WINTER MANAGEMENT. 245 
Temperature—Under this heading we have said 
most of what is requisite in the introductory para- 
graphs of this chapter. We have just to add that 
bees when clustered together should maintain a 
temperature as uniform as possible of 65°. The fol- 
lowing remarks of Mr. Taylor’s, though partly in- 
accurate, may still be preserved: “With good pro- 
tection from cuttimg winds, from wet without, and 
from damp within, the effects of cold alone, un- 
less of extreme severity, need not be apprehended, 
for the bees of a strong stock will generate suf- 
ficient warmth; and a dry season is often better 
sustained than a mild, moist one. It is of im- 
portance to guard against those sudden changes of 
temperature which often occur in winter; and ex- 
perienced bee-keepers have recommended covering 
each hive with a mat, or something of the kind, as 
a regulator. 
“Tt is certain that less food is consumed at a low 
than a high temperature, and that the bees are 
often healthy in proportion.* I have known the 
thermometer down to 82° in a box, with no bad 
effect to the bees when clustered together; but they 
would become torpid if exposed singly to this, or to 
a much less degree of cold, especially towards the 
close of winter; and could then only be recovered 
*It is marvellous how Mr. Taylor can have fallen into such an 
error. It is not the cold itself, but the semi-torpi iity produced by an 
extreme degree of that cold, which lends the only particle of accuracy 
to a statement opposed alike to science and fact, as will be at once 
evident to anyone who thinks of his own appetite upon a cold day. 
As to the absence of any bad effect when the thermometer stood at 
32°, we must interpret it that the bees got through the risk at the 
time by dint of extra feeding and exertion; but how about the after 
effect of these upon the duration of the insects’ lite? 
