feel 
Cottager and Smallholder 45 
feeder—see Feeders and Feeding—not later than the end of 
September. 
Winter passages are given by laying a couple of pieces of 
wood, half an inch thick, over the top of the frames, under 
the calico quilt. 
Naphthaline should be placed in the brood chamber and 
amongst the quilts. Extra wrappings are given, folded news- 
papers being excellent for the purpose. 
If any doubt exists as to the supply of food being sufficient 
give a cake of candy. 
The roof must be made water-tight, and secured by driving 
a stake down at one side of the hive, to which a cord is tied, 
then passed over the roof and a brick tied on the other end, 
“so that it just swings clear of the ground. The entrance is 
opened to six inches. 
Should snow fall it must be cleared from the roof and alight- 
ing board, and a shade board reared in front of the entrance 
to prevent reflected light from the snow entering the hive 
and attracting the bees out to their death. 
An occasional look at the candy, and the dead bees cleared 
from the inside of the entrance by means of a hooked wire. is 
all the attention required during the winter. 
All that can be done with skeps or box hives is to wrap them 
up warm and dry. 
XVITI.—QUEEN REARING AND INTRODUCTION. 
It is unnecessary for the owner of only a few stocks to follow 
an elaborate system of queen rearing, but he should see that all 
his stocks contain young, vigorous gueens. The best queens 
are those secured under the natural swarming impulse. 
Make careful notes to find out which stock has the desired 
qualities, i.e., the best workers, docile and good in constitution. 
The second or third season bring the selected stock to swarm- 
ing point, and when the queen cells are sealed over cut them 
out, and put one in each cage or a nursery frame, Fig. 55. 
The cages are made by cutting a number of square blocks of 
wood, through which a 14 inch hole is bored, covered on either 
side with perforated zinc or wire cloth. A hole is bored in the 
top of the block to take a cork. The cages are made to fit 
into a brood frame, the cells being fastened to the corks with 
molten wax and placed in the cages. The frame is then put 
in the centre of a stock until the queens emerge, when they 
are introduced to the colonies to be re-queened. 
