288 WINTEEING BEES. 



and are lost. "With tlie indications attendant upon such 

 losses, my own observation has made me somewhat fami- 

 liar, as the following will illustrate. 



A neighbor wishing to purchase some stock hives in 

 the fall, requested my assistance in selecting them. We 

 applied to a perfect stranger whose bees had passed the 

 previous winter in the open air. I found on looking 

 among them, that he had lost some from the cause just 

 mentioned, 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 correct history of 

 it. " Sir," said I, " you were unfortunate with the bees 

 that were in this hive last winter ; I think I can give you 

 some particulars respecting it." 



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

 your ideas ; I will admit that there has been something 

 peculiar about it." 



" One year ago, you considered it a good stock-hive, 

 it was well filled with honey, had a good family of bees, 

 and was at least two or three years old. You had confi- 

 dence that it would winter as well as any, but during the 

 cold weather, somehow, the bees unaccountably disap- 

 peared, leaving but a very few, and they were frozen to 

 death. Tou discovered it towards spring, on a warm 

 day. When you removed the combs, you probably no- 

 ticed a great many spots of excrement 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 

 dead brood in a putrid state, and this summer you have 

 used the old hive for a new swarm." 



" You are right, sir, in every particular. Now, I would 

 like to know what gave you the idea that I had lost the 

 bees in that hive. I can see nothing peculiar about that 



