PERIODICAL FLIGHTS OF THE BEES. 329 



very great advantage is derived from the adoption of that 

 plan, as the bees being in total darkness consume a smaller 

 quantity of provisions. Now, in the first place, when are 

 the bees in a hive in any other state, than in one of complete 

 darkness ; for the small quantity of light which is admitted 

 through the aperture is not sufficient to penetrate to the 

 upper part of the hive, where the bees are chiefly lodged ? 

 Consequently, confining the bees in a cellar, as far as the 

 darkness is concerned, and its attendant limited consump- 

 tion of food, is in reality attended with no advantage, but 

 on the other hand, their confinement is accompanied with 

 a very great disadvantage, as it prevents the bees taking 

 their periodical flight on a sunshiny day for the purpose of 

 voiding their fasces. It is no longer a matter of doubt, that 

 these mid-day flights of the bees contribute greatly to the 

 preservation of their health, by enabling them to evacuate 

 that excrement, the retention of which is so highly pre- 

 judicial to them. The cleanliness of the hive is also main- 

 tained, the air in it is renewed, and we never knew a hive, 

 the bees of which took their periodical flights, which was 

 not the first in the apiary to indicate the signs of the queen 

 having begun to lay her eggs ; whereas, on the other hand, 

 we never knew a hive that had been confined during the 

 winter, the bees of which were not in the spring weak and 

 sickly ; and further we never yet met with a bee master, who 

 had adopted the system of preventing his bees from all egress 

 from the hive during winter, who could affirm that on the 

 return of spring they were in good health. 



Not content, however, with depositing their hives in 

 cellars and dark places, it is the practice of some bee masters 

 to bury their hives, and thereby bring upon them an 

 accumulation of evil, which no after care can remedy. This 

 plan is so subversive of all the principles of good manage- 

 ment, so repugnant to the natural habits of the bee, and 

 so injurious to its health and its whole internal economy, 

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