AUTUMN MANAGEMENT. 211 
will be repaid with interest in the spring. It must 
also be borne in mind, that what food is likely to be 
wanted must be supplied now, for very rarely, after 
the full weight has been attained, should any further 
attempts at feeding be made till the returning spring 
restores animation to the family. 
Winter Store——We have above mentioned the esti- 
mate as to the requisite supply of food for the winter. 
Anomalous as it may seem, it has been found that 
the quantity which is required is not dependent on 
the population of the hive. The number of mouths 
makes little sensible difference, even when two or 
three stocks have been united. This fact was first 
noticed by Gelieu. ‘‘In doubling the population,” he 
says, ‘‘I naturally conceived that we must also double 
the quantity of food;...... and, in consequence, I 
augmented greatly the amount of provision the first 
time that I doubled a hive; but, to my astonishment, 
when I weighed it again in the spring, I found that 
the united swarm had not consumed more than each 
would have done singly. I could not believe my eyes, 
but thought there must be some mistake ; nor could 
I be convinced until I had repeated the experiment a 
hundred times over, and had always the same result.” 
This seeming anomaly has been partly accounted 
for by the fact that increased heat is in some measure 
a substitute for food. But in addition to this, the 
junction of stocks, alluded to by Gelieu, ensures a 
larger supply of labourers in the early spring. It 
is not in the cold weather that much consumption 
of food takes place, but after the month of February, 
when the great hatching comes on; and then not so 
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