44: 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



proportion of water in it, this having a 

 tendency to retard the candying, but we 

 shall throw out nearly all the dextrose, 

 which increases this tendency. 



If, however, one waits until it is all 

 sealed (good, ripe stuff), when it is ex- 

 tracted, a certain portion of the crys- 

 talline sugar remains in the cell, and 

 thus gives out a greater share of levulose 

 (non-crystallizable) sugar. Such honey 

 naturally holds out longer in a clear, 

 fluid state. 



If I had to decide between A and B in 

 the same district, A having readily- 

 candying honey, whilst B's remained 

 fluid, I should say B extracted only from 

 sealed combs, whilst his neighbor was 

 not so particular. If this was not the 

 case, my alternative would be, that the 

 bees of A had easier access to water, thus 

 allowing the crystalline sugar to be 

 more readily slung out of the cells. I am 

 presuming that A keeps his honey in as 

 warm a place as B ; if not, there is 

 really no question at issue. — R. A. H. 

 Gkimshaw, in the Record. 



Order Supplies Early. 



Let us impress upon every bee-keeper 

 the importance of placing an order for 

 next season's supplies at an early date. 

 This will relieve to a certain extent the 

 rush of orders which always comes in 

 May and June, and the experience of the 

 past season, when all the dealers were 

 behind, and some of the oldest and 

 largest of them could not fill sinall orders 

 in less than 3 weeks, which necessarily 

 entailed a loss upon those customers who 

 waited until the last moment. Every 

 honorable dealer is anxious to furnish 

 his customers with just what they want, 

 but it is impossible for him to do it, at all 

 times, when the year's business is com- 

 pressed into 3 or 4 weeks. — Exchange. 



do more to retard granulation in the 

 combs than anything that I know of ; it 

 will also impart the honey flavor to the 

 syrup, thus making it sought after by 

 the bees. I notice that some of our 

 friends entertain the idea that by adding 

 more water to the syrup it will go 

 farther. 



This is an erroneous idea ; the bees 

 will evaporate the water and reduce it 

 to a thickness consistent with keeping 

 qualities. If the bees were deprived of 

 this faculty, watery sweets would be- 

 come sour and rancid in their cells. — 

 Indiana Fonner. 



Syrup for Feeding Bees. 



Syrup for bees can be made of any of 

 the cheaper grades of sugar, but when 

 feeding for Winter stores, by all means 

 use the best grade of granulated sugar. 

 Take, say 12 pounds of sugar and 4 

 pounds of water, and bring it to a boil ; 

 this will make a syrup of the proper 

 consistency. 



I have repeatedly tried tartaric acid 

 to prevent the granulation, but have not 

 been able to notice any benefit, and do 

 not recommend it ; however, if about 2 

 pounds of extracted honey is stirred in 

 as you lift the syrup from the fire, it will 



Memory in Bees. 



I was living in a town where I knew 

 some few bees were kept, and I chanced 

 to have some comb from which the honey 

 had drained ; and so, instead of being 

 greedy, and squeezing out all I could get, 

 I determined to give a feed all around 

 to such bees as chose to accept my in- 

 vitation to dinner. This invitation I 

 gave by opening the window, and putting 

 the honey on the sill. In about half an 

 hour some foragers found it out ; they 

 helped themselves, and carried back the 

 good news to the sisters in the hive. In 

 the course of the morning my room was 

 literally swarming with bees, and I need 

 not tell you, as they are grateful crea- 

 tures, that they did not meddle with me, 

 but, as I sat at my books, repaid me for 

 my treasure with their sweet music. 



In the afternoon they were satisfied, 

 at least for the day, and dropped off, one 

 by one, without doing any injury. 



There is nothing strange in all this ; 

 but now comes the interesting part of 

 the story : I myself got up the next 

 morning, some time before the bees are 

 usually stirring, and, as I went to my 

 window (it was in September) to see the 

 first rays of the sun in the eastern sky, I 

 was much surprised, and not a little 

 delighted, to see a number of bees who 

 had remembered and been grateful for 

 the dinner the day before, waiting for 

 me to let them in to a similar breakfast. 



As some of the honey was left, you 

 cannot doubt but that I complied with 

 their wish, which was clear enough to 

 me, though they had no tongue to ex- 

 press it. I opened the window; the room 

 was soon filled ; they cleared the combs 

 of honey, and then went orderly away. 



They haunted my windows for several 

 mornings after, though I had no more 

 honey to give them. This is, I think, a 

 pretty strong instance of memory in 

 bees. — Spare Moments. 



