VIII 



WINTER 



Summer has departed, and the calm of autumn 

 rests on all things. Every creature who is to live 

 through the winter must by now have accumu- 

 lated a store of food. Those colonies of bees 

 which have been unable (either on account 

 of being late swarms, or because the season has 

 been a lean one) to provide ample stores will, as 

 surely as February comes round, starve to death. 

 Nor is this the only peril that menaces weak 

 colonies of bees. In some cases the queen is not 

 able to keep the egg- laying going sufficiently late 

 to provide plenty of young bees to live over the 

 winter. Such will often dwindle away in the 

 first days of the next spring, the old bees being 

 unable to stand more buffeting with cold winds. 

 Sometimes, also, the honey harvest has been so 

 abundant that there is no room left in the hive 

 for the queen to lay in, and in such cases as these 

 colonies at times die out in the early spring. 



In any case, every possible thing is done 

 to make the home secure against the rigours of 

 winter. The chilly nights begin to indicate 



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