DESERTING. 855 
causes an increased G@emand for water; and when the thermom- 
eter is as low as 45°, bees may be seen carrying it in at noon, 
even on windy days, although many are sure to perish from cold. 
In these months, in 1856, during a protracted period of unfavor- 
able weather we gave all our bees water, and they remained at home 
in quiet, whilst those of other Apiaries were flying bristly in search 
of water. At the beginning of May, our hives were crowded with 
bees; whilst the colonies of our neigbors were mostly weak. 
‘The consumption of waterin March and April, in apopulous 
colony, is very great, and in 1856, one hundred colonies required 
eleven Berlin quarts per week, to keep on breeding uninterruptedly. 
In Springs where the bees can fly safely almost every day, the 
want of water will not be felt. 
“The loss of bees by water-dearth, is the result of climate, and 
no form of hive, or mode of wintering, can furnish an absolutely 
efficient security against it.’”—(Translated from the German, by 
S. Wagner.) 
That bees cannot raise much brood without water, unless 
they have fresh-gathered honey, has been known from the 
times of Aristotle. Buera of Athens (Cotton, p. 104), 
aged 80 years, said in 1797: 
‘Bees daily supply the worms with water; should the state of 
the weather be such as to prevent the bees from fetching water 
for a few days, the worms would perish. These dead bees are 
removed out of the hive by the working-bees if they are healthy 
and strong; otherwise, the stock perishes from their putrid ex- 
halations.” 
In any movable-frame hives, water can be given to the 
bees, by pouring it into the empty cells of a comb. 
DESERTING. 
668. We have shown (407) that bees sometimes desert 
their hives, when the colony is too weak, or short of stores, 
or suffering from dampness, mouldy combs, ete., etc. 
This desertion, which differs from natural swarming in 
