12 PEACTlCAl BEE-KEEPING. 



Ita manufacture is by no means difficult. The straw having been well 

 aoaked as for thatching, and gathered up into a good sound bundle, in 

 which all the stalks lie parallel, is securely tied with basket-makers' twigs 

 or tarred string. Hoops are then fastened within at K L and M N. The 

 hackles are now fitted over the form of the hive and left to dry, stiffen, 

 and set. ^ A wooden peg or two passed through the hackle above the 

 hoop into the hive side will prevent the wind disturbing it. 



"We here point out that saving the cost of a thoroughly good hive- 

 cover by substituting some inefficient makeshift, is but psor economy. 

 If the straw domicile be completely screened from the insidious snow and 

 driving rains of winter, the little inhabitants, if in health and fair 

 numbers; will brave with but little injury the most severe cold of our 

 climate ; but in a skep boasting no better protection than some rotten 

 rhubarb leaves, or saturated sack, honey is not only consumed in much 

 increased quantities, but the effort needed to maintain the temperature 

 within so far exhausts the vital energies of the bees, that they are unable 

 to withstand the labour of brood-raising when spring returns, and then 

 often die off even more rapidly than yonng bees are produced. ""Why 

 this spring-dwindling ?" is the inquiry. ""Why are my bees diminishing 

 in numbers just as everything is appearing to favour returning activity 

 and prosperity ? ' ' The reply should not unf requently be " bad wintering. ' ' 

 Even if the results are not fatal they are damaging, and hives neglected 

 in the particulars just mentioned swarm later, and are consequently profit- 

 less in comparison with what they might have been with careful manage- 

 iuent. 



