3i4 
THE HIVE AND DONET-BEE. 
January till the Spring fairly opens (unless the weather permiu 
them to fly safely), they will not suffer. This water may be 
plaecd in a wet sponge in a feeding-box, directly over the bees, 
and protected by a cushion of moss. A hundred or more colonies 
may thus, without disturbance, be quickly supplied.” 
That bees cannot raise brood without water, has been 
known from the times of Aristotle. Buera, of Athens 
(Cotton, p. 104), aged 80 years, said in 1‘797 ; “Bees daily 
supply the worms with water; should the state of the 
weather be such as to prevent the bees from fetching 
water for a few days, the -worms would perish. These 
dead bees are removed out of the hive by the working- 
bees, if they are healthy and strong; otherwise, the stock 
perishes from their putrid exhalations.” I have repeat¬ 
edly known colonies to suffer severe losses, for want of 
water; and in my correspondence with bee-keepers, the 
last Winter (1858-9),* have directed their attention to 
this point, and have had my estimate of the value of water 
to bees in Winter greatly increased. But as yet, I have 
had no satisfactory evidence that any colonies, whose 
honey was not candied, have died from water-dearth. 
The Baron Von Berlepsch says, that “ death from this 
cause more rarely occurs in districts where thei-e is late 
Fall bee-forage than in those like his o-wn, where pas¬ 
turage fails occasionally in July, and usually early in 
August. In such regions, the honey becomes very thick 
in Winter, and sometimes thoroughly candiedf before 
• I am particularly Indebted to Mr. William W. Cary, Mr. Klchard Colvin, Rev. 
J. 0. Bod well, Mr. E. T. Sturtevant, and Rev. Levi 'Wboaton, for careful observa¬ 
tions made — last Winter, at my suggestion — on wintering bees. 
t Madame Vicat^ in some observations on bees, published in 17M — see Wild- 
man, p. 281 — speaks of finding, “on the 24th of Murob, when the weather was so 
cold that the bees of her other hives did not go abroad, much candied honey on the 
bottom of a hive, and bees which seemed to bo e.xpiring. A singular noise was made 
.n the hive, at intervals, and at such tinios numbers of bees would fall into tho 
candied honey, and perish. The bees not being able to swallow the candied hooey 
emptied it out of their combs to get at such as they could swallow.” 
