. British bee journal & bee-keepers adviser. Bees. THE. [No. 77. Vol. VII.] SEPTEMBER, 1879. [Published Monthly.] (^bxinrial, |]toiu*s, #r. SEPTEMBER. The past month has been one during which the weather has been most calamitous through- out the British Isles, and with it summer-time may be said to have passed away without a week of summer weather. The old story, of ' bees in May being worth loads of hay' has been bitterly fulfilled in this terrible year, and there are thousands of hay farmers who would give many loads of hay for a week or two of weather such as produces swarms of bees in
. British bee journal & bee-keepers adviser. Bees. THE. [No. 77. Vol. VII.] SEPTEMBER, 1879. [Published Monthly.] (^bxinrial, |]toiu*s, #r. SEPTEMBER. The past month has been one during which the weather has been most calamitous through- out the British Isles, and with it summer-time may be said to have passed away without a week of summer weather. The old story, of ' bees in May being worth loads of hay' has been bitterly fulfilled in this terrible year, and there are thousands of hay farmers who would give many loads of hay for a week or two of weather such as produces swarms of bees in May ; but, alas ! the fearful rain, hail, thunder, and wind- storms, have blighted the promise of the year, and well-nigh driven the country to despair. Here we are in the ninth month of the year with thousands of acres of grass (first crop) uncut, and many other thousands of acres where, though cut, the partly-made hay is under water. Between Oxford and Banbury, as we wit- nessed in returning from Shrewsbury Show, the water covers the land for miles, and boats may be seen in the hay-fields (?), save the mark, the occupants apparently searching for the im- plements which they had been using when the floods overtook them. Pitiable, indeed, is the sight: waggons half-laden with hay, standing about the fields, the water covering their springs and nearly reaching the hay within them; hay-making machines almost submerged, hay-cocks sticking up through the water, or floating upon it, swarth and winrow covered and rotting ; and, in several cases, whole ricks of the valuable fodder standing, as it were, in a sea, and spoiled to all intents and purposes. The effects of the weather are manifest, also, to a dreadful extent in all other outdoor in- dustries and amusements ; and Failure, like a flag half-mast high, recognised from afar, fills all around with despondency. How it will all end (?) is a question passing from lip to lip, and what will be the winter condition of thousands of fami
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