. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. Bad SrRiN(j Dwindling—30 Colonies Lkft ok i6o. total loss nearly 45 percent. I try to excuse myself a little with thethought that my bees didn't have a fair chance In the fall there was sickness practically in the family, end- ing with death, which kept me from giving the bees the attention they ought to have had. When they were taken out in the spring I was sick abedwith the worst illness of 30 years. But I don'tknowhow much bet- ter it would have been if I had had all the chance in the world. I suppose you have given a pretty good answer to your own
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. Bad SrRiN(j Dwindling—30 Colonies Lkft ok i6o. total loss nearly 45 percent. I try to excuse myself a little with thethought that my bees didn't have a fair chance In the fall there was sickness practically in the family, end- ing with death, which kept me from giving the bees the attention they ought to have had. When they were taken out in the spring I was sick abedwith the worst illness of 30 years. But I don'tknowhow much bet- ter it would have been if I had had all the chance in the world. I suppose you have given a pretty good answer to your own question when you say your bees dwindled. It was a case of spring dwindling, and a pretty bad case. too. That leaves still the duestion why there should be such an urt- usual spring dwindling. And that's the hard question to answer. The winter was an unusually hard one. In this locality at least I never knew such a killing one. Hardy roses and other shrubs were killed outright, root and branch. I never before knew grass to be so badly killed. Ihe severe winter was no doubt hard on the bees that were wintered outdoors. And it was also hard on bees wintered in cellars which are none too warm in ordinary winters. But it ought not to be bad in cellars like mine with a fur- nace, where the problem is to keep the cel- lar cool enough. The principal trouble. I think, both with you and v.'ith me. dates farther back. The season, last year, was bad. Breeding stopped early, and this spring the proportion of very old bees was so large that they died off rapidly at the time when most needed. That left, in many cases, brood with not sufficient bees to cover it, and when that happens there are no bees to go a-field. the bees dwindle, become discouraged, and sometimes desert their hives, leaving a good stock of brood and stores—everything ap- parently necessary for their prosperitv. In your case, no doubt, the severe winter ag- gravated the case. You may take comfort in thinking that the
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
