She was provided with a clean empty comb, placed in the center of the colony, and the feeding kept up till winter set in, but no brood appeared. The hive was not opened from the time it was prepared for winter (say Nov. 15) till the middle of Dec., at which time there was not a sign of brood. Then came the long siege of snow and bitter winds which lasted till the 30th of Jan.; on that date our bees enjoyed a good, cleansing flight, and I remembered my non-laying queen and proceeded to look her combs over, and to my surprise, on one of the center combs I found a little patch of brood about half as large as a postal card, some of which was sealed over. It was genuine worker brood, and no mistake. Since which time she has been laying nicely, and now has a nice lot of brood for the time of year.
My bees, 30 colonies with selected queens, have come safely through the winter to the 1st of March, and there is really but little danger of losing bees in this climate after the 1st of this month, unless they are short of stores and shamefully neglected. The bee-man is aware, above all others, that there is “many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip,” however closely he may watch his business. On the 30th of Jan. last, when my bees were flying lively, I noticed that one large colony with a tested Cyprian queen, were not stirring like the others. I proceeded to open the hive and found the bees so nearly starved that they could only show signs of life by a feeble motion of their wings, which produced no sound whatever. Not a bee seemed able to change its position; the fore-runner of death was already present in the form of a cold, damp atmosphere in the brood chamber. I prepared some rich sweetened water, separated the frames gently, and sprinkled the bees thoroughly with the sweetened water, and poured some of it into the empty cells. The frames were then readjusted and a dry woolen quilt spread over the bees and the sun permitted to shine into the hive. In about an hour I raised the quilt and the inmates of the hive were stirring briskly, handing around the good cheer, while some of them showed fight in a most patriotic style. They were provided with stores, and are now a No. 1 colony. So much for bee-science.