ALEXANDER’S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 29 
SPRING FEEDING. 
WHEN TO FEED THICK AND WHEN TO FEED THIN SYRUP; SYRUP VS. HONEY AS 
A WINTER FOOD. 
Feeding is becoming a very important part of our business, and from 
the many letters of inquiry I am receiving from parties in many places 
I find some bee-keepers have rather erroneous ideas of the proper way 
to do this work in order to secure the best results, and at the same time 
avoid all danger of the feed entering the supers. There is no question 
but that we can secure very beneficial results by judicious feeding in 
early spring as well as late in the fall; but we must be careful to do 
it so no possible harm can come from the practice. I would advise 
having every thing as handy as possible before commencing this line of 
work; for after it is commenced there should be no stop until the 
weather becomes warm and settled, except on fair days, when the bees 
can gather nectar from the flowers. 
Before taking our bees from the cellar we have our feeders all 
ready, and the necessary barrels of sugar for spring use in our bee- 
house; then with an agricultural boiler which holds 45 gallons two men 
can make the necessary syrup and feed six or seven hundred colonies 
in less time than we could formerly feed fifty. It is the advantage 
secured from taking these short cuts on both time and expense that I 
have called your attention to so often. 
There are only a few conditions a colony is likely to be in when it 
is necessary to resort to feeding. First, in the spring, if the bees have 
little or no honey they should be fed at once five or six barrels to pre- 
vent starving. This syrup should be about the consistency of good 
honey; then to stimulate brood-rearing it is far better to feed a much 
thinner syrup. I find that, if made of 1 lb. of sugar to 3 Ibs. of water, 
it will give the best results. This furnishes both food and water mixed 
together, which is very necessary to encourage early breeding. 
When feeding at any time or for any purpose we must use good 
judgment; otherwise we may thwart the very object we wish to achieve. 
First we must be very careful to feed just enough, and no more than 
the necessary amount to secure the desired object. When feeding in the 
spring, give only enough for daily use of the thin syrup; and if there 
is a spell of a day or two that is fair, and the bees are getting some 
nectar from the flowers, then stop feeding until the weather becomes 
unfavorable for them to work, but don’t stop unless you are sure that 
the flowers are yielding nectar. If you watch your bees and the weather 
closely you can stop feeding as it becomes more pleasant, so there will 
not be any syrup left in their combs. 
If we gave our bees a lot of thick syrup in the spring it would be 
of but little use to stimulate breeding, as they require water at that 
season as much as they do honey. Then if we gave them the thin 
syrup in the fall, such as they require in the spring, it would be one 
