The Bees. 



Bees may be compared to minute " dry batteries." Each is " charged " with 

 so much vital energy which, when expended, cannot be replaced. This should 

 be used in profitable labor, such as gathering nectar, secreting food for larvae 

 or wax for comb, and so on. In the working season bees expend their portion of 

 energy and wear out in a few weeks. Those which emerge in autumn, after the 

 season's work is over, are expected to conserve their energy for the spring brood- 

 rearing, expending as little as possible in maintaining colony temperature during 

 winter. Young bees, with their full "charge" of energy are, therefore, most 

 desirable in autumn, and there should be plenty of them to divide the responsibility 

 of retaining favorable cluster conditions during the winter. The queen should 

 also be young and vigorous to insure rapid development of colony strength in spring. 



View of O.A.C. apiary giving prominence to single cases. These are more expensive 

 and their use is largely a matter of preference. 



The Stores. 



As bees do not discharge the refuse from the digestion of food, except in flight, 

 this is retained in the intestines during the cold months of winter. With this in 

 view it is easy to see the importance of supplying the colony in winter with stores 

 containing the smallest percentage possible of indigestible matter. The best 

 quality of honey well ripened is considered a good winter store; unfortunately, 

 we are not always sure what has been stored in the brood-chamber during the 

 autumn months. Sometimes bees gather from sources which do not give the best 

 of stores. They may gather it during the cool weather, when they are not able 

 to ripen it properly, and a degree of fermentation may result. Such stores as this 

 are liable to cause dysentery in the winter. Sometimes these inferior honeys 

 granulate readily in the brood-chamber during winter, and this granulated honey 

 is sure death to the colony. If, on the other hand, we give each colony ten pounds 

 or more of syrup made from pure sugar rather late in the fall, we are sure of the 

 kind of stores they have next the cluster, and know that, so far as food is concerned, 

 the colony will winter successfully. 

 2 B 



