FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



291 



enough. Toward spring the deaths will be very much more 

 frequent, and the sweeping must be more frequent. As giving 

 a more definite idea with regard to this, I find by referring to 

 the record that in the winter of 1901-2 the cellar was not swept 

 till January 29 — seventy-five days after the bees were taken in. 

 Then it was swept again after respective intervals of twenty- 

 one, nineteen, and five days, the quantity swept out each time 

 being about the sam.e. That gives some idea of the greater 



Fig. 110. — Nail-boxes. 



mortality as spring approaches. One winter, when the bees 

 were confined 124 days, the dead bees for each colony amounted 

 to four-fifths of a quart or three-fifths of a pound, which made 

 about 2130 bees for each colony. I think the mortality is usu- 

 ally greater than that. 



FURNACE IN CELLAR. 



In the year 1902 the coal famine following the great anthra- 

 cite strike caught me with four hard-coal stoves and no coal to 

 put in them — indeed, no prospect of getting any, and winter 

 close at hand. 



