232 miner's AMERICAN 



a large stone upon each ; so let no bee-keeper suffer his 

 hives to be blown over for the want of means to secure 

 them. 



SURROUNDING PROTECTION NECESSARY. 



When bees arrive within a few feet of their hives, it 

 is very important that the force of the winds should be 

 checked in some manner, as the greatest difficulty a bee 

 encounters when on the wing, is to alight safely at her 

 own door. Like a ship at sea in a gale, all goes on 

 merrily so long as she has sea room ; but let her ap- 

 proach land, and then comes the real danger. Just so 

 it is with the little bee, when the high winds sweep over 

 the hills and valleys. She beats up against the breeze 

 fearing nothing while she has space to dart over the 

 forest; but when she comes to her door — when she 

 slackens her speed, she is at the mercy of every fitful 

 gust that plays around the hives ; and often when just 

 reaching her own domicil, as she hovers slowly before 

 the entrance, loaded with treasures from nature's store- 

 house, she is forced to the ground, or perchance against 

 some neighboring hive. The vision of the bee is obscured 

 when she approaches within a few feet of her hive, and 

 her motion is necessarily quite slow on such occasions, 

 and if she be driven out of her course to the least extent, 

 she has to rise again on the wing, and describe a circle 

 ., in her flight, some ten or twenty feet above the apiary, 

 before she can venture to return again. Even should 

 she be driven but a single foot from the point she aimed 

 at in alighting, she would rise again, and make a second 



