Ɛpsilon

From L. E. Becker   16 January 1877

Manchester National Society for Women’s | Suffrage,

28, Jackson’s Row, Albert Square, Manchester.

Jany 16—1877

With Miss Becker’s compliments.

[Enclosure]

HOLLY BERRIES AND THE BEES.

To the Editor of the Manchester Courier.1

Sir,—I was much interested in reading in your impression of yesterday the paragraph by Mr. Charles Darwin on “the scarcity of holly berries” in different parts of the country this season.2 He traces reasonably the cause to be the rarity of bees last spring, but he cannot account for that rarity. I have had much experience in the habits of bees, and I have noticed in early spring that snow on the ground with bright sunshine causes large numbers of bees to leave their hives, ⁠⟨⁠a⁠⟩⁠nd they are then generally weak and they alight on the snow and thousands thus perish. I think the abundance of snow last spring accounts for it.—Yours. &c., | W. E. BURCHAM.

Failsworth, January 13th, 1877.

1
The newspaper clipping was cut from the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 15 January 1877, p. 7.
2
See letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle, 3 January [1877] (a reprinted version appeared in the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 12 January 1877, p. 3).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10792,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10792