Winter Work on the Bee-Farm. 



flowed sheet after sheet of some glistening golden material, 

 the use of which I could only dimly guess at. 



But I had time only for one swift glance at this mys- 

 terious monster. The bee-master gripped me by the arm 

 and drew me towards the furnace. 



" This is bee-candy," he explained, " winter food for 

 the hives. We make a lot of it and send it all over the 

 country. But it's ticklish work. When the syrup comes 

 to the galloping-point it must boil for one minute, no more 

 and no less. If we boil it too little it won't set, and if too 

 much it goes hard, and the bees can't take it. " 



He took up his station now, watch in hand, close to the 

 man who was stirring, while two or three others looked 

 anxiously on. 



" Time! " shouted the bee-master. 



The great caldron swung off the stove on its suspendins: 

 chain. Near the fire stood a water-tank, and into this the 

 big vessel of boiling syrup was suddenly doused right up 

 to the brim, the' stirrer labouring all the time at the seeth- 

 ing grey mass more fiu'iously than ever. 



" The quicker we can cool it the better it is," explained 

 the old bee-keeper, through the steam. He was peering 

 into the caldron as he spoke, watching the syrup change 

 from dark clear grey to a dirty white, like half-thawed 

 snow. Now he gave a sudden signal. A strong rod was 

 instantly passed through the handles of the caldron. The 

 vessel was whisked out of its icy bath and borne rapidly 

 away. Following hard upon its heels, we saw the bearers 

 halt near some long, low trestle-tables, where hundreds of 

 little wooden boxes were ranged side by side. Into these 

 the thick, sludgy syrup was poured as rapidly as possible, 

 until all were filled. 



" Each box," said the bee-master, as we watched the 

 candy gradually setting snow-white in its wooden frames, 

 " each box holds about a pound. The box is put into the 

 hive upside-down on the top of the comb-frames, just over 

 the cluster of bees ; and the bottom is glazed because then 

 you can see when the candy is exhausted, and the time has 

 come to put on another case. What is it made of ? Well, 

 every maker has his own private formula, and mine is a 

 secret like the rest. But it is sugar, mostly — cane-sugar. 

 Beet-sugar will not do ; it is injurious to the bees. 



61 



