6 
or the bees have been exposed to severe cold during the early part of the winter, and 
especially if the food is unwholesome, there will be a heavy consumption of stores 
and a rapid accumulation of feces, bringing about a condition known as dysentery, 
that shows itself in excessive heat production and in great restlessness, many of the 
sick bees leaving the hive as soon as the temperature rises a little, but while it is 
still too low for a favourable flight, so that they die outside in large numbers. Usually 
the abdomen is distended and the mouth of the hive is soiled with the brown feces. 
In a bad case of dysentery, the colony usually dies before spring, or it survives with 
so few bees, and these so much enfeebled, that it fails to become profitable. 
Since bees wear and age in winter just as surely, though not so rapidly as in sum- 
mer, and a maximum population is needed to survive far into the spring in order to 
raise a large quantity of brood then, it is important that the bees going into winter 
should be young. 
These facts explain why successful wintering depends principally upon the above- 
mentioned three conditions, which we may repeat: populous colonies consisting mainly 
of young bees, plenty of wholesome stores in the combs, and adequate protection from 
the cold. 
STRONG COLONIES OF YOUNG BEES. 
By young bees we mean those that have done little or no field work, but they 
should have had at least one flight before winter. Where there is no late honey flow, 
these bees will be raised principally in August and early September. The best 
way to get bees raised in large numbers in August and September is to have in the 
hive a queen raised the same year, this queen to begin laying not later than the 
middle or end of July. This means that she should be raised in June or early July, 
during the honey flow from clover. No better conditions for rearing queens exist than 
those found in Canada during the clover honey flow. Not only will the colony con- 
taining this young queen raise more and better bees for winter than one containing 
an old queen, but the young queen will be more prolific and profitable the following 
season. It may not, however, be convenient to requeen every colony every year, and 
a vigorous year-cld queen will make a good colony for wintering if the colony is 
strong in July. Colonies that are not strong in the fall should be put together so 
that each hive contains enough bees to crowd over at least eight combs of Langstroth 
size before the weather is cold enough for clustering closely. 
WHOLESOME STORES IN PLENTY. 
It is fortunate that, as a rule, the honeys of the north are more wholesome for 
wintering than those of the south. 
Clover honey is an excellent winter food for bees. In places around Lake St. 
John, Que., where the honey stored comes entirely from alsike and white clover, the 
bees winter well in spite of nearly seven months of confinement in the cellar. Buck- 
wheat honey has also been found satisfactory for wintering in the region whe 
; te this 
plant gives nectar. 
On the other hand, dandelion honey has proved unwholesome. Some of the 
honeys gathered in late summer are also unwholesome, especially th 
certain marsh districts in the Maritime Provinces. The honey of the hard maple has 
been complained of by beekeepers in southern Ontario. Dandelion honey and the 
honey reported to come from hard maple granulate so hard in the combs that the 
wintering bees may find it difficult or impossible to remove and use the honey. At 
Ottawa, hard granulated honey, which it is suspected comes partly from sweet ee 
occasionally causes considerable loss of bees in winter for the same reason ' 
ose found in 
