MORE COMB-HONEY. 1 1 9 



that would have strength to live over winter, and 

 would gather the pollen and early honey, and nurse 

 the growing brood in the spring. But as the lower 

 stories were so full of brood there was not honey 

 enough stored in them to feed the bees during the 

 winter, and also the brood that would be started in 

 the spring, before any honey could be gathered. I 

 calculated that it would take about twenty pounds 

 per hive to supply them, and set aside this amount, 

 1,940 pounds, from the buckwheat honey. This 

 left 12,517 pounds to be stored in boxes for market. 

 The boxes were ready, and were at once put on. 

 Two tiers, enough to contain eighty pounds of 

 comb-honey were put on each hive. Then the 

 feeding went on rapidly. It is generally an injury, 

 both to bees and honey, for bees to fly much in 

 search of stores after frosts have killed the flowers. 

 The bees themselves are worked -out in their eager 

 search. And as they find scarcely any good honey, 

 they often gather quantities of juice from grapes, 

 from decaying apples, and from cider mills. They 

 will collect, too, the sweet excretions of many spe- 

 cies of plant lice, that are often found in myriads on 

 certain kinds of trees. These unhealthy juices they 

 store in the hive, and then in cold weather they 

 consume this bad food, and being unable to fly out 

 and void their feces, they contract dysentery or 

 " bee-cholera," and often perish in great numbers 



