1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



85 



started brood rearing and the brood 

 thrived on it until, apparently, some 

 mortal malady carried off their pro- 

 tectors and they died of starvation or 

 cold. That weakens the theory that 

 the cause is in the honey. 



Another theory that is (^ften ad- 

 vanced is, that owing to long confine- 

 ment and not having a cleansing 

 flight, the intestiees are overloaded, 

 thereby weakening the vitality to 

 such an extent, that they could not 

 carry on the work until relieved by 

 the younger population. But how 

 often do we see reports like this: " I 

 put my bees in the cellar in October, 

 and did not take them out until the 

 middle of April. My bees did not 

 have a chance for a flight, and yet 

 they came out all right and built up 

 rapidly." Reports like this are strong 

 evidence that long confinement is not 

 the cause, 



It behooves us, then, to look else- 

 where for the cause. Has it not been 

 noticed that spring dwindling prevails 

 epidemically some years in sections of 

 the country. Now, to get at the cause 

 of this, we will have to go back to the 

 fall before. It will be remembered 

 that from some cause, such as drouth 

 or an early frost, the honey flow was 

 cut short and brood rearing stopped, 

 when it might have been carried on a 

 month or six weeks later in safety as 

 far as the weather was concerned. 

 They are left to stand thus idle until 

 we come to prepare them for winter, 

 look them over and find they have 

 considerable honey, and a little feed 

 will give them plenty of store for win- 

 ter. We give them the feed all at 

 once, and into winter quarters they 

 go, and in due time out they come 

 with the above results. 



Now, my friends, the truth is, 

 spring dwindling is not a disease at 

 all, but simply the earthly cares of the 

 bee have been arrested by old age. 

 As a means of prevention I would 

 advise that when we see the honey 

 flow cut short earlier than it should 

 be, we resort to stimulating feeding, 

 just enough to keep brood rearing 

 going on nicely as long as we can do 

 so in safety. By doing this we will 

 wear out the old bees, that would oth- 

 erwise be consumers all winter and die 

 in the spring, besides having the hive 

 full of young bees to take their place, 

 and from which there is no reason 

 whatever to fear spring dwindling. 



Franklin, Pa. 



Bees in Spring. 



BY CHAS H. THIES. 



Bees should have special care dur- 

 ing the months of March and April. 

 The weather at this season of the year 

 is usually very changeable, being 

 summer one day and winter the next, 

 they should be well covered and be 

 kept dry. If your packing material 

 is wet or damp, replace with something 

 dry. Your bees will never build up, 

 if they live at all, in a cold, damp 

 hive. Do not allow them to become 

 short on stores. If you have no 

 frames of honey, make them some 

 candy from the best white sugar. No 

 dark or brown sugar should be used in 

 cold weather. Dark sugar may be 

 used when warm weather has come to 

 stay, but even then the best white 

 granulated will be the cheaper. 



It is not best to disturb bees during 

 cold weather, if it can be avoided, but 

 if they are on the verge of starvation 

 do not let the weather interfere with 

 your supplying their wants. It is 



