.MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 247 



1871 was attended in this part of Michigan with unsuitable 

 honey in the hive. The previous autumn was unprecedentedly 

 dry. Flowers were rare, and storing was largely from insect se- 

 cretion,and consequently the stores were unwholesome. I tasted 

 of honey from many hives only to find it most nauseating. I 

 fully believe that had the honey been thoroughly extracted the 

 previous autumn, and the bees fed good honey or sugar, no 

 loss would have been experienced. At least it is significant 

 that all who did so, escaped, even where their neighbors all 

 failed. Nor less so the fact that when I discovered eight of 

 my twelve colonies dead, and four more just alive, I cleaned 

 the remaining ones all out, and to one no worse nor better 

 than the others I gave good capped honey stored early the 

 previous summer, while the others were left with their old 

 stores, that one lived and gave the best record I have ever 

 known, the succeeding season, while all the others died. 



Again, suppose that after the basswood season in July,, 

 there is no storing of honey, either from want of space, or 

 from lack of bloom. In this case brood-rearing ceases. Yet 

 if the weather is dry and warm, as of course it will be in 

 August and September, the bees continue to wander about, 

 death comes apace, and by autumn the bees are reduced in 

 numbers, old in days, and illy prepared to brave the winter 

 and perform the duties of spring. I fully believe that if all 

 the colonies of our State and country had been kept breeding 

 by proper use of the extractor, and feeding, even till into 

 October, we should have had a different record, especially as 

 to spring dwindling, and consequent death. In the autumn 

 of 1872 I kept my bees breeding till the first of October. 

 The following winter I had no loss, while my neighbors lost 

 all of their bees. 



Extremes of heat and cold are also detrimental to the bees. 

 If the temperature of the hive becomes too high the bees 

 become restless, eat more than they ought, and if confined to 

 their hives are distended with their foeces, become diseased, 

 besmear their comb and hives, and die. If when they become 

 thus disturbed, they could have a purifying flight, all would 

 be well. 



Again, if the temperature becomes extremely low, the bees to 

 keep up the animal heat must take more food ; they are uneasy, 



