332 WINTERING BEES. 



FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. 



A neighbor who wished to purchase some stock, 

 hives in the fall, requested my assistance in selecting 

 them. We applied to a perfect stranger; his bees 

 had passed the previous winter in the open air. I 

 found on looking among them that he had lost some 

 of them from this cause, as the excrement was yet 

 about the entrance of one old weather-beaten hive, 

 that was now occupied by a young swarm, and was 

 about half filled with combs. 



I saw at once what had been the matter, and felt 

 quite confident that I could give its owner a courectj 

 history of it. "Sir," said I, "you have been un 

 fortunate with the bees that were in this hive last 

 winter ; I think I can give you some particulars re- 

 spectingnt." 



" Ah, what makes you think so ? I would like to 

 hear you guess ; to encourage you, I will admit that 

 there has been something rather peculiar about it." 



" One year ago you considered that a good stock- 

 hive ; it was well filled with honey, a good family of 

 Dees, and two or three years old or more. You had 

 as much confidence in its wintering as any other ; but 

 during the cold weather, somehow, the bees unac- 

 countably disappeared, leaving but a very few, and 

 they were found frozen to death. You discovered it 

 towards spring, on a warm day. "When you removed 

 the combs, you probably noticed a great many spots 

 of excrement deposited on them, as well as on the 

 sides of the hive,, particularly near the entrance. 

 Also one-half or more of the breeding cells contained 



