128 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



valuable lives wiU soon be considered as something be- 

 longing to " tbe dark ages." The way to unite swarms is 

 simple and easy, and wiU be explained presently. 



Let me here say that hives so well filled with bees in 

 autumn require more food in winter than those not so 

 weU fUled. 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 and free currency, having been quoted 

 and repeated by one writer after another. 



Some experiments have been made to test the truth of 

 this statement. The results, as recorded, seem to favour 

 the clergyman's opinion ; but what strikes one is the ex- 

 ceedingly small quantity of honey eaten by the swarm, 

 doubled and trebled in the recorded experiments. Neither 

 single, nor double, nor treble swarms eat more than 7 lb. 

 of honey from September till March, whereas each of our 

 strong hives consumes 15 lb. of honey in the same space 

 of time ! Who can rationally account for the difference 

 between 7 lb. and 15 lb. consumed if numbers are not 

 considered'? "We think the clergyman is wrong in his 

 statements and doctrines as to the food required by bees 

 ia winter. It were easy to put bees enough into a hive 

 to consume 7 lb. of honey in a few weeks in autumn. 

 Pifty thousand bees require about as much honey in one 

 hive as they do in two. 



In autumns of rainy seasons, what should be done 

 with hives containing but little honey? The bees of 

 them should be united to others selected for stock. If 

 there be not more than 5s. worth of honey in each hive, 

 it is better to let it remain in the hives and combs, and 

 be carefuUy preserved till the following spring for new 

 swarms, than to break up the comb for honey. A hive 

 of fresh young combs is worth 7s. at least for receiving a 

 swarm. Three years ago two good swarms came off on 



