50 deg. of Fahrenheit; and I found that the bees
ate very little honey. The hives were of glass, and the bees, when
examined from time to time, were found clustered in almost death-like
repose. If these bees had been exposed in thin hives in the open air,
they would, in all probability, have eaten four times as much; for
whenever the sun shone upon them, or the atmosphere was unusually warm,
they would have been roused to injurious activity, and the same would
have been the case, when the cold was severe. Exposed to sudden changes
and severe cold, they would have been in almost perpetual motion, and
must have been compelled to consume a largely increased quantity of
food. In this way, many colonies are annually starved to death, which if
they had been better protected, would have survived to gladden their
owner with an abundant harvest. This protection, as a general thing,
must be given to them in the open air, for it is a very rare thing, to
meet with a cellar which is dry enough to prevent the combs from
moulding, and the bees from becoming diseased.

Bees never, unless diseased, discharge their faeces in the hive; and the
want of suitable protection, by exciting undue activity, and compelling
them to eat more freely, causes their bodies to be greatly distended
with accumulated faeces. On the return of warm weather, bees in this
condition being often too feeble to fly, crawl from their hives, and
miserably perish.

I must notice another exceedingly injurious effect of insufficient
protection, in causing the _moisture_ to settle upon the cold top and
sides of the interior of the hive, from whence it drips upon the bees.
In this way, many of their number are chilled and destroyed, and often
the whole colony is infected with dysentery. Not unfrequently, large
portions of the comb are covered with mould, and the whole hive is
rendered very offensive.

This dampness which causes what may be called a _rot_ among the bees, is
one of the worst enemies with which the Apiarian in a cold climate, has
to contend, as it weakens or destroys many of his best colonies. No
extreme of cold ever experienced in latitudes where bees flourish, can
destroy a strong colony well supplied with honey, except indirectly, by
confining them to empty combs. They will survive our coldest winters, in
thin hives raised on blocks to give a freer admission of air, or even in
suspended hives, without any bottom-board at all. Indeed, in cold
weather,