34:2 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



Bienenzeitung, by Von Berlepsch, and G. Eberhardt, the 

 substance of which is as follows : 



" The Creator has given the bee an instinct to store up honey 

 and pollen, which are not always to be procured, but not water, 

 which is always accessible in her native regions. In northern 

 latitudes, when confined to the hive, often for months together, 

 they can obtain the water they need only from the watery parti- 

 cles contained in the honey, the perspiration which condenses on 

 the colder parts of the hive, or the humidity of the air which 

 enters their hives. 



"Vital energy in the bee is at its lowest point in November and 

 December. If, at this time, an unusual degree of cold does not 

 force her to resort to muscular action, she remains almost motion- 

 less, a death-like silence prevailing in the hive; and we know, by 

 actual experiment, that much less food is consumed than at any 

 other time. Breeding having ceased, the weather-bound bees 

 have no demands made on their vital action, and we have never 

 known them at this time to suffer for want of water. As soon, 

 however, as the queen begins to lay, which occurs in many colo- 

 nies early in January, and in some by Christmas, the workers 

 must eat more freely both honey and pollen, to supply jelly for 

 the larvae, and wax for sealing their cells. Much more water is 

 needed for these purposes, than when they can procure the fresh 

 nectar of flowers ; and the want of it begins to be felt about the 

 middle of January. The unmistakable signs of the dearth of water 

 in a colony, are found in the granules of candied honey lying on 

 the bottom of the hive. The suffering bees will now open cell after 

 cell of the sealed honey, to obtain what remains uncandied. and 

 when these supplies of moisture fail, will attack the unsealed 

 larvse, and devour the eggs, if any are still laid. They now give 

 way to despair, disperse through the hive, if the cold does not 

 prevent, as though they had lost their queen, and perish amid 

 stores of honey, unless milder weather permits them to go in search 

 of water, or the Apiarian supplies it in their hive, when order 

 will again be restored. 



" After protracted and severe Winters, of every six bees that 

 perish, five die for want of water, and not, as was hitherto sup- 



