MANAGEMENT OF HONEY BEES. 153 
to afford the Bees an opportunity of coming 
abroad when they can do so in safety. Ab- 
solute confinement is extremely prejudicial 
to them. The practice which prevails in 
some places of removing the hives into the 
dwelling-house, by way of preserving them 
from the cold, is by no means to be recom- 
mended, and, in fact, is often followed by fa 
tal effects. The increased temperature of 
the place to which they have been removed, 
keeps themin such a state of animation and 
excitement, that they contiuue to eat during 
the whole period of their confinement, and 
not being at liberty to go abroad and evacu- 
ate, their bodies become swollen and diseased 
by the retention of their foeces, for they are 
most unwilling to soil the interior of their 
dwelling, and great numbers of them are 
thus cut off, and when in spring the hive is 
brought into the open air, the few inhabi- 
tants that remain are too feeble to bear the 
sudden change of etemperatur, and gradu- 
ally dwindle away, or are plundered and de- 
stroyed by the more vigorous and healthy. 
