328 PROTECTION OF HIVES FROM HUMIDITY. 



that it is not uncommon to observe a young bee, which 

 shall have so far succeeded in breaking its prison as to 

 extricate its head, and nearly its shoulders, yet perishing 

 from cold in this situation, without the slightest effort on the 

 part of the workers to save the life of a companion, whose 

 rearing has already cost them so much labour." It is 

 statements like the foregoing, which cast such a strong 

 suspicion upon our minds, that Mr. Duncan was not very 

 scrupulous in regard to the veracity of his authorities, when 

 he compiled his History of the Bee in the Naturalist's 

 Library, and that his own ignorance of the atmospheric 

 condition of a hive must be very great, when he could put 

 forth so fallacious a statement, as that the sudden change 

 from a mild temperature to a raw frost has the effect of 

 killing the young bees. By what means did Mr. Duncan 

 arrive at the knowledge that the bees in a hive, whether 

 young or old, were ever killed by the frosts of this country ? 

 and when did it ever come under his observation (for in 

 matters of this kind he ought not to rely upon the ob- 

 servation of others) that the sudden change in the exterior 

 temperature had any immediate effect on the internal tem- 

 perature of a hive, and to such an extent as to prove the 

 death of the bees ? 



The application of a straw top to a hive possesses a two- 

 fold advantage. It protects the hive from the too powerful 

 influence of the sun, as well as from the humidity occasioned 

 by long continued rain, which, if possible, is more prejudicial 

 to bees than heat, for it renders the combs mouldy and 

 musty, infects the bees with the dysentery, and forces them 

 at length to quit the hive. Various schemes have been 

 adopted to protect the bees from humidity ; but the majority 

 of them have failed from the extreme lack of judgment, 

 which was manifested in their adoption. Thus, it was re- 

 commended by some apiarians to deposit the hives during 

 the winter in a dry and dark cellar, and it is alleged that a 



