Frequently great loss of colony strength is due to delay in putting on the packing. Perhaps this is the most common source of loss in outdoor wintering aside from that due to a failure to pack the bees at all. Packing should not be deferred after the flowers furnishing the last honey are killed by frost. In case the late fall flowers furnish honey that is to be removed, then it is necessary to wait until nectar is no longer coming in before applying the packing, but it is indeed rare that the last honey should be taken away, and it is good beekeeping to apply the packing even before there is any frost at all. The determining factor is the necessity for handling the bees. If more stores must be given them or if some of the late honey is to be removed in order that it may be replaced by better honey or by sugar sirup, then handling of the bees after frost may be needed, but after the last essential handling it is much the best plan to pack the bees. In pints of the country where bees are wintered outdoors it is quite customary to delay packing until Thanksgiving Day, but this is too late by far except in the extreme South (zone C). It is safe, therefore, for the beekeeper to use the dates shown in figures 5 and 6 and the data given in Table I as a guide to the time of packing. He may be assured that if he delays packing later than the dates shown therein the bees will suffer by a loss of colony strength and vitality at a season of the year when they can ill afford to be weakened by neglect. Under no circumstances should packing be delayed more, than two weeks after the date given for each zone. Further, if packing is delayed until after cold weather begins, the disturbance of the colony may induce the beginning of brood-rearing, find this in turn may result in the death of the colony. If by chance a colony has been left unpacked until after the bees have been confined by cold weather for three or four weeks, the packing may do more harm than good. TIME FOR THE REMOVAL OF PACKING. If bees are given the right amount of room, stores, and protection early in the fall, nothing that the beekeeper can do will benefit them until it is necessary to handle them because of preparations for swarming or because of the incoming nectar. Of course if bees are well packed they get so strong in the spring that if crowded they begin preparations for swarming earlier than do colonies which have been neglected during the winter. By following the methods here described the season for swarm control is advanced, so that usually it is entirely passed before the honey-flow begins.