326 
WINTERING BEES. 
THE IDEA OF BEES NOT FREEZING HAS LED TO ERRORS IN PRAC- 
TICE. 
By close observation we shall probably discover 
that the assertion so often repeated, that bees have 
never frozen except when without honey, has led to 
an erroneous practice. 
APPEARANCE OF BEES IN COLD WEATHER. 
We will first endeavor to examine the condition of 
a stock left to nature, without any care, and see if it 
affords any hints for our guidance, when to assist and 
protect with artificial means. 
Warmth being the first requisite, a family of bees 
at the approach of cold weather crowd together in a 
globular form, into a compass corresponding to the 
degree of cold ; when at zero it is much less than at 
thirty above. Those on the outside of this cluster are 
somewhat stiffened with cold ; while those inside are 
as brisk and lively 7 ' as in summer. In severe weather 
every possible space within their circle is occupied ; 
even each cell not containing pollen or honey will 
hold a bee. Suppose this cluster is sufficiently com- 
pact for mutual warmth, with the mercury at 40, and 
a sudden change brings it down to zero, in a few 
hours, this body of bees, like most other things, speed- 
ily contracts by the cold. The bees on the outside, 
being already chilled, a portion of them that does not 
keep up with the shrinking mass, is left exposed at a 
distance from their fellows, and receive but little ben- 
efit of the warmth generated there ; they part with 
their vitality, and are lost. 
