246 THE BEE-KEEPER’S MANUAL. 
by artificial warmth.* The action of very severe 
frost, moreover, has an injurious effect upon the 
honey, which becomes candied at the extremities of 
the combs, and sometimes throughout. It is thence- 
forth useless as food for the bees.+ 
“A thermometer is not always a criterion of the 
state of the hive at this season, as I have often 
found; for the temperature varies as thé bees 
recede from this, and they frequently shift their 
quarters, moving in a mass to preserve the warmth. 
When congrecated immediately about the  ther- 
mometer, I have known it rise as much as 30° on a 
frosty day; and an increase of temperature always 
follows any commotion, or partial activity in the 
dwelling.” 
Inspection of Stores—We have stated above that 
winter is not the season for supplying food, but if 
it should be discovered that, from some accident or 
mistake, any hive has not received an adequate 
allowance, the deficiency is best met by placing some 
barley-sugar over the feed-hole (under a_bell-glass 
* “Tt is frequently the case in winter that a number of bees may be 
found, apparently dead, about a hive, particularly after sudden disturb- 
ance. The greater part of these are merely paralysed on coming out 
into a lower t-mperature, and may be recovered by taking them to the 
fire. But this should be done with caution ; for, if placed too near, 
the bees are not so likely permanently to recover as when the restora- 
tion is gradnal. The best way is to put the bees into a large basin, 
spreacling over it a piece of muslin to confine them till they are restored 
to the hive.” Such occurrences are to be regarded as incidental only, 
for the torpid state is not a regular phase in the life of bees, as it is in 
that of wasps. 
+ “In two stocks which I had an opportunity of examining, at the 
end of February, 1838, after a very severe winter, I found cells filled 
with honey in a granulated state, and perfectly white. This was un- 
touched by the bees, though they were distressed for food. | Notwith- 
standing the unusual severity of the season, there was brood in various 
stages of progression.” 
