82 UTILIZATION OP MINUTE LIFE. 



tions sur les Abeilles," by H. Huber, of Geneva ; 

 " Les Nouvelles Observations," by the same author, 

 noted by P. Huber; also the works of Reaumur, 

 and those of the English authors whose names we 

 have already mentioned. 



The principal losses experienced in bee-culture 

 occur during the winter ; they arise either from the 

 bee-keeper having, with a miserly hand, deprived 

 the insects of too much honey, or from a bad mode 

 of preserving the hives through the winter season. 



1st. To ascertain whether a sufficient supply of 

 honey has been reserved the average weight of the 

 hives must be consulted. 



2nd. M. Penard-Masson, a French apiarist, 

 assures us that he has derived considerable benefit 

 and preserved throughout the winter hives which 

 otherwise would have perished, by turning a certain 

 number of bees out of a hive where the supply of 

 honey is too small, into one where there exists an 

 excess of nourishment. 



But one of the newest and most original methods 

 of preserving bees during winter is that lately 

 discovered by M. Antoine of Rheims. His process 

 consists in burying the hives with great care, and as 

 quietly as possible. About the 15th of November, 

 a ditch, a good depth, and wide enough to contain all 

 the hives that are to be interred, is dug in the mid- 

 dle of a field, away from any road or thoroughfare. 



