FEEDING. 273 



weather. It may also be gently put between the combs, 

 .in an upright position, among the bees.* 



Mr. Wagner has furnished me with the following 

 interesting facts, translated by him from the Bienen- 

 zeitung : 



" ' The use of sugar-candy for feeding bees,' says the Rev. Mr. 

 Kleine, ( gives to bee-keeping a security which it did not possess 

 before. Still, we must not base over-sanguine calculations on it, 

 or attempt to winter very weak stocks, which a prudent Apiarian 

 would at once unite with a stronger colony. I have used sugar- 

 candy for feeding, for the last five years, and made many experi- 

 ments with it, which satisfy me that it cannot be too strongly 

 recommended, especially after unfavorable Summers. Colonies 

 well furnished with comb, and having plenty of pollen, though 

 deficient in honey, may be very profitably fed with candy, and 

 will richly repay the service thus rendered them. 



" ' Sugar-candy, dissolved in a small quantity of water, may be 

 safely fed to bees late in the Fall, and even in Winter, if abso- 

 lutely necessary. It is prepared by dissolving two pounds of 

 candy in a quart of water, and evaporating, by boiling, about 

 two gills of the solution ; then skimming and straining through a 

 hair sieve. Three quarts of this solution, fed in Autumn, will 

 carry a colony safely through the Winter, in an ordinary location 

 and season. The bees will carry it up into the cells of such 

 combs as they prefer, where it speedily thickens and becomes 

 covered with a thin film, which keeps it from souring. 



" { Grape-sugar, for correcting sour wines, is now extensively 

 made from potato-starch, in various places on the Rhine, and has 

 been highly recommended for bee-food. It can be obtained at a 

 much lower price than cane-sugar, and is better adapted to the 

 constitution of the bee, as it constitutes the saccharine matter of 

 honey, and hence, is frequently termed honey-sugar. 



" ' It may be fed either diluted with boiling- water, or in its raw 



* By sliding a few sticks of candy under their frames, a small colony may be fed 

 in warm weather, without tempting robbers by the smell of liquid honey. If a 

 email quantity of liquid food is needed in Summer, loaf sugar dissolved in water, 

 having little smell, is the best 

 12* 



