WINTERING. 
523 
Disregarding fractions, this, subtracted from 1500 
inches, the solid content of the hive, gives 878 inches 
— i.e.^ an air-space which we may, for simplicity’s sake, 
regard as half a cubic foot, or 864 cubic inches. There- 
fore, the twelve cubic feet of carbonic acid, produced 
from the consumption of ijlb. of honey, would fill the 
air-space in the hive twenty-four times. Nor is this all. 
Air is only one-fifth — by measure — oxygen, the other 
four-fifths being nitrogen ; and carbonic acid occupies 
precisely the same space as the oxygen which unites 
with the carbon to produce it. Therefore, if the 
whole of the oxygen introduced had been converted 
into carbonic acid, the air in the hive must have 
been entirely renewed 24 x 5 = 120 times ; and, 
further, the presence of carbonic acid is so deleterious 
that 5 per cent.* only of the oxygen could be 
utilised ; the proportion being also limited by the 
laws of gaseous diffusion (interchange) in the breath- 
ing-tubes of the insect. Thus it is impossible to 
resist the conclusion that i^lb. of honey cannot be 
oxidised for heat-production without the air of the hive 
being changed 2400 times. 
Authorities, with unusual agreement, state that the 
loss in weight of a wintering colony in which breed" 
ing is suspended is less than 2lb. per month. With 
ordinary protection this is about accurate, but it may 
be reduced to rather less than ilb. per month, or 
about \oz. daily (see page 417). The ijlb. would, 
In a similar illustration, given ten years since, in my “Practical 
Bee-keeping,” I stated 10 per cent, as probably the very largest amount 
that could be utilised. Subsequent experiments have shown 5 per cent, 
to be very near the truth. 
