454 THE bee-keeper's guide; 



CHAPTER XVm. 



WINTERING BEES. 



This is a subject, of course, of paramount importance to 

 the apiarists of the Northern States, as this is the rock on 

 which some of even the most successful have split. Yet I 

 come fearlessly to consider this question, as from all the mul- 

 titude of disasters I see no occasion for discouragement. If 

 the problem of successful wintering has not been solved 

 already, it surely will be, and that speedily. So important an 

 interest was never yet vanquished by misfortune, and there is 

 no reason to think that history is now going to be reversed. 

 Of course this chapter has no practical value to the apiarists 

 of the South and Pacific Coast. There safe wintering is 

 assured, except as the careless bee-keeper permits starvation. 



THE CAUSES OF DISASTROUS WINTERING. 



I fully believe (and to no branch of this subject have I 

 given more thought, study, and observation) that all the 

 losses may be traced to either unwholesome food, extremes of 

 temperature, or protracted cold. I know from actual and wide- 

 spread observation, that the severe loss of 1870 and 1871 was 

 attended in Michigan with unsuitable honey in the hive. The 

 previous autumn was unprecedentedly dry. Flowers were 

 rare, and the stores were largely honey-dew, collected from 

 scale insects, and consequently were unwholesome. I tasted 

 of honey from many hives only to find it nauseating. Cider, 

 if collected too freely, will also work ruin in winter. We must 

 remember that bees do not void their intestines for long 

 months, so good food is absolutely imperative. 



Extremes of heat and cold are also detrimental to the 

 bees. If the temperature of the hive becomes too high, the 

 bees become restless, eat more than they ought, and if con- 

 fined to their hives are distended with their feces, become 



