190 Mr. J. G. Desborough's Observations 



December, January and February, and tbe bees even stored the 

 honey given to them, and sealed it over, thus showing that food 

 was not wanted so much by them: nor indeed was that my object 

 in supplying the food; it was merely to keep up the excitement. 

 The room in which the bees were kept was carefully regulated as 

 to the heat, the thermometer never being suffered to fall below 

 46° in the day and 40° in the night. Whenever the sun shone the 

 hive was placed on its stand at the window and access to the outer 

 air allowed, but at other times the hive was removed into the centre 

 of the room; and it is really astonishing to observe the effect a 

 few hours of even winter sunshine has upon such a hive; if the 

 hive got really warmed by the sun the bees revived in a most 

 extraordinary manner, much more so than from any feeding or 

 heat derived from a fire. 



I may here remark, that a limit must be had to the degree of 

 heat at which the hive must be kept in the winter, and that too 

 great a heat is as dangerous as too severe a cold. One night in 

 January, having made up a good fire in the room previously to 

 going to bed (the night threatening to be very severe), and removed 

 the bees into the room, a sudden change took place, and the 

 thermometer in the room stood at Q5°. Tiie hum of the bees 

 awaked me, and the remarkable noise made by them at once 

 evinced distress ; upon opening the hive the bees were in a state 

 of great excitement, and the temperature in the hive was 82". I 

 therefore set the bees on their stand, and gave them access to the 

 air, when they gradually quieted down; the weather had suddenly 

 changed, and it would seem that the bees were even sensible of 

 the change, and the irritation caused by their being shut up had 

 roused their energy and created the mischief. 



These proceedings bring me to the month of March. The 

 number of bees was now considerably reduced ; I had constantly 

 removed the dead bees, and at this time the space occupied by 

 the bees on two sides of the comb, in one division only of the 

 hive, was a circle of about six inches in diameter in the day, and 

 reduced to about four inches and a half at night ; the number 

 was certainly under 1000, and I was much afraid the gradual 

 deaths would reduce that number too low to rally. The month 

 of February had been very frosty, and much snow fell ; on the 

 23rd of February 1 had seen a grub brought out of a hive in a 

 neighbour's garden, but I could see no signs of breeding in my 

 observatory ; still the few bees looked healthy, and the queen 

 seemed to become more active, and I fancied increased in size; 

 and on the 1st of March the bees began to keep very close upon 



