FEEDING. 
273 
weather. It may also be gently put between the combs, 
in an upright position, among the bees.* 
Mr. Wagner has furnished me with the following 
inteiesting facts, translated by him from the _/> ten tn- 
zeitung : 
“ ‘ The use of sugar-candy for feeding bees,’ says the Rev. Mr. 
Kleine^ 1 gives to bee-keeping a security which it did not possess 
before. Still, we must not base over-sanguine calculations on it, 
jr attempt to winter very weak stocks, which a prudent Apiarian 
would at once unite with a stronger colony. I have used sugar- 
candy for feeding, for the last live years, and made many experi- 
ments with it, which satisfy me that it cannot be too strongly 
recommended, especially after unfavorable Summers. Colonies 
well furnished with comb, and having plenty of pollen, though 
deficient in honey, may be very profitably fed with candy, and 
will richly repay the service thus rendered them. 
“ ‘ Sugar-candy, dissolved in a small quantity of water, may bo 
safely fed to bees late in the Fall, and even in Winter, if abso- 
lutely necessary. It is prepared by dissolving two pounds of 
candy in a quart of water, and evaporating, by boiling, about 
two gills of the solution ; then skimming and straining through a 
hair sieve. Three quarts of this solution, fed in Autumn, will 
carry a colony safely through the Winter, in an ordinary location 
and season. The bees will carry it up into the cells of such 
combs as they prefer, where it speedily thickens and becomes 
covered with a thin film, which keeps it from souring. 
“ ‘ Grape-sugar, for correcting sour wines, is now extensively 
made from potato-starch, in various places on the Rhine, and has 
been highly recommended for bee-food. It can be obtained at a 
much lower price than cane-sugar, and is better adapted to the 
constitution of the bee, as it constitutes the saccharine matter of 
honey, and hence, is frequently termed honey-sugar. 
“ 1 If may be fed either diluted with boiling-water, or in its raw 
* By sliding a few sticks of candy under their frames, a small colony may be fod 
in warm weather, without tempting robbers by the smell of liquid honey. If a 
small quantity of liquid food is needed in Summer, ioaf sugar dissolved in water, 
having little smell, is the best. 
12 * 
