ON FEEDING BEES. 8i 



latter condition bees consume it slowly, and, as there is not 

 the waste that occurs when candy is fed, I think it is better 

 winter food. 



The Rev. M. Sholz, of Silesia, recommends the fol- 

 lowing as a substitute for sugar-candy in feeding bees: 

 Take one pound of honey and four pounds of pounded 

 lump-sugar ; heat the honey without adding water, and 

 mix it with the sugar, working it together to a stiff doughy 

 mass. When it is thoroughly incorporated cut it into 

 slices, or form it into cakes or lumps, and wrap them in a 

 piece of coarse linen, and place them in the frames. Thin 

 slices enclosed in linen may be pushed down between the 

 combs. The plasticity of the mass enables the apiarian to 

 apply the food in any manner he may desire. The bees 

 have less difficulty in appropriating this kind of food than 

 where candy is used, and there is no waste. 



By sliding a few sticks of candy under the frames or 

 between the combs, a small colony may be fed in warm 

 weather, without tempting robbers by the smell of liquid 

 food. Langstroth gives the annexed recipe for making 

 candy as bee-food : — 



" Add water to the sugar, and clarify the syrup with 

 eggs. Put about a teaspoonful of cream of tartar to about 

 twenty pounds of sugar, and boil until the water is evapo- 

 rated. To know when it is done dip your finger first into 

 cold water and then into the syrup. If what adheres is 

 brittle when chewed it is boiled enough. Pour it into 

 shallow pans slightly greased, and, when cold, break it into 

 pieces of a suitable size. After boiling, balm or any other 

 flavour agreeable to the bees may be put into the syrup," 



Some prefer barley-sugar to all other food for their 

 bees. One cause for this is, the ease with which it can 

 be given, and the certainty of the bees not being without 

 food during winter so long as the barley-sugar can be 

 seen unused on the floor-board. Not having employed 



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