156 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK 



properly ripened honey, the long confinement 

 is very hard on them and they often become 

 affected with dysentery, soiling their combs and 

 putting the hive in a filthy condition. 



Large clusters of young bees are also essen- 

 tial to successful wintering by any method. If 

 the hive is full of old bees that have gathered 

 the fall harvest, they will die before spring and 

 the colony will perish. If the honey flow con- 

 tinues late, plenty of young bees will emerge 

 late in the season to put the colony in prime 

 condition for wintering. Old and failing 

 queens will often fail to continue laying during 

 the late summer and the colony will become 

 greatly weakened, if it does not die before 

 spring. Colonies known to have young queens 

 will usually be in good condition unless there 

 is a dearth of nectar during the fall months. 

 At such times it is often necessary to feed 

 lightly for a few days to stimulate brood rear- 



