WISTEEING. 97 



in ita altsisd form nearly the whole of the conanmed honey, so we see why, 

 during continued cold weather, stores are reduced, it may he, many 

 pounds while the bees have had no opportunity of discharging themselves. 

 Indeed, it appears that fcecal matter is scarcely produced by consumed 

 honey but by the wear and tear of tissue {i.e., of the bee's body) conse- 

 quent upon activity, and this wear and tear is chiefly made good by the 

 assimilation of pollen. Hence, no doubt, the disturbance of bees during 

 winter, stimulating them to fitful exertion, tends to cause them to consume 

 pollen, and so distend their bowels, and may become a cause of incipient 

 dysentery, as pointed out in the last chapter. 



Loss of heat, as the foregoing argument shows, is loss of honey. This 

 necessitates making the hive walls as non-conductive as possible, not 

 only thus saving stores, but the vital energies of the workers, which must 

 otherwise be consumed in keeping up the temperature. We read in the 

 " Handy Book of Bees :" "A continental writer, a Swiss clergyman, has 

 broadly stated that two swarms united eat no more honey than each does 

 separately. This wild notion has now a pretty wide currency, having 

 been quoted by one writer after another. Some experiments have been 

 made by honest men to test the truth of this statement. The results, as 

 recorded, go in favour of the clergyman's opinion." Space forbids our 

 following the rather lengthy remarks of the author ; who, after 

 informing us that he discredits the experiments, sums up by saying 

 that " 50,000 boas require about as much honey in one hive as in two." 

 To which we must reply, the whole scope of the matter before us tends to 

 show that the experiments only produced the results to be expected. To 

 state that 50,000 bees divided into two stocks would consume no more 

 than they would as one, is parallel with saying that six persons in one 

 room would require as much fuel as two companies of three each in two 

 rooms, each similar to the first ; for honey, so far as the adult bee is 

 concerned, is the fuel of the hive, the temperature of which must be 

 maintained at a certain amount. Small stocks on this account winter 

 badly, because the severe exertion in keeping up the heat required of 

 each bee increases the death rate. How good, then, is the economy of 

 uniting weak lots in autumn, while, however paradoxical it may appear, 

 it is nevertheless true that condemned bees added as previously explained 

 (see page 74/, cost nothing for their keep, while the bees in the spring 

 not only come out stronger in numbers, but with more freshness and 

 energy individually than they oonld otherwise have possessed. 



The honey not used in building comb or feeding brood, just as truly 

 bums in'the body of the bee as does coal in the furnace. The tempera- 

 ture at which combustion is carried on in the latter instance is, really, 

 much higher, but the products and the chemical changes are identical, 

 while the evolution of heat is precisely the same in cause in each instance. 

 A very simple experiment with a lighted candle or lamp will corroborate 



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