156 miner's AMERICAN 



up in a cocoon, or return back to the combs, when 

 once precipitated upon the floor-board. If wooden 

 blocks should be used at the corners, these worms would 

 be more apt to run up into the hive again, by the way 

 of these blocks, than by the way of the iron pins ; and 

 I have often found the moth-worm wound up in its co- 

 coon, in the corners made by such small blocks of wood, 

 say half an inch long and three-eighths of an inch thick, 

 being inserted under hives; yet such blocks may be 

 used when it is not convenient to get the pins. Even 

 nails or screws would do ; yet I can recommend nothing 

 that makes an imperfect job. 



The reader perceives a small orifice about two inches 

 long, and half an inch wide, in the centre of the bottom 

 of the lower section of the hive. This opening is ex- 

 pressly for use in cold weather, and in the spring and 

 summer, when the hive stands on its iron pins, or 

 wooden blocks, this opening is closed with a tin or zinc 

 slide, perforated with holes to admit the air into the hive, 

 at certain seasons during the winter, when the bees are 

 to be shut in. This opening has a greater bearing on 

 the prosperity of the bees, than any one would imagine. 

 I would not do without it, or a substitute, for any con- 

 sideration ; since, from a misapplication of the uses of 

 this orifice, all other measures might fail to produce a 

 prosperous state of our apiaries. The value of this open- 

 ing will appear in the " winter management" of bees. 



The reader may be at a loss to conceive how the bees 

 are to be shut in, with an opening all around the hive, 

 besides the aforesaid orifice. It is done as follows ; four 



