DISEASES OF BEES. 193 



Cleanliness and timely supplies of sugared ale, 

 particularly during the months of February and 

 March, are the preventive remedies which have 

 hitherto preserved my bees in a state of healthful 

 activity. In ungenial springs, feeding should be 

 continued even through a considerable part of 

 May, if the preceding autumn have been un- 

 favourable, or if a cold May have succeeded to 

 warm weather in early spring, the earliest vernal 

 flowers affording but a scanty supply of honey. 

 The apiarian is sometimes astonished that he 

 should lose his bees at this advanced season of the 

 year, when but a short time before he had seen 

 them in full health and activity. Had he afforded 

 that food which his bees could not obtain from a 

 comparatively immature and honeyless vegetation, 

 their lives would still have gladdened him with 

 the spectacle of a thriving population. 



" Tf e'er dank autumn, with untimely storm, 

 The honey'd harvest of the year deform, 

 Or the chill blast, from Eurus' mildew wing, 

 Blight the fair promise of returning spring, 

 Full many a hive but late alert and gay, 

 Droops in the lap of all-inspiring May.'* EVANS. 



The reader must now perceive the importance 



of feeding, and that the transition from health to 



languor and death is less frequently to be ascribed 



to disease, than to the want of the necessary 



K 



