of about 300 lbs. each, or about 

 6000 lbs., so you see I am not without experience in 

 the matter. I will tell your readers how I prepared 

 the syrup to feed. 

 If I can do my feeding at a time of year when we 



»The word "granulated," as applied to honey or grape su- 

 gar, would be correct; but as applied to cane sugar, it is a 

 misnomer, the word " crystallized " being the proper one. 



i are to have a few weeks of summer temperature 

 after it, I use 5 lbs. of water to every 10 lbs. of gran- 



j ulated sugar; but if I fear that we are to have no 

 such weather, suitable for the evaporation of the 



I syrup by the bees, I use only 3 lbs. of water to every 

 10 lbs. of the sugar. I use a solid copi)er pan, J* 



[ inches deep and a little larger than the whole top of 

 the stove. It easily accommodates half a barrel of 

 sugar at each boiling. It has a large brass faucet in 

 one side, near the corner, from which we draw the 

 syrup, when done. 



We first put the desired amount of water into the 

 pan, and bring to the boiling-point (the pan sits on 

 the griddles, which we never remove). We then 

 ifprinlde in the sugar, stirring all the time witli a 

 broad wooden paddle, so that no grains n/st on the 

 bottom of the pan. As soon as the syrup conies to 

 the boiling-point we add a piece of tartaric acid, 

 about the size of a large hazlenut, or, say, what 

 would lie on a nickel (heaped up), to every 10 lbs. 

 of sugar. This we usually have previously dissolv- 

 ed in a little water, and jwur in the solution. Now 

 let the syrup boil about five minutes, and remove; 

 and when cooled sufficiently, it is ready to feed, 

 and will not granulate, unless you have different 

 sugar from any we have used, or a less concentrat- 

 ed tartaric acid. One or two teaspoonfuls of cream 

 of tartar to each 10 lbs. will also do. As long as you 

 notice any tendency to crystallize, be not afraid to 

 add more acid. 



Bro. Doolittle says his syrup would granulate un- 

 less he added so much acid that it gave it a dis- 

 agreeable taste. Now, I have never noticed any 

 such disagreeable taste; and if I had, what of it? 

 for the bees do winter nicely on sugar syrup that 

 contains twice as much acid as is required to stop 

 all tendency toward crystallization- 



