64 REJUVENATION 



These equinoctial gales play sad havoc among 

 the members of a colony, so much so that when 

 they arc very bad and are accompanied by sunny 

 weather, which tempts the bees out, it is no 

 unusual thing for a hive, which has safely survived 

 the rigours of winter, to dwindle away to a mere 

 handful and ultimately perish. Most of the bees 

 which go foraging at this time arc very old ones. 

 Unless a large number of bees is reared in the 

 autumn, so that there are strong forces to keep the 

 colony going in the strenuous time of spring, it 

 runs grave danger of perishing. 



It is popularly supposed that it is after mild 

 winters that insect life in general is so abundant, 

 but this is not necessarily the case, nor do I think 

 it follows as a general rule. After all, the severity 

 of the winter matters little to creatures who are 

 either resting in the eggs or chrysalis stage, when 

 they are practically immune from the lowest 

 temperature Nature produces ordinarily in these 

 islands, or else are so snugly tucked away under 

 moss or dead leaves that the frost never reaches 

 them. The critical time is the spring, when 

 caterpillars have hatched out of their eggs, butter- 

 flies have emerged from their chrysalides, flies 

 and bees come out of their snug retreats to enjoy 

 the tempting warmth of the early year. Let a 

 sudden snap of cold come then, and hundreds 

 will perish. Very wet springs are disastrous 

 too. I remember in the dreadfully wet month 



