BEES, 85 



no reason to care for me), if they endure your society, they 

 Avill hardly flatter you so much as to like it; therefore 

 disturb them as little as possible, and never uselessly. You 

 may have occasion to turn up the hive, to examine the in- 

 terior, or remove a part of the contents ; but this must not 

 be done after the flower season is past, for the bees can no 

 longer collect propolis to renew the fastening* you will have 

 destroyed, — that by which the bottom of the hive was se- 

 curely fixed to the board on which it stands : an indispen- 

 sable provision against winter cold. 



As to lOTotection from cold, bees in good hives really need 

 none beyond what is afforded by freedom from damp and 

 severe winds, shutting out the direct rays of the sun in 

 winter and early spring, and, above all, by taking care tliat 

 they are not left too few in number to keep up the natural 

 heat of the hive. This appears to be their own mode of pro- 

 tecting themselves. As the weather grows more and more 

 severe, they draw more and more closely together into the 

 centre of the hive to create their fireside, towards and from 

 which all the bees approach and recede in fair and wise 

 rotation ; whilst, on the contrary, as the cold decreases, they 

 again expand in proportion. They are not, therefore, torpid, 

 or not regularly so, at least. Of course, they do not work, 

 nor do they in winter itself appear to eat, except in periods 

 of unusual warmth, which stirs alike their limbs and their 

 appetites. The judicious apiarian will see that the less fre- 

 quently these untimely movements occur the better it will be 

 for the bees and for him. 



Some bee-keepers recommend that the entrance of the 

 hive should be narrowed towards the winter, and that in 

 November it should be closed altogether, except a space left 

 for ventilation. A thick covering of matting or straw will 

 preserve them fi-om the cold of winter, or from what is even 

 more dangerous, the treacherous gleams of a winter's sun, 

 which often induce the bees to leave the hive, and then they 

 (lie from cold before they can return. If the hive has been 

 already protected by a layer of Roman cement on the exte- 

 rior, hardly any other protection is requisite. Roman cement 

 will render a straw hive as durable as a wooden one, make it 

 water tight, and eftectually keep out mice and other vermir 

 v/ho are particularly given to burrowing in the straw, 



