162 BEEKEEPING 



the bees need protection at this time more 

 than at any other because they now have 

 a host of little ones to keep warm in addi- 

 tion to the wintered-over adults. 



I mentioned that there were three fac- 

 tors in successful wintering but thus far 

 I have talked chiefly of one of them — 

 shelter. The next important factor is that 

 of food and on it depends a great deal of 

 the success one will have in bringing his 

 bees through a winter. No matter how 

 perfect the hives or how carefully they 

 are packed, the bees will stand a good 

 chance of dying if they do not have the 

 right kind of food. 



It has been the fashion for writers on 

 apiculture to pass the buck on the sub- 

 ject of winter stores by saying "The bees 

 should enter the winter with sufficient 

 stores of good quality." I confess that I 

 wondered for a long time just what they 

 meant by "sufficient" and finally real- 

 ized that they did not know themselves — 

 at least not very definitely. 



