156 PLEASURABLE BEE-KEEPING. 



should be done well and at the right time. In fact 

 we may take it as a rule that at the close of one honey- 

 flow, or the last of the season, preparations should be 

 made for the following year. 



The requirements for successful wintering are, 

 briefly : a young queen, a large quantity of young 

 worker bees, ample sealed stores to last the stock 

 well into the spring, quilts, the upper ones of woollen 

 material, and ventilation without draught. 



The Bees. 



It was years ago remarked by an able bee-master, 

 the late W. Eaitt, that the best packing for bees was 

 bees, and of course this truism will be generally 

 admitted. The stronger the stock is in bees, the 

 better is the prospect of its wintering well, and making 

 a good start the following spring. A well- stocked hive 

 will show a much larger amount of brood than one 

 containing only a moderate quantity of bees, for, in 

 the latter case, there is not a temperature sufficiently 

 high to warrant any great extension of the brood-nest. 



Bees are thought by many to be in a state of hyber- 

 nation during the winter. This is not exactly so, for, 

 though bees should be inactive during the winter, and 

 they do well if the temperature does not fall below 

 45°, they are quickly roused to activity, and may leave 

 the hive for a cleansing flight when the temperature 

 rises to 50° or over. While the bees are in a quiescent 

 state there will be no wasting of energy ; hence the 

 necessity for a style of hive with arrangements which 

 to the greatest possible extent prevent the cluster 



