1070 Teaksacttoxs of the Amehican Institute. 



cliaracter of an approaching winter from the labors of the bees 

 during the preceding season. He held it to be a fallac}'' that the 

 winter must be very cold when cabbages were scarce in the summer ; 

 and he who judges of the weather by the fullness of the moon is a 

 fool. But the rigor of the a])proaclnng winter may be estimated by 

 the amount of honey stored by the bees during their working season. 

 If they lay up a large store of honej^, an open winter is sure to 

 follow. If the honey crop is small, the winter will be cold. Last 

 year the bees had garnered less honey than during any season for 

 twenty-three years, and the winter, from the middle of November to 

 the middle of April, was unusually severe. The average tempera- 

 tu]-e was several degrees lower than had been known for more than 

 twenty years (except in five winters), and as he had watched the 

 industrious insects during all that time, and had rarely known the 

 sign to fail, he considered the bee as good an indicator as the soilth- 

 ward-flying goose, the river-swimming squirrel, or any other of the 

 thousand living tilings whose movements, according to the weather- 

 wise, foretell the state of tlie coming season. In December last he 

 had predicted aii early closing of the Hudson ; but the navigators of 

 that river, taking their cue from the moon, refused to respect his 

 judgment. He had been watching the bees. On the lltli of that 

 month the ice was sixteen inches thick in the stream, and it cost the 

 owners of one steamer $3,000 to cut her way through to Albany. 

 This result did not follow because nature cared anything about the 

 bees, but because the same causes whicli cut short the honey crop 

 during the summer conspired to produce a cold winter. The same 

 thing occurs in the case of the currant. If the currant blossoms 

 drop, the summer will be cool and damp. Acid fruits are good when 

 the weather is dry and warm, and it is so arranged that when the 

 summer is to be damp and cool, sucli fruits shall be scarce. ]^ot 

 because nature cares particularly about our wants and comforts, 

 but because the same causes conspire to produce these different 

 effects. 



Mr. J. Phin. — I have given some attention to bees. Last year, in 

 certain parts of the country, the bees stored very large cpiantities of 

 honey, and in these regions the winter was similar in character to the 

 winter as it existed elsewhere. By what rule would the inhabitants 

 of these districts prophecy the character of the approaching winter ? 



Dr. Lambert. — These were exceptional regions. I speak of this 

 indication merely as a general rule. During last winter honey was 



