PROTECTION. 119 



which to condense, and from which it must drip upon the 

 bees, destroying their lives, or enfeebling their health, by 

 filling the interior of their dwelling with mould and damp- 

 ness. As they are very quiet, they eat but little, and hence 

 their bodies are not distended and diseased by accumulated 

 fseces. Often they do not stir from their hollows, from No- 

 vember until March or April ; and yet they come forth in the 

 Spring, strong in numbers, and vigorous in health. If at any 

 time in the Winter season, the warmth is so great as to pene- 

 trate their comfortable abodes, and to tempt them to fly, 

 when they venture out, they find a balmy atmosphere in 

 which they may disport with impunity. In the Summer, 

 they are protected from the heat, not merely by the thickness 

 of the hollow tree, but by the leafy shade of overarching 

 branches, and the refreshing coolness of a forest home. 



The Russian and Polish bee-keepers, living in a climate 

 whose winters are much more severe than our own, aje 

 among the largest and most successful cultivators of bees, 

 many of them numbering their colonies by hundreds, and 

 some even by thousands ! They have, with great practical 

 sagacity, imitated as closely as possible, the conditions under 

 which bees are found to flourish so admirably in a state of 

 nature. We are informed by a Polish writer, that his coun- 

 trymen make their hives of the best plank, and never less 

 than an inch and a half in thickness. The shape is that of 

 an old-fashioned churn, and the hive is covered on the out- 

 side, halfway down, with twisted rope cordage, to give it 

 greater protection against extremes of heat and cold. The 

 hives are placed in a dry situation, directly upon the hard 

 earth, which is first covered with an inch or two of clean, 

 dry sand. Chips are then heaped up all around them, and 

 covered with earth banked up in a sloping direction, to carry 

 off" the rain. The entrance is at some distance above the 



