64 THE HIVE AND THE HONEY-BEE. 



sort of torpor during -winter, and every thing that could tend to 

 interfere with, or arouse them from it, must, of course, prove 

 contrary to their natural instincts, and consequently, prejudicial. 

 During winter the bees are inactive. 



It seems generally recommended that the hives should be re- 

 moved to a northern aspect during winter. If the bees are to be 

 set at liberty, this very removal, otherwise so necessary, will 

 cause their destruction ; for they will, on being permitted to issue 

 from the hive, of a certainty fly back to their old quarters, where 

 they will remain until benumbed by the cold that, despite a few 

 gleams of treacherous sunshine, pervades the air, and will, of 

 course, soon fall to the ground, and miserably perish — all owing 

 to your bad management. 



Independent of these considerations, I may also, and I think 

 most reasonably, adduce the very considerable, and at the same 

 time, most unnecessary waste of food consequent on the adoption 

 of the liberty system. 



Bees can endure the extreme cold of a Russian winter with 

 impunity, while a far inferior degree of cold often proves fatal ; 

 the true cause of the phenomenon is the greater dryness of the 

 Russian climate, and that to dampness it is that we are to ascribe 

 failure. 



An old French work suggests a mode of preserving bees by 

 interment during winter. It consists of laying some very dry, 

 powdered earth upon the bottom of an old cask, to the depth of 

 about half a foot, pressed down very hard, and setting on this 

 the stool with the hive ; then- preserving a communication with 

 the air, by cutting a hole in the cask, opposite to the mouth of 

 the hive, and placing a piece of reed from the mouth of the hive 

 to the hole in the cask ; then covering the hive up with a quanti- 

 ty of dry earth similar to that on which it stands. In spring it 

 is only necessary to remove the winter coverings gradually and 

 with caution ; to examine also the state of the bees' provisions, 

 and, if necessary, feed them. Be cautious in at once giving them 

 liberty, or in doing so too early, or in unsettled weather. The 

 mouth of the hive should be kept facing due west, until all these 

 dangers have passed away : when the working season arrives, 

 the aspect of the hive must be moved southward, and the insects 

 left entirely to themselves. When spring-feeding is necessar)', it 

 is usually in April, for then the demands of the young brood call 

 for a greater consumption of honey than ordinary, and from 



