OUT—DOOR SIIELTERING. 839 
better to lose some healthy bees than to incur the risk of 
losing. or greatly injuring, a whole colony by the excite- 
ment created by confining them when the weather is warm 
enough to entice them abroad. 
If the sun is warm and the ground covered with new- 
fallen snow, the light may so blind the bees, that they will 
fall into this fleecy snow, and quickly perish. Even at such 
times, it is hardly advisable to confine them to their hives. 
A neighbor of ours killed four colonies, all he had, by 
Ag i 
i 
li 
TWO-STORY DOUBLE-WALLED LANGSTROTH HIVE, OLD STYLE. 
closing the entrances with wire-cloth for Winter. We had. 
advised him to remove it, but he did not do so because 
some one had told him that his bees would get lost in the 
snow. : 
638. Great injury is often done by disturbing a colony 
of bees when the weather is so cold that they cannot fly. 
Many that are tempted to leave the cluster, perish before 
they can regain it, and every disturbance, by rousing them 
to needless activity, causes an increased consumption of 
food. On the other band, it is of the utmost importance 
