MARCH 1, 1915 



199 



wliellier tlie person making the diagnosis 

 was competent. If it was really a disease 

 which occurred only in winter, then why not 

 every winter? 



So the conclusion came that it perhaps 

 was not a disease, but the result of some 

 conditions that might be avoided. So the 

 " fever " advanced until I got possession of 

 three or four colonies of bees, and in the 

 course of time 1 secured the 1891 edition of 

 the A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture. 



I had just about recovered from my mis- 

 givings about the awful " damps," when, in 

 reading tliis admirable book, 1 came to the 

 subliead. " Spring Dwindling." under the 

 head of " Wintering." 



After looking at the picture of the "blast- 

 ed hopes" apiary 1 thought, " Horrors! here 

 is a malady. Now if you're wise you'll go a 

 little slow on this bee business." 



liy this time I was too far gone to be 

 scared out of the business, so I went on 

 studying and practicing what I studied, to 

 see how it would work for me. But for 

 some time this spring dwindling haunted 

 all my beekeeping thoughts. Some spring 

 I would tell myself, "My bees will get spring 

 dwindling, and I'll be wanting to sell out 

 cheap and ' mo\ e to Kansas.' " In the mean 

 time my bees wintered well, came out of the 

 cellar (for after reading the evidence I de- 

 cided for cellaring) about as strong as they 

 went in, and seemed to have just as much 

 vim and energy in April as in October. 



After a number of years I began to 

 question the idea tliat this spring dwindling 

 is a mysterious and nnpreventable thing, 

 whether disease or effect of untoward cii- 

 curastances. By this time I had found that 

 in actual practice, with me, some thing's 

 worked out a little differently from what I 

 expected when I read the book. I began to 

 see that, while the book was in the main 

 coiTect, yet everybody would not everywhere 

 reach the same conclusions by following its 

 instructions; and tiiat Avhen I undeiiook to 

 do something " according to the book " I 

 was not hound lo accept only wliat results 

 the book led me to expect, but that I could 

 got whatever results there actually Avere. 

 From that time I really began to learn the 

 ways of our little friends. The book, there- 

 fore, was a sort of guide to start me on 

 certain experiments until such time as I 

 should be advanced enouuli to snide mv- 

 self. 



Well, by the time 1 had ke|)l the bees 

 several years, and liad increased to a small 

 apiary without winter loss or any appear- 

 ance of the dread spring dwindling, I began 

 to gain confidence; and as T gaim-d confi- 

 dence the fear of spring dwindling grew 



less. By this time I even laughed at the 

 " damps." 



So it ran on from year to year. 1 tested 

 outdoor wintering also, alongside of cellar- 

 ing. After fifteen years of wintering all 

 kinds of bees in about all kinds of condi- 

 tions I came to say to myself, " Why, what 

 makes you say, ' I'll do so and so, if the 

 bees winter'? " If you care for your pigs, 

 cows, or horses in a proper manner, don't 

 you figure on having practically all of them 

 next spring? Of course, but they are not 

 bees.. What difference does that make? If 

 you have cared for your bees as to feed and 

 shelter for fifteen years, and they have 

 proved it by coming through safely, can 

 you not do it for another fifteen years? 



So now I was almost laughing at the 

 phrase spring dwindling — not that it was 

 quite as mythical a thing as the " damps," 

 but fast becoming so. 



About this time I stumbled on to the 

 gi'eatest fact in regard to the nature of bees 

 that has come to my knowledge thus far on 

 my apicultural journey. This gieat fact is 

 the variation in bees. Heretofore " bees 

 were bees." I looked upon them as all alike, 

 to be treated all alike, and to expect like 

 results. It took several years to convince 

 myself that my imagination was not playing 

 me a trick. 



But in these several years wherein I was 

 studying this fact of variation I really came 

 to laugh at the term spring dwindling. Yes, 

 I know what beekeepers mean by it now 

 who recommend a certain kind of hive to 

 prevent it, the same as T know what ailed 

 the old farmer's bees when he said they had 

 the " damps," and he wanted r. moth-proof 

 hive too to save his bees from the moth- 

 worms, just as you want a chaff hive to 

 prevent spring dwindling. You ask if T 

 mean to say a chaff hive will not prevent 

 spring dwindling. No, I don't. I let those 

 have chaff hives Avho want them and think 

 they can afford them; but they may or may 

 not ]irevent spring dwindling. Have you 

 guessed by this time what causes it? 



Give my guess — spring dwindling is caus- 

 ed by unfavorable surroundings or poor 

 feed, or both, through the early part of the 

 winter, this causing the colony to reach the 

 season of year when it needs the greatest 

 vitality, with greatly lowered vitality. Hence, 

 instead of gaining in normal seasons, or 

 holding their own in adverse ones, it loses, 

 or spring dwindles, until some cold night 

 finds them wnth too small a cluster to main- 

 tain the necessary heat, and they perish. 



Xow 1 hear some one asking. "What has 

 your variation to do with the matter? " Mr. 

 Root, in that old edition referred to, says in 



