FEEDING. 179 



constant drying winds seemed to exhaust the honey 

 from the flowers as fast as it was generated, or par- 

 tially blighted them, so that but little was produced 

 during this time for the bees to gather, even when 

 they were able to go abroad for a few hours. The 

 bees, true to their instinct, finding the yield of 

 honey cut off and the weather so cold, windy and 

 unfavorable, commenced killing their drones, and 

 destroyed indiscriminately all the embryo queens 

 that were in transitu from the egg to the perfect 

 insect. This pretty effectually closed the swarming 

 for the season. The lot of bees to which I refer, 

 although they did better than many others, shared 

 the same fate. The result was an increase of six or 

 seven swarms up to the latter part of July, past the 

 usual swarming season (his bees continued to cluster 

 on the outside of the hive), when, as I have since 

 learned, he had them transferred into movable frame 

 hives, and divided. 



Thus we find the same cause operated to the seri- 

 ous injury of the bees in both cases, with this 

 difference ; in the case of dividing, if the old hive 

 was reduced too much, there was danger of losing 

 all; in the other, the old stock was still strong 

 and vigorous, and would probably store considerable 

 supplies of honey in the latter part of the season ; 

 but in either or in both cases, a few days careful 

 feeding would have obviated all this trouble and loss, 

 keeping them encouraged until the return of good 

 weather and a supply of honey from the fields. 



Some of my readers may argue, that it may pay to 



