Another matter of great importance in spring feeding, is to see that the syrup supplied is not too thin, otherwise there will be danger of dysentery. Again, it must be well boiled and properly prepared, or what happens to be deposited in the cells will crystallise, and become worse than useless, as the bees can only with great difficulty consume or remove it in that state. The following is the proper method of preparation: Take of loaf sugar 31/2 lbs., and boil in a quart of water. While boiling, add a table-spoonful of vinegar, and continue the boiling for ten minutes more. Strain the liquid, and it is ready for use. It may, with advantage, be supplied to the bees while it is lukewarm. The addition of the vinegar is an important point, as it converts the cane-sugar into glucose, or grape-sugar, which is much less liable to crystallisation.
In bad weather throughout the spring, the watchful apiarian will give his bees some artificial food, unless they have abundant stores in their hives.
Nor must it be forgotten that, if the production of brood is to be stimulated, some nitrogenous food will be necessary. When crocuses and willow-blossom are plentiful in the early spring, the bees will collect sufficient pollen from these sources, to provide for their wants in the above respect. But, failing a natural supply of such azotised material, pea-meal forms a good substitute, and is readily made use of by the workers.
In summer, it is only swarms or casts, as a rule, that ought to be in any need of this kind of help; but, as autumn comes on, especially if the bees have been seriously deprived of their hardly-earned supplies, it will be necessary to make up to them some of that of which they have been denuded. With skeps, the only guide as to the condition of food stores is the weighing-machine. If this indicates a less total than from twenty-five to thirty pounds, it will be advisable to supply syrup till the requisite weight is attained. With bar-frame hives an examination of the state of affairs is perfectly easy, and there is no difficulty in removing combs which are quite empty, and are not needed for the clustering of the bees. Those which are left should each contain six or seven inches square of sealed honey, some two square feet, as a total, being considered about the proper quantity for a fairly strong stock to winter on.
For ascertaining the state of the hives in autumn, there should be an inspection of them about the middle of September; and, if necessary, the feeding should then be begun. It may be continued through October, but not later; otherwise there are dangers to be incurred. The first is, lest the evaporation of a certain amount of water from the stored syrup should not take place, and consequently, being left unsealed in the cells, it should ferment, and produce dysentery among the bees. The second is, lest there should not be sufficient warmth in the hive for the elaboration of the wax needed for sealing the filled cells; in which case, also, dysentery is likely to occur, when the immatured syrup is consumed.
Syrup given in autumn must be thicker than that supplied in spring, and should be made of five pounds of sugar to one quart of water, a table-spoonful of vinegar being added, and the mixture well, but carefully, boiled.
Sometimes, when bee-keepers have neglected the feeding of their stocks till late in autumn, they try to atone for their remissness by giving a supply of flour-cake—a baked mixture of sugar and pea-meal—on the top of the frames. This practice is not advisable, as the nitrogenous food is almost certain to stimulate breeding; and if this happens when the temperature is too low for the development of eggs and larvæ, great mischief may be done. The danger from this source will be very much in proportion to the weakness of the stock.
If proper attention has been given to the bees in autumn, they should be left quite undisturbed during the winter; for each time of excitement causes a considerable consumption of honey, to make up for the exertion to which the insects have been aroused. There is, also, the risk of chilling the hive, and lowering the temperature to a point fatal to many of its inhabitants. If, however, it becomes known to the bee-keeper that any stock is in a starving condition, no liquid food must be given, but barley-sugar, or sugar-cake, may be laid on the frames. One evil of the former of these is, that it is apt to deliquesce faster than the bees can consume it, and running down the combs, makes a mess; while, if supplied too sparingly, it will not afford enough nourishment to the whole population to avert their starving. To obviate these dangers, it has been recommended to let it liquefy to a condition of toughness, and then, having put it into a bottle tied over the mouth with close canvas, to supply it in the same way as syrup.
Mr. Hunter gives the following directions for making sugar-cake, of a kind superior to barley-sugar of the shops for bee-feeding purposes:—
"Break up three pounds of loaf-sugar, place it in a saucepan or preserving-pan and pour half a pint of cold water upon it and half a wine-glass of vinegar. These are all the ingredients required. Prepare a fire in a grate, the top bar of which will let down in a similar way to that in an ordinary kitchen grate, taking care, however, that, at the commencement of the operation, the bar is up in its place, and the grate full to the top with glowing cinders or wood embers, so that a great heat may be obtained without any flame. Place upon the fire the saucepan containing the sugar, and stir it without ceasing. In a few minutes it will begin to assume the character of dirty broth, which will have anything but a nice appearance, but presently a thick scum will rise, and the mass will try to boil over. As soon as this is observed the saucepan should be removed from the fire, until the ingredients have cooled a little, when it should be set on the grate again, in such a way that only a small part of it is over the fire. The boiling will then go on on the exposed side, and as the ebullition takes place the scum will be forced to the side not over the fire, whence it may easily be removed with a spoon. Thus, the saucepan is held in the left hand, the spoon in the right, and the saucepan being on the left-hand side of the grate, with its right side exposed to the action of the fire, the scum will retreat to the left or cooler side, and will be in the handiest position for removal, as will be evident in a few minutes to any one trying it. After a quarter of an hour of this treatment the mixture will have become in a great degree clarified, when it should be removed from the fire while the top bar of the grate is let down, so as to permit of its nearer approach to a greater heat. Should there be any irregularity of the fire, it should now be corrected, but flame should be prevented, as the mixture, having parted with its water, will be liable to take fire if brought into contact with flame. It will be well here to remark that so long as the scum remains on the syrup there was a tendency in the whole to boil over, since the water evolved in the form of steam while the boiling was going on, accumulating in a body, would lift the scum above the saucepan to enable it to escape, but when the scum was gone the water would be evolved in bubbles of steam, which would crackle but not boil over unless a very intense heat were applied. The duration of the boiling of the clarified syrup, before it becomes liquid barley-sugar, will depend upon the amount of heat and the consequent evolution of water to which it is subjected; but trials may from time to time be made by dropping a little on some cold surfaces, to see if it becomes brittle, and when that state is arrived at it is done. Pour it into a tin dish, set it in a dry cool place until it becomes hard, and then', by striking the tin on its under side, the whole of the barley-sugar will be splintered into fragments, when it may be placed in bottles and corked up for use as required."