164 BEEKEEPING 



must be met. For instance, last winter I 

 had a colony of Italian bees that was 

 short of stores in the fall. I fed them ten 

 pounds of sugar sirup in addition to what 

 honey they had and felt sure that they 

 would "pull through" all right. Fol- 

 lowed a very mild winter with early 

 spring, and brood rearing began at a date 

 unheard of before in our neighborhood. 

 Consequently that colony ate up all of its 

 stores and was on the point of starvation 

 when I discovered its condition. 



Therefore I would prefer to have an 

 excess of food in the hive rather than to 

 run the risk of the bees starving late in 

 winter. If honey of good quality is on 

 hand there should be around forty pounds 

 of it. Half that quantity of good sugar 

 sirup would probably be enough. 



Sugar sirup is prepared by boiling two 

 parts of sugar to one part of water. To 

 this is added one ounce of tartaric acid to 

 each fifty pounds of sugar to prevent it 

 from crystallizing in the combs. Even 



