272 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



shallow wooden troughs, or vessels filled with floats or 

 straw, from which sheltered from cold winds, and 

 warmed by the genial rays of the sun they can drink 

 without risk of drowning. 



Bees seem to be so fond of salt, that they will alight 

 upon our hands to lick up the saline perspiration. 

 " During the early part of the breeding season," says Dr. 

 Bevan, "till the beginning of May, I keep a constant 

 supply of salt and water near my Apiary, and find it 

 thronged with bees from early morn till late in the 

 evening. About this period, the quantity they consume 

 is considerable, but afterwards they seem indifferent to it. 

 The eagerness they evince for it at one period of the 

 season, and their indifference at another, may account for 

 the opposite opinions entertained respecting it." 



The Rev. Mr. Weigel, of Silesia, recommends plain 

 sugar-candy as a substitute for liquid honey. If bees can 

 get access to it, without being chilled, they will cluster 

 on it, and, when supplied with water, will gradually eat it 

 up. Four pounds of candy* will, it is said, sustain a colony 

 having scarcely any winter stores. It is cheaper than 

 liquid food, and less liable to sour in the cells. 



If the common hives are inverted, and sticks of candy, 

 placed gently between the combs where the bees are 

 clustered, they may be easily fed in the coldest weather. 

 In my hives, if the spare honey-board, or cover, is elevated 

 on strips of wood, about an inch and a half above the 

 frames, and the candy laid on them just above the clus- 

 tered bees, it will be accessible to them in the coldest 



* To mako candy for bee-feed : add water to the sugar, and clarify the syrnp 

 with eggs ; put about a teaspoonful of cream of tartar to about 20 Ibs. of sugar, 

 and boil until the water is evaporated. To know when it is done, dip yonr finger 

 first into cold water and then into the syrup. If what adheres is brittle when 

 chewed, it is boiled enough. Pour it into shallow pans, slightly greased, and, when 

 cold, break it into pieces of a suitable size. After boiling, balm, or any other 

 flavor agreeable to bees, may bo put into the syrup. 



