52 The Ottawa Naturalist. [May 



devoted solely to original research, and offers its advantages to 

 qualified naturalists without fee or charge. There is no field so 

 vast, so inviting, and so unexplored as the waters off our Cana- 

 dian shores, and the Government Marine Station has a bright 

 future before it. 



WINTERING OF BEES. 



The wintering of bees, in this latitude is, I know, a question 

 of some anxiety to the bee-keeper, and for the benefit of those who 

 are at all concerned in the subject, the following experiment, 1 

 think, will be of some interest : 



Last autumn, I had six hives of bees, and instead of putting 

 them all away in the cellar as usual, I left four of them outside, 

 where they remained during the entire winter. 



I had to prepare them however for the ordeal, by putting on 

 each hive an empty super to take off the moisture, which 1 believe 

 accumulates from the cluster of bees hibernating during the winter 

 months. 



I then placed the hives close together on an elevated piece of 

 ground some foot or so above the rest of the garden, and quite 

 sheltered by the house on the north and west sides. I also took the 

 precaution to place three or four boards over the top, to serve as 

 a roof, over which I laid a carpet. I also placed aboard all along 

 against the hives and in front of the entrances, to prevent the 

 snow from drifting into and closing them up so that they could 

 have all the ventilation necessary. And of course when the win- 

 ter came on, everything would be covered with snow, and it was 

 intended that with this shelter and covering they would keep 

 sufficiently warm. 



This spring, these four hives of bees came out much stronger 

 than any bees that I have yet succeeded in wintering, and much 

 better than the two hives put away in the cellar, one of which latter, 

 I may say 1 lost from some reason or other which I have not been 

 able to account for, as the hive was quite full of honey and seemed 

 perfectly healthy. 



A. H. Lambart. 



