158 PLEASURABLE BEE-KEEPING. 



all the food needed, but a good stock will well cover 

 six to eight frames. Though it is advisable to allow 

 not less than 20 lbs. of stores, they must be judiciously 

 distributed. If full combs are left on the outside, the 

 food may candy when cold weather compels the bees 

 to cluster in the middle of the hive. Another reason 

 for carefully distributing the food is that empty cells 

 are preferable to slabs of honey for the bees to cluster 

 upon, provided that above the cluster food is within 

 reach. The best arrangement is to allow the centre 

 frames to be about half filled with sealed stores, while 

 the remaining frames on either side contain in in- 

 creasing proportion the remaining quantity of food 

 allowed. 



WiNTEE Passages. 



When stocks are wintered in thin single-walled 

 hives, it may occasionally be noticed, more particularly 

 than in double-walled hives, that the spring exami- 

 nation brings to light seams of dead bees — bees that 

 have perished from want, though in other frames 

 ample stores still remain. The cause is not far to 

 seek. Having consumed the food above them, the 

 bees must travel round or under the frames to reach 

 further supplies. This they cannot do during very 

 severe weather, for as soon as they leave the cluster 

 with this object, they are numbed by the cold and die. 

 Consequently the whole cluster or clusters die. To 

 prevent this loss passages over the tops of the frames 

 must be provided. 



A very simple contrivance, the " Hill Device," placed 

 upon the frames raises the quilts and allows the bees 



