CHAPTER X. 



SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN AND WINTER MANAGE- 

 MENT. 



Spring Management. 



There is not much remaining to be said on this point, as a 

 good deal of advice has already been given about stimulating, 

 uniting, and spreading the brood in spring in previous chapters. 



Candy. 



When the bees are short of food in spring, they may be 

 given a cake of candy in the beginning of February. This 

 candy is made as follows : — Add half a pint of water to 

 4 lbs. of cane sugar, and heat over the fire till melted, stirring 

 constantly to prevent the sugar from being burnt. Now take 

 a drop from the saucepan, and place it on a cold plate ; if it 

 quickly hardens, it is sufficiently thick; but supposing that 

 it remains soft and sticky when it has cooled, the boiling 

 must be continued to drive off more moisture, or else more 

 sugar must be added. As soon as the syrup is of the right 

 consistency, it should be poured into saucers or soup plates, or 

 some other kind of shallow, flat dishes, the bottoms of which 

 have been previously lined with paper to prevent the candy 

 from sticking to them. 



Before the candy is poured into the vessels prepared for it 

 it must be constantly stirred, and not poured out until it begins 

 to cool and thicken : when perfectly cold it ought to be neither 

 very hard nor yet very soft. It can then be given to the bees 

 by placing it (paper side up) on the top of the frames under 

 the quilts — the paper preventing it from sticking to the latter. 



If the bees should be short of pollen (which but very rarely 

 happens), its place may be taken by an artificial substitute, in 

 the shape of wheat or pea flour — the latter being the best. 

 This can easily be given to the bees by mixing it with the 



