THE COTTAGE AND FARM BEE KEEPER. 29 



attended to* ; and yet there can scarcely be imagined a more import- 

 ant duty of the bee keeper. We have, indeed, had suggestions, many 

 and various, from different quarters, as to the best method of winter- 

 ing hives ; but no certain or uniform plan, as the result of a careful 

 trial of all available methods, has yet been put forward ; and it is evi- 

 dent that no one can speak of any method being the best, until the 

 various merits of such methods have been fairly tested. Some persons 

 have successfully kept bees through the winter by burial under ground, 

 while others have stowed their hives in cool barns and dry cellars with 

 a like result, yet experiments of this kind have been isolated, and no 

 certain inference can be drawn from them in favor of those particular 

 plans as generally recommendable. One bee master suggests the 

 transfer of hives to the north side of a wall or building, while a second 

 (as Mr. Taylor,) recommends their being sheltered from the sun by a 

 large wooden screen placed in front of them, without removing them 

 from their summer stands. In the present condition of our ignorance 

 on the subject, (for I cannot call it knowledge), I should advise a trial 

 of these screens, one to each hive ; or, better perhaps, (because cheaper 

 and less awkward,) a double line stretched on poles, firmly fixed in the 

 ground, and covered with lass matting, might be made to protect 

 several hives at once. Of the two former plans, it is impossible yet to 

 speak with any certainty, until their merits shall have been largely 

 tried. Nothing is more certain than that all hives become greatly 

 weakened which are suffered to remain throughout the winter ex- 

 posed to the sun's influence; for many bees will be lured out of their 

 comfortable quarters to almost certain ruin, while an increased con- 

 sumption of food takes place. Where a suitable locality is chosen, 

 (well sheltered,) I am very much disposed to consider a permanent 

 north or northwest situation as presenting an aspect the most desira- 

 ble for bee hives ; but time, and the increasing enterest in scientific 

 bee management, which is rapidly developing itself, will assuredly dis- 

 close to us many truths yet only guessed at. 



Second year. — The severity of winter no sooner yields to the 

 soft influence of February zephyrs, [this will apply to Virginia and Ken- 

 tucky or other states south, but at the north, the season will not be 



* See Appendix, Note C. 



