54 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



unless they were so light as to need feeding. If things were 

 always done just right, there never would be any opened be- 

 cause suspiciously light; but things are not always done just 

 right. 



ENTRANCE-CLOSERS. 



The enti-ance is of course closed with wire cloth, and after 

 trying a good many entrance-closers I have settled down upon 

 the simplest of all. It is a piece of wire cloth j\Tst large enough 

 to close the 12% entrance and project an inch or so up on the 



Fiij. 15 — Hack for Ilcnding Bees. 



front of the hive. To make the edges at the bottom and at the 

 two ends more Ann, and to pi'event them from raveling, the 

 wire cloth is cut about 131/2 x 4, and then about % of an inch 

 folded over at the bottom and at each end. These edges are 

 folded over the edge of a saw. When finished, the closer is 12% 

 inches long or a trifle less, so it will easily fit in the bottom- 

 board. The closer is put in place, a piece of lath ISi/o inches 

 long is pushed up against it, and fastened by a nail in the mid- 

 dle of the lath. Then to make it more secure, a nail at each end 



