FEEDING 89 
It should be poured from the saucepan into 
a tin or enamelled pan to cool. As soon as 
it is cool enough for one to bear one’s finger 
in it, it should be stirred until it is resolved 
into a stiff paste. The stirring breaks up the 
coarse grains of sugar and thereby makes the 
candy more acceptable to the bees. 
Should the mixture, on testing, prove brittle 
or stringy it is evidence of over-boiling, and 
more water must be added until it boils to 
the proper consistency. 
A little honey may be added with advantage 
after the mixture has been removed from the 
fire—but not before, or the whole will boil 
over and be wasted. The honey will often 
prevent the candy from becoming too hard to 
be of use to the bees. 
When Bees Refuse Food.—There are times 
when the bees will refuse to avail themselves 
of food, and when such is the case it is 
certain that there is a reason for it. The 
bee-keeper should try to ascertain what this 
may be without unnecessarily disturbing the 
bees and provided that the weather is suitable 
to an examination of the hive. 
Starvation is often a cause of bees declining 
the food, or, rather, not availing themselves of 
it. Hives that],have been purchased may be 
