The condition of a colony of bees in the early spring depends largely upon the care given the bees the preceding autumn and in the method of wintering. If the colony has wintered well and has a good prolific queen, preferably young, the chances are that it will become strong in time to store a good surplus when the honey flow comes. The bees which come through the winter, reared the previous autumn, are old and incapable of much work. As the season opens they go out to collect the early nectar and pollen, and also care for the brood. The amount of brood is at first small, and as the new workers emerge they assist in the brood rearing so that the extent of the brood can be gradually increased until it reaches its maximum about the beginning of the summer. The old bees die off rapidly. If brood rearing does not continue late in the fall, so that the colony goes into winter with a large percentage of young bees, the old bees may die off in the spring faster than they are replaced by emerging brood. This is known as "spring dwindling." A preventive remedy for this may be applied by feeding, if necessary, the autumn before, or keeping up brood rearing as late as possible by some other means. [Illustration: Fig. 17.--Division-board feeder to be hung in hive in place of frame.] If spring dwindling begins, however, it can be diminished somewhat by keeping the colony warm and by stimulative feeding, so that all the energy of the old bees may be put to the best advantage in rearing brood to replace those drying off. The size of the brood chamber can also be reduced to conserve heat. [Illustration: Fig. 18.--Feeder set in collar under hive body.] It sometimes happens that when a hive is examined in the spring the hive body and combs are spotted with brownish yellow excrement. This is an evidence of what is commonly called "dysentery." The cause of this trouble is long-continued confinement with a poor quality of honey for food. Honeydew honey and some of the inferior floral honeys contain a relatively large percentage of material which bees can not digest, and, if they are not able to fly for some time, the intestines become clogged with fæcal matter and a diseased condition results. Worker bees never normally deposit their fæces in the hive. The obvious preventive for this is to provide the colony with good honey or sugar sirup the previous fall. "Dysentery" frequently entirely destroys colonies, but if the bees can pull through until warm days permit a cleansing flight they recover promptly. [Illustration: Fig. 19.--"Pepper-box" feeder for use on top of frames.]