100 TOACTICAL BEE-KBEriNG. 



will furniah coTera, at about the cost of 2d., which leave nothing to he 

 desired. It would be difficult to find any material ao economical and so 

 well suited to onr purpoae aa this ; but almost every upholsterer could 

 supply some thin and comparatively smooth textile fabric made of grass 

 or rushes which would be equally effective in point of non-conductivity 

 and porosity, although, of course, at much greater cost. 



If the matting be creased, it should be ironed and then cut, so as to lie 

 upon the frames under the crown board. The latter being removed from 

 the hive, the frames should be cleaned of all fragments of wax or 

 propolis, which would impede the cover's falling into position. One of 

 these should be laid in place, and a moment allowed for any stragglinsr 

 bee to crawl from under it, put a second upon the first, and then replace 

 the crown board,* not fitting it too tightly. Indeed it is well to add a, 

 third mat to cover, not only the frames, but the top edge of the hive to 

 prevent the ventilation being too much reduced. Then lay a folded sack 

 over all, or, in lieu of the crowu board, a bottomless box the size of the 

 hive top, and four or five inches deep, covered with canvas beneath and 

 filled with chaff, may be placed at once upon the matting. Frail 

 is much more durable and cleanly than carpet, which is often recom- 

 mended. The bees, of course, cannot bite it, and they scarcely propolise 

 it at all. Some in our apiary, which have stood over strong stocks con- 

 tinuously for more than two years, is nearly as clean, and quite as perfect 

 as when first put on. Carpet, too, when damp, ventilates most imper- 

 fectly, and is then very liable to mildew, besides which the bees so coat 

 it with was or propolis if left on during the summer that it becomes 

 absolutely useless as a ventilating cover for the cold season. 



By the foregoing plan of wintering, we get rid of the space over the 

 frames, which is in winter a great damage ; but not of necessity always 

 so, as some advocates of the quilt would have us believe. During the 

 season of work in the apiary, we prefer the crown board, because wibh 

 it we can examine a stock more quickly, gnd with less loss of bee life 

 than with a quHt. The latter, indeed, if of carpet, gets so sticky, that 

 it is most unpleasant to handle, while it is almost impossible to replace 

 it after its removal without trapping numbers of bees between it and 

 the frames, while immense labour is involved in refixing what we have 

 disturbed. The stock argument that the space above the frames mus t 

 be wrong because the bees constantly "protest" against it by fillin g it up 

 with comb, is singularly illogical in those who advocate upward veuti. 

 lation, since against this the bees protest still more earnestly. Nor is 

 it at all certain that they fill this because they object to a space over tho 



* "We are speaking liere of our crown board (see page 20). A wooden top in one 

 piece we liave abandoned. If this be the kind used, tie bottomless box must 

 rex)lace it, or it must be wedged up about the y^ of ti-n inch at the two back 

 corners. 



