224 A Modern Bee-Farm 
have been disturbed, or by withdrawing a previously 
arranged thermometer from the heart of the cluster. 
Disturbing Influences. 
The act of breeding which re-commences in normal 
colonies about mid-winter at the centre of the cluster, is 
not in itself a disturbing influence, for as yet its extent 
is never developed beyond the means at hand for its 
moderate continuance. But when the owner begins 
unduly to feed candy, and meal added thereto, then the 
elements of additional unnecessary excitement are 
immediately apparent in a large death rate caused by the 
premature flight of the workers in search of large 
quantities of water. The cluster expands unnaturally and 
thereafter a serious drain is made upon the vitality of the 
bees in keeping up a higher temperature generally. 
It is far more profitable to leave natural conditions 
undisturbed until Spring fairly opens, when the first balmy 
day which permits of a large ingathering of natural 
pollen will see the last of the hibernating cluster, and then 
judicious feeding will carry forward a rapidly advancing 
condition of progress. 
Queenlessness. 
A colony losing its queen before or during Winter, will. 
seldom hibernate perfectly, unless they “are fortunate 
enough to have a small patch of eggs left by her from 
which they raise another, though of course a useless queen. 
The only drawback then is the loss of time before another 
queen can be supplied to recuperate the population. 
Where there is no possibility of rearing a substitute, the 
bees though overcoming the first stage of extreme excite- 
ment, cannot rest naturally, and the consequence is the 
stores are rapidly consumed, and even if dysentery does 
not intervene the bees are scarcely worth uniting to another 
