SPRING MANAGEMENT.—Chapter XIX. 
beekeepers lay aside plenty of nice combs of honey for just this purpose 
of spring feeding. Lacking such stores, there may possibly be a colony 
that has been winter-killed, from which one or more combs of stores can be 
taken. But if no honey in the comb is available, sugar feed has to be re- 
sorted to. The colony should be kept supplied with plenty of stores up to 
the time the honey flow starts. During spring-breeding great quantities 
of stores are needed. Full colonies sometimes use more than ten pounds 
of stores a week. It is the stores in excess of their actual needs that stimu- 
late the bees to increased brood-rearing. 
Feeding Candy, Not Syrup, in Early Spring. 
Feeding of sugar syrup in the spring, before the bees begin to fly free- 
ly at least every few days, is always attended with more or less danger, for 
syrup feeding at any time starts the bees to flying out at the entrance. 
Then, if the weather chances to be cold (or chilly), many bees are lost by 
becoming chilled in their flight and never return to their hive. Hard 
candy made of pure granulated sugar is the proper makeshift food to 
supply the shortage of natural honey stores, during cold weather of early 
spring. When the weather turns warmer, syrup feeding is preferable. (See 
page 100.) This hard candy can be purchased (ordinarily) of beekeeper- 
supply houses; or, if one prefers, he can make it himself by using consid- 
erable care. The recipe for making it is as follows: 
Into a dish of hot water on-a stove put one-third of a teaspoonful 
of tartaric acid for every 244 pounds of water and then into the mixture 
slowly pour granulated sugar to the amount of four times the weight of 
the water, stirring constantly. Make sure that the sugar is all dissolved 
before boiling commences. If this precaution is not observed, some of the 
undissolved sugar is likely to burn, injuring the flavor of the candy and 
almost surely causing trouble with the bees later. If one has a candy ther- 
mometer, he should watch the temperature and not let it go above 275 to 
280 degrees. Test frequently by dropping a very little of the syrup into 
cold water (about 50 to 55 degrees F.). The drop of candy when taken 
out of the water should be hard and brittle,.but when placed in the mouth 
should soften slightly so that it is tough. Then the syrup should be poured 
into paper pie-plates, or upon paraffined or wax paper on a perfectly level 
table. In the latter case, around the outside of the paper should be placed 
wooden sticks 14 inch high to prevent the syrup from running off. The 
color of the candy when cold should be about that of light basswood honey. 
Tf it is darkened very much, it is scorched and unfit for the bees. To pre- 
vent the scorching, reduce the fire toward the last so that the syrup will 
boil slowly. 
This hard candy (in paper pie-plates) should be placed over the elus- 
ter of bees, with a few small sticks between it and the tops of the frames 
to give bee-space. If the colony is small the brood-chamber should first be 
contracted, by the use of a division-board, to as few frames as the bees will 
cover at one side of the hive. In doing this the contraction is accomplished 
by removing frames that have no brood and little or no honey. Place the 
candy above the cluster—the pie-plates upside down. In case the beginner 
bas wintered in a double-walled hive with a mat just above the frames, as 
112 
