82 BEE-FARMING. 



it, we cannot speak personally as to its value ; but we give 

 the following extract from Bee-Keeping for the Many : — 

 " By giving bees food in a solid state very great trouble 

 and inconvenience will be avoided, both to the bees and to 

 their proprietors ; for the former will be in no danger of 

 drowning, and will also have a supply of food that they 

 appear to like better than any that has ever before been 

 given them ; whilst the latter will be spared the trouble 

 of preparing those compounds usually recommended, many 

 of which I have always considered to be very injurious to 

 the bees, and more especially so when given in large quan- 

 tities in the autumn. After many experiments it is found 

 thnt of all solids barley-sugar has the decided preference 

 with the bees. They will take it before anything else 

 that is offered to them, and the rapidity with which they 

 dissolve it is quite surprising. It may be given either at 

 the top of the hive where there is an opening, by tying 

 half-a-dozen sticks together and covering them with a 

 box or small hive, or even with a flower pot, or at the 

 bottom, as in the common straw hive, by pushing a few 

 sticks in at the entrance, for, unlike liquid food, it does 

 not attract robbers nor cause fighting, although given in 

 the daytime. It is certainly most convenient to be able 

 to push a few sticks of barley-sugar under a weak hive, 

 and to know that by so doing they are made secure from 

 want for a time. The idea of expense may be a con- 

 sideration with some persons, but it will be found that 

 barley-sugar may be purchased for less than a shilling a 

 pound, and it may be made for sixpence." 



HOW TO PREPARE BARLEY-SUGAR FOR 

 BEE-FEEDING. 



Put two pounds of loaf sugar into a saucepan of water, 

 and tv/o spoonfuls of best vinegar ; put it on a gentle fire, 



