Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/160

156 crystallizes, unless the hive be very weakly peopled. Reaumur found brood of all ages in the month of January; and the same thing was experienced by Huber, when the thermometer within the hive stood at 93°. If, on the other hand, the winter be mild, the bees consume food partially, and frequently go abroad into the open air; and by thus voiding their excrement preserve themselves in health. But the case is far otherwise with a hive thin in population, and scantily provisioned. In severe weather, their numbers are too few to keep up the vital warmth, and they are in imminent danger of perishing, should the cold continue for a lengthened period. Should the winter be mild, they consume their stores; and on the arrival of spring, if they still survive, they run the hazard of perishing of hunger. We are decidedly of opinion, therefore, that the temperature of the winter has much less influence on the prosperity of the apiary, than is generally imagined; and that the bees coming safely through that inclement season, depends in almost every case on the abundance of population and of food. There may be one exception to these general remarks:—In a mild winter, a hive which is thinly peopled, but well-stored with food, has a chance of escaping. But even in this case, we cannot always count on its well-doing, though its failure may arise from a different cause. Want of numbers is injurious, not only because it is accompanied with the want of the requisite warmth, but also because it seems greatly to dispirit the bees; and we have seen many instances of hives deserted