BEES. 25 
brood to replace those dying off. The size of the brood chamber can 
also be reduced to conserve heat. 
It sometimes happens that when a hive is examined in the spring 
the hive body and combs are spotted 
with brownish yellow excrement. 
This is an evidence of what is com- 
monly called ‘dysentery.’’ The 
cause of this trouble is long-con- 
tinued confinement with a poor 
quality of honey for food. Honey- 
dew honey and some of the inferior 
floral honeys contain a relatively 
large percentage of material which 
bees can not digest, and, if they are 
not able to fly for some time, the in- 
testines become clogged with fecal 
matter and a diseased condition re- 
sults. Bees never normally deposit ~ 
their feecesin the hive. The obvious  F'- 16.—“ Pepper-box”’ feeder for use on top of 
preventive for this is to provide the nies 
colony with good honey or sugar sirup the previous fall. ‘“Dysentery”’ 
frequently entirely destroys colonies, but if the bees can pull through 
until warm days permit a cleansing flight they recover promptly. 
Bees should not be handled in the early spring any more than neces- 
sary, for to open a hive in cool 
weather wastes heat and may even 
kill the brood by chilling. The 
hive should be kept as warm as 
possible in early spring as an aid to 
brood rearing. It is a good prac- 
tice to wrap hives in black tar 
paper in the spring, not only that 
it may ald in conserving the heat 
of the colony, but in holding the 
sun’s heat rays as a help to the 
warmth of the hive. This wrap- 
ping should be put on as soon as 
an early examination has shown 
the colony to be in good condition, 
and there need be no hurry in 
taking it off. A black wrapping 
during the winter is not desirable, as it might induce brood rearing 
too early and waste the strength of the bees. 
As a further stimulus to brood rearing, many bee keepers practice © 
stimulative feeding of sugar sirup in early spring. This produces the 
397 
Fia. 17.—Pan in super arranged for feeding. 
