16 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



fill in keeping sections perfectly square. I had 

 a box of sections that made up so much out of 

 square that I set them aside and stopped mak- 

 ing them. Many of them were so much out of 

 square that, when put in the super, one corner 

 of the section stood up a quarter of an inch or 

 more higher than it ought. If pushed down 

 into place, they would immediately spring up 

 again. But with the little separators I found I 

 could use those same sections. They were 

 squeezed so tight that, when pressed down into 

 place, they were held there. I heaitily com- 

 mend these little separators to every one who 

 uses the T super. C. C. ^NIillkk. 



Marengo, 111., Dec. 1."). 



[Your experience seems to be quite in line 

 with our orders. The call has been for separat- 

 ors, as a general thing, not thinner than ^^jj of 

 an inch. Some have called foi' even thicker 

 ones. When sliced up, the grain is more or less 

 broken. It would be desirable if we could saw 

 them and yet not have them expensive.] 



FEEDING BEES CANDY FOR WINTER. 



a. n. dkaper goes thk<)u(ih a ijtti.k kx- 

 pekience;. 



On page 9 of '• Advanced Bee Culture,'" Mr. 

 Hutchinson says: "If by any hook or crook the 

 bees have gone into winter quarters short of 

 stores, and there are fears that some may be 

 starving, it is better that they be examined and 

 fed if needed, even though the task is unpleas- 

 ant. There need be no hesitancy in thus dis- 

 turbing the bees for fear that it may do them 

 some injury, for, as a rule, it will not. If some 

 colonies must be fed. and no honey is available, 

 the best substitute for honey is candy made of 

 granylated sugar, put in sufficient water to dis- 

 solve the sugar: then boil the syrup until it will 

 harden in cooling. Watch it carefully and try 

 it frequently. As soon as it is sufficiently hard, 

 remove it from the stove and pour it into shal- 

 low dishes to cool. Be careful not to get it too 

 hard." 



On page 1.54 of "' Bees and Honey," Mr. New- 

 man says: "For winter feeding, use four parts 

 coffee A sugar and one part water: simmer 

 until it becomes quite hard on being cooled; 

 mold into frames of one inch in thickness, and 

 lay it on top the frames, using sticks under- 

 neath, one-half inch square: or mold into 

 brood -frames; tie hemp twine around to hold it 

 in place, and put it in the center of the brood- 

 chamber." 



There, I tried to do it I but I suppose that 

 botli my ABC book and Langstroth Revised 

 have been loaned, or else sold, as neither one of 

 tlieni cDulil be found. It was real cold, and an 

 out-apiary of about 70 hives, in which I have 

 only a half-interest, and which is about eight 

 miles away, was found to be almost destitute of 

 stoi-es. As I had becMi badly crowded all the, 

 fall with my business. I had left the cai'e of 

 this ai)iary to Mr. Horsey, and he prol)ably 

 overestimated the amount of stores that these 

 hives contained. None of them had been mov- 

 ed to the lake, and had had the honey-dew tak- 

 en off in August. They ai'e in eight -frame 

 Simplicity hives, consequently too nuich of 

 what they had on hand in August was taken 

 away from them. Well. I made up my mind that 

 the best way that these bees could be led would 

 be with ■■ candy." How can I manage to get 

 enough shallow vessels to hold a bai'rel of syr- 

 up? After thinking a while I concluded that 

 No. ') butter-trays w(>re what I needed, so I 

 sent down for a crate containing ;^50 of them. 

 It cost me 7.5 cents. I have a large stove-kettle. 



capable of holding 30 gallons. I use a tin can 

 inside of this kettle for liquefying candied hon- 

 ey. If the syrup is made inside of the can with 

 water around it there would be no danger of 

 getting the candy scorched. If scorched, it 

 would be worthless for winter feed. But then, 

 if I get it too thin it would be a slow job to cook 

 it down, in this manner. As it had been thor- 

 oughly cooked in making the sugar, what good 

 would it be to put a lot of water in it to boil 

 out again ? 



I made the candy in this way: I tirst weigh- 

 ed 2.5 lbs. of water and placed in the can. When 

 it got boiling hot I weighed 25 lbs. of granu- 

 lated sugar, poured into the water, stirred it un- 

 til it dissolved, then poured in 25 lbs. moi'e su- 

 gar, and stirred until it dissolved. One hundred 

 pounds of sugar will all dissolve; but in order 

 to get it to harden so that it will harden suffi- 

 ciently to haul to an out-apiary it is necessary 

 to put in from 15 to 20 lbs. more of sugar. Now, 

 it is necessary to place the butter-trays on the 

 floor, or on shelves with a small stick under 

 each side of the trays, to prevent them from 

 turning over when tilling, and while the candy 

 is hardening. The trays hold about 2 lbs. of 

 candy each. I fixed up nearly a barrel in this 

 way, and took it out and placed it on top of 51 

 hives. The following card, received from Mr. 

 Dorsey. will explain matters. 



Dear Hiincy :—Youv candy is g'oing fast. It is dry 

 and hard, and all g-oiie back to sug-ar. I think they 

 are carrying most ot it outside. Better come t)Ut 

 riglit awav before it is all wasted. Doksev. 



Moro, 111., De(_-. 11. 



There 1 A. N. Draper. 



Upper Alton, HI., Dec. 15. 



[Now. look here, friend D. You led us to be- 

 lieve you were going to make a grand success 

 of your venture: and just at the point when our 

 expectations were raised to the highest notch, 

 you turn the tables by quoting a card from your 

 neighbor Dorsey. As Josh Billings said, 

 •■ Eggsperiens teeches a goo'd skule, but the 

 tuishun comes purty hi." Joking aside, as 

 nearly as we can make out you did not follow 

 directions carefully. Your candy was too hard. 

 Notice the last clause from your quotation from 

 Hutchinson. In order to be suitable for the 

 bees there should be enough water incorporat- 

 ed in it to make it tolerably soft, and yet hard 

 enough to hold its own. We have made candy, 

 and poured it on butter-dishes, as you say, aiid 

 it worked beautifully. It might not have been 

 a bad idea for you to have tried a little at first, 

 before melting up the whole batch. We have 

 had some experience ourselves: and if you were 

 to turn to the subject of Candy in the ABC 

 book you would find this: " Perhaps you had 

 b(;tter try a pound or two first, whih^ you get 

 your hand in. Our fii'st (Wijeriment was with 

 iifty pounds. It all got " scorched " " sonu'how.' " 

 You might have used Good (oi' rather Scholz) 

 candy and been piM'fectly safe.] 



MELILOT. 



SO.MK INTKKESTING EXPEHI.MEXTS FROM U. R. 

 BOA RDM AX. 



Dr. C. C. Miller sends a letter which he has 

 received from H. R. Boardman. and suggests, 

 as it comes from such a source, and as it seems 

 to be so well worthy of publication, that we 

 give it insertion in our columns. This we are 

 veiy glad to do : and if friend Boardman has 

 any further facts we should be much pleased 

 to h(>ar from him again, more in detail. We 



