112 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



promotes breeding, and prevents collapse and disaster. 

 Often when feeding is not absolutely necessary, wben 

 there is plenty of honey in a hive, a little sugar given to 

 it in dull weather is of great service in keeping up its 

 temperature, and in promoting the laying and hatching 

 of eggs. 



Loaf or refined sugar boiled in pure water, at the rate 

 of one pound of sugar to one imperial pint of water, is 

 excellent food for bees. No artificial food is so good for 

 them as this ; indeed it is better for them than heather- 

 honey. The mortality of bees fed on heather-honey is 

 greater in winter than when fed on pure sugar-and- water, 

 mixed and boUed as described above. Flower-honey, as 

 it is termed in Scotland, or clover-honey, is the best and 

 healthiest food for bees ; and, strange as it may appear, 

 10 or 11 lb. of this honey lasts or feeds a hive as long 

 as 15 lb. of heather-honey. Brown sugar is relaxing, and 

 should not be given to bees as winter food. On the score 

 of cheapness it is often used in summer, and with safety. 

 White soft sugar, now sold at 3Jd. per lb., is nearly as 

 good as loaf-sugar for feeding bees. 



Some old-fashioned gentlemen, doubtless fond of a glass 

 of good ale themselves, like to give their bees sugar-and- 

 ale instead of sugar-and-water ; and some are so kind as 

 to give them wine mixed with sugar. Pure water mixed 

 with the sugar is better for bees than either ale or wine. 

 The elephant grows strong on water, the ox fattens on 

 water, the horse does its work on water, and bees want 

 nothing better. 



In mixing sugar and water for bees, it is desirable to 

 present it to them sweet enough, and yet not too thick 

 and sticky. "We have mentioned one pint of water to 

 one pound weight of sugar — that is, nearly weight for 

 weight. We wish to make ourselves well understood 

 here ; for the English and Scotch pints are very different. 



