22. ALEXANDER’S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BHE CULTURE 
there are several conditions that help to bring about these disastrous 
results, there are three that stand out as the principal causes of spring 
dwindling. 
The first cause is an old queen—one that stopped laying early the 
previous fall. Colonies with such queens become weak in bees during 
the latter part of winter, and, not being able to keep their hives warm 
enough, they are soon affected with dysentery, and, after they are set 
out, they waste away until none are left. This cause of spring dwin- 
dling can be easily prevented by introducing young queens early in the 
summer, so they will have a fine lot of brood at the close of the season. 
Another serious cause is poor honey for winter stores. This is a 
more frequent cause, and far more disastrous than the loss from old 
queens, for the losses from poor winter stores affect all colonies alike, 
and the poor bees die by the thousands while in the cellar, and still 
faster when first set out, until nearly every colony is dead. 
One winter I lost 417 colonies from this cause out of 432; but we 
can now prevent all loss from this source by giving our bees sugar 
syrup to winter on in the place of unsuitable honey. 
Another very serious cause of spring dwindling is the desire of the 
bees to fly on those changeable days I spoke of above. This loss can 
also be almost wholly prevented by placing the hives, when taken from 
the cellar, so the entrance will face the north; then in addition to this 
have a shade-board so it can be easily placed where it will shade the 
entrance still more, and somewhat darken it. To prevent still further 
their desire to fly on cloudy days, give the colonies about a pint of 
warm sweetened water every night about dark. This will encourage 
them to breed fast, and at the same time prevent thousands from 
becoming lost on chilly days in search of water. If you prefer to have 
the hives face some other direction it is but a short job to turn them 
around to any point after the changeable weather of early spring has 
gone by. Please try this method, and you will find that the bees will 
have but little desire to fly except when the temperature is warm enough 
to fly safely in the shade; consequently the old bees are saved until 
the colony has a fine lot of maturing brood. 
As experience enables us to cast aside the fatal results of spring 
dwindling, it seems as if we had taken another step forward along the 
line of progress. The cares and anxiety of another busy season will 
soon be here, and our plans should be well matured for the coming 
summer. Have you secured your necessary help and your supplies? 
Do you know how much increase you will make and how you 
will make it? Have you decided whether you will rear your queens 
or buy them? If you intend to purchase, have you sent in your order? 
If not, attend to this at once. I find that some of our best queen- 
breeders by February 25 have all the queens engaged that they can 
rear the coming season. These are important matters to look after, 
and should be attended to very soon. 
You may talk and white about the importance of a good location, 
also of the knowledge and experience of the man in charge, each being 
