BEES AND THEIR MASTERS 12s 
contrived, the bee-master must furnish his_ hives 
with a new atmosphere. This he does by slicing off 
the cappings from some of the old store-combs, thus 
letting out their imprisoned fragrance, and filling 
the hive at once with the very essence of the clover- 
fields where the bees worked in the bygone summer 
days. The smell of the honey at this time, combined 
with the regular and increasing supply of syrup, 
acts like a powerful! stimulant on the whole stock, and 
the work of brood-raising goes rapidly forward. 
In intensive culture of all kinds there are risks to 
be run peculiar to the artificial state of things 
engendered, and modern bee-breeding is no 
exception to the rule. When once this fictile 
prosperity is installed by the bee-master, no lapse or 
variation in the due amount of food must occur. 
Even a single day’s remission of supplies may undo 
all that a month’s careful manipulation has brought 
about. English bees understand their native climate 
only too well, and the bitter experience of former 
years has taught them to be prepared for a return 
of hard weather at any moment. Under natural 
conditions, if a few weeks’ warmth has induced them 
to raise population, and a sudden return of cold 
ensues, the bees will take very prompt and stern 
measures to meet the threatening calamity of 
starvation. The queen will cease laying at once; all 
unhatched brood will be ruthlessly torn from its 
cradle-cells and destroyed; old, useless bees will be 
expelled from the colony. And this is exactly what 
will happen if the artificial food-supply is allowed to 
fail even for the shortest period, 
