THE HONEY-BEE. 
221 
bive or step, bees, brood, &c., ought without hesita- 
tion to be rejected. A less quantity by two or three lbs. 
may bring them tln'ough the winter, but this will de- 
pend much on the nature of the season ; whereas, 
with the quantity above stated, there is no doubt at 
all of their preservation as far as food is concerned, 
whatever may be the temperature. During frost, 
the bees consume very little indeed ; and if the cold 
increase in severity, still less, if any. But as we 
cannot anticipate what the temperature of the ensuing 
winter may turn out, our wisdom is to take care 
before hand that there be no deficiency in their stores ; 
it cannot be supplied when the cold has actually set 
in. A common straw-hive weighs when empty from 
five to six lbs. — an ordinary swarm about four 
lbs., — the wax of a full hive of the current year 
nearly two lbs., — of the preceding year, at least three 
lbs., — and the farina in the cells not less than one lb., 
making in all about fifteen lbs. A stock, therefore, to 
be secure, ought to be double that weight in the gross, 
that is, should contain not less than fifteen lbs. honey. 
Having selected the stocks, the Cultivator who 
does not practise the mode of partial deprivation, 
alluded to in last chapter, will now reap his general 
harvest. There are three modes of taking the honey, 
each of which has its advocates ; namely Partial De- 
privation, applicable to storied and leaf hives ; Suffo- 
cation , — and Driving, that is forcing the bees to quit 
their magazines, and uniting the expelled inhabitants 
to the stock -hives. Partial Deprivation consists in 
appropriating early in the season a portion of the 
