THE HONEY-BEE. 231 



its sides. It must be allowed to cool very gradually, 

 otherwise the cake which it forms will crack ; and> 

 therefore, it should be kept in a warm place. 



Management of Bees during Winter. The honey- 

 harvest being now over, it will be necessary to pre- 

 pare the stock-hives for passing the winter in safety. 

 For this purpose, certain preliminary precautions are 

 requisite, and none more so than to guard against 

 pillage. After the process of separating the honey 

 from the wax, it is usual and economical to carry out 

 to the apiary, the vessels and implements employed 

 in the manipulation ; and the bees will readily avail 

 themselves of whatever honey may adhere to them, 

 and clean them effectually. Pieces of refuse comb, 

 also, are presented to them, and in a very short time 

 the industrious insects rifle them of every particle of 

 saccharine matter. Having exhausted these sources, 

 the bees are tempted often by the more than usually 

 strong odour exhaled from the hives in consequence 

 of their recent luxurious feasting, to rob their neigh- 

 bours of their share of the booty; and a scene of 

 pillage ensues which sometimes ends in the total de- 

 struction of the besieged hives. If the colony attacked 

 be pretty strong in population, the evil may be put a 

 stop to, perhaps, by contracting the entrance. Every 

 proper door has one or two small holes at the bottom, 

 which may be opened or shut as occasion requires, 

 just large enough to admit the passing of a single bee. 

 This contracted entrance greatly assists a besieged 

 colony ; but the doors are generally so thin, that the 

 robbers often effect an entrance by adroitly slipping 



