944 THE BEE-KEEPER'S MANUAL. 
purpose in contracting the flight-hole, say, closer than 
half an inch, for the strongest draughts come always 
from the narrowest chinks, whilst unless we have 
openings both at the top and bottom, the work of 
ventilation will itself be nullified. The object of 
narrowing it in winter is rather to diminish the 
danger of invasion from enemies ; and the adjust- 
ment once made at the commencement of the cold 
season is better left unaltered till that season is at 
an end. The same rule should be observed in regard 
to the crown; but as soon, it may be in January, as 
days arrive when it is warm enough for the bees to 
fly, it is most advisable to take every opportunity 
of raising this, or rather its end pieces if divisible 
(as is now the case in nearly all well-made hives), 
or of lifting the ends of a quilt or matting, or with- 
drawing slides when such are present. Mr. Cowan 
speaks of having occasionally resorted to the some- 
what startling expedient of propping up the entire 
hive an eighth of an inch above its floor-board, thus 
doing away entirely with the strong draughts from 
the flight-hole; but he has since explained that he 
did not attempt this bold measure with hives placed 
wholly out of doors. And although Mr. Cheshire 
tells us of having received his first swarm in 1876 
“from a hive which had remained open from the 
previous autumn along its whole front, the front 
wedge beneath the bottom-board having been left 
out,” he does not elevate the occurrence into a pre- 
cedent, nor does he tell us that the ‘consumption 
of coals” in that hive underwent no consequent 
increase. 
