152 BEEKEEPING 



Consequently the bee's heat generation 

 is dependent upon what the bee has for 

 breakfast throughout the winter. His 

 food is more than nourishment, it is fuel — 

 just as much as coal is fuel for a furnace. 

 Like coal, too, it may vary in quality and 

 burn with a clean flame and few ashes, 

 or it may smolder and form clinkers, in 

 which case the furnace or the bee will 

 suffer. 



With the consumption of this food, — or 

 fuel — the bee combines great bodily ac- 

 tivity in the form of exercise to keep 

 warm, in very much the same way and for 

 exactly the same reason that a man walks 

 rapidly and slaps his body with his arms 

 on a bitter cold day. 



There are several factors which go to 

 make successful wintering but they may 

 be reduced to three primary ones, shelter, 

 food, and the strength (numbers) of the 

 colony. It is these three factors that we 

 will consider in discussing the problem of 

 making the bees live over winter. 



