■WINTEE TREATMENT. 189 



eBOUgh to treatlie. The importance of keeping bees com- 

 fortably warm in cold weather cannot well be magnified. 

 They are easily benumbed by cold, easUy chilled to death. 

 When a bee drops into snow, it seems to die sooner there 

 than if cast into a hot fire. Though bees apparently die 

 on touching soft snow, they are not quite dead, for if 

 speedUy gathered and carried to the heat of a iire, they 

 recover their powers. When snow is on the ground, espe- 

 cially if the wind is coming from the west or south, all 

 hives should have their doors closed, so as to prevent bees 

 from leaving them or coming out. 



But let us now see what injury cold frosty weather does 

 to bees not sufficiently covered. In such weather bees 

 creep very close together, but some of them must neces- 

 sarily be more exposed to the cold than the rest. Those 

 on the outside of the mass or swarm as it sits among the 

 combs suffer most. They often become benumbed, and 

 lose all powers of motion. The rest creep closer together 

 still, leaving them to perish in their helpless condition. 

 Nine-tenths of the hives of England are thus weakened 

 for want of sufficient protection in cold winters. Weak 

 hives are often kUled outright by cold. We all like an 

 additional blanket or two to keep us warm during the cold 

 nights of winter. Bees need extra covering too, and they 

 cannot well get too much of it. Underneath the straw 

 covers already recommended, we advise all our be&-keeping 

 readers to use plenty of other materials. Soft diy hay, 

 two or three inches thick, placed around every hive below 

 the other covering, is an admirable protection from cold. 

 In the absence of hay, waste cotton, tailors' clippings, rags 

 of any kind, pieces of old carpets, bags of sawdust, paper 

 or fine wood-shavings, or soft grassy sods weU dried, will, 

 if properly placed around hives, be a great and valuable 



