CHAPTER XVIII.
QUANTITY OF FOOD REQUISITE FOR UNITED HIVES.
I have said, in [Chapter IX.] that each hive must have three pots, or fifteen pounds of honey, to sustain it during the winter, and until the bees can find food for themselves again in the spring. For this reason, I have advised the empty hives to be weighed, before the swarm is admitted into it, and again in the autumn, when the honey season is over, in order that we may be assured that there is food enough to maintain them during the winter.
In doubling the population, I naturally expected that we must also double the quantity of food, for I had always seen that two or three families, living together, used more meat than each would have done singly, however rigid their economy. The more mouths the more meat, thought I; and, in consequence, I augmented greatly the amount of provision the first time I doubled a hive; but, to my great astonishment, when I weighed it again in the spring, I found that the united swarm had not consumed more than each would have done singly. I could not believe my eyes, but thought there must be some mistake, nor could I be convinced, until I had repeated the experiment a hundred times over, and had always the same result.
I have made a point, in every instance, to mention the reasons of my advice and proceedings; here, however, I humbly confess my inability to do so, nor can I conceive how an army of thirty thousand troops could be served with the same rations allowed for an army of only ten thousand, supposing the soldiers of both to have an equal appetite, and to have each wherewith to satisfy it. But the fact exists in regard to the bees; any one may have it in his power to convince himself of it; the cause is to me unknown, and must be left to wiser heads than mine to explain. Does the increase of heat supply, to a certain extent, the place of nourishment? Does the greater and more uniform heat, in a well-stocked hive, make the food more nourishing?
These are questions which I propose to naturalists, but which I cannot answer.
After this discovery, as important as it seems to be inexplicable, I varied my experiments, not only to convince myself of the fact, but, if possible, to arrive at more extended results. I joined three hives in the autumn, by introducing into the middle one, the bees of two neighbouring hives; and I found, on weighing it in the spring, that its inhabitants had scarcely used one pound more than those of hives that had not been united. I went farther: Having a large well-stocked and amply provided hive, I added to it, in the autumn, without displacing it, the swarms of four neighbouring hives, two on the right hand and two on the left, that were so scarce of provisions that the quantity of honey that would have been necessary to have kept them alive, would have far exceeded their value, and that all the four would, to a certainty? have perished. This enormous population produced a heat so great, that, during the whole of a very severe winter, the bees kept up a buzzing noise equal to that of a strong and active hive in the evening of a fine day in spring. The steam expelled by the vibration of their wings, collected in drops at the door, and formed icicles round the entrance of the hive during severe frost. The hive was left out all the winter, and would infallibly have perished had I shut it up; and what was my astonishment, on weighing it in the spring, to find that, notwithstanding that it contained five pounds, the total diminution did not exceed three pounds more than took place in my ordinary hives. It gave out excellent swarms, long before any of the others, and recompensed me well for my pains. I have not repeated the experiment to the same extent, but have limited myself to the union of two, or at most three deprived hives, and have been very well paid.
What, in these circumstances, becomes of the supernumerary queens, since their hatred to one another is so great that there can be but one in each colony? I give myself no trouble to answer the question, more curious than useful; the aim of my experiments being only to give practical rules.
I have often been astonished that so important a discovery should not have been made sooner by some of the superior minds that have taken an interest in this branch of rural economy; and that, in the course of their researches, not one of them should have thought of uniting two or three weak swarms, before winter, to compare them with single swarms, in order to ascertain how much honey was necessary, according to both plans, till the end of the winter season. Doubtless they had believed, as I formerly did, that the more numerous the family the more provisions would they require, and that little would thus be gained by uniting them. I should have regretted quitting the world before publishing this discovery; and it had nearly perished with me; for, continued and indispensable occupations, as well as a dangerous illness, prevented me setting about giving it to the public, till now that I am far advanced in life.
