112 APPENDIX. 



to prevent the bees from coming out of the hives "by shutting up their entry quite close with 

 pob tow, which will keep them warm, at the same time that they will run no risk of suf- 

 focation in very cold weather. In extreme cold weather, the bees may be taken into out- 

 houses, which will preserve them from bold. But, indeed, when the hives are properly cov- 

 ered, and the entries to them closely shut up, they will resist a very severe cold. 



" Many ingenious gentlemen have tried different methods to preserve lees in winter. 

 Some have shut them up in cold outhouses from September to April ; others only from the 

 first of November to March. A third class place grates before their entries to admit air, 

 but keep the bees close in their hives during the whole winter." 



He then observes, "that in general, long confinement is prejudicial to the health of the 

 bees ... .1 have seen the bees that have long been confined by cold, (perhaps 

 for ten weeks,) so diseased, that when good weather returned, and they came abroad, 

 very great numbers would have died within a day or two thereafter, and the hive in general 

 would have been greatly reduced. It is evident that their long confinement was the cause j 

 but it is also certain, that even in those cold countries where the winter lasts eight months, 

 bees thrive and prosper well .... I have known bees do well, however, that had been 

 confined in their hives for five months, even in this country ; while others of them were 

 ready to perish by retaining their fceces for so so long a period.'' 



Touching the vexed question of the superiority of a mild over a severe winter, or the 

 contrary, he remarks: "It is said by many writers on this subject, that a fine winter is 

 dangerous to the bees ; and that many more die in a mild than a cold one. They argue, 

 that as the appetite of the bees increases by their going often out, they consume their pro- 

 visions and die of famine ; whereas, when long confined in their hives, they hardly eat any. 

 I acknowledge that in a mild winter they do eat more food than in a cold one when they 

 cannot get out ; but Lhis, as well as the fine air, contributes greatly to their health, besides 

 that they hatch earlier, and consequently increase in the number of bees in the hives 

 sooner. The fact is, that experience may convince anyperson that many more bees die in 

 severe winters than in mild ones. In winter 1776. which was very cold, a great many bee 

 hives perished; and also during last winter, (1794-95,) being an excessively severe one, 

 many hives were destroyed from that cause alone ; whereas in winter 1779, which was re- 

 markably mild, not one hive in twenty failed ; and the bees in general swarmed a mouth 

 earlier than usual. :T 



(D— Page 39 ) 



I know not whether for cottagers, "Wildman's method of bee management, after all, be not 

 the simplest as well as the most profitable. He puts a swarm into a small-sized hive, (ten 

 inches broad by seven deep,) nadir -hiving it as soon as the bees have fairly begun to work 

 comb in the super ; that is, " often," as he says, u the following morning."* According 

 to his plan, the queen fills the upper hive first with brood as fast as comb is constructed j 

 and when every available cell is occupied by an egg, and the bees have continued their 

 works to the lower hive, (which will be towards the end of the first week or ten days,) the 

 queen also descends, and breeds permanently below. In the mean while, as fast as the 

 young bees above are hatched out, tho vacated cells are filled with honey, so that by the 

 end of a month, (three weeks, Wildman says,) no brood will be found above whatever, but 

 an abundance of fine honey in comb but little less pure than virgin comb, because they 



* Of this, however, I am inclined to doubt the advantage j at least four days should be 

 suffered to elapse before giving the second hive- 



