and tts Economic Management. 223 
wondering where your bees have gone to. What a mere 
handful compared with the rousing populous colony you 
knew to be there when you left them snug and well stored 
for Winter! It seems hardly possible such a vast host can 
so contract themselves that a gallon measure will more 
than hold a population you imagined would fill at least 
half-a-bushel. 
The bee nest at this season is practically its own life 
preserver, and what heat there is present is only to be 
found towards the centre of this compact mass of bees. 
The hive itself acts as a shelter, preserving them from the 
direct influence of the cold winds and wet, while the 
temperature around the walls (inside) of the hive is but 
a few degrees higher than that on the outside. The only 
change that takes place, and that a highly beneficial one, is 
when during a spell of sunshine the interior of a thin 
walled hive “anil rises in temperature ; the bees, quickly 
responding to this genial warmth, immediately expand 
their cluster, while many set about bringing the distant 
honey to be restored in the cells adjoining their winter 
nest. This is done in such a systematic manner that the 
extreme outer combs are first relieved of their contents, 
while the whole outer face is cleared before the other, 
nearer, side is touched. 
It has been declared that the temperature on the inside 
of the hive walls stands at 80° to go° during Winter. 
There was never a greater mistake; as we have already 
seen it cannot possibly be much higher than the outside 
air, and such a high temperature is only to be found at 
the centre of the cluster. Bees not only chill to death, 
when in small numbers near any wall where the mass of 
the bees do not cluster, but cannot maintain life if 
separated by only a single comb from the actual bee nest. 
A high temperature can only be registered after the bees 
