WINTERING BEES. 271 



straw. The straw, for the space of five or six inches, 

 should be cut off' with a sharp knife, a little above 

 the front entrance, leaving the bees a clear open pas- 

 sage. This cap of straw should be put on, on the 

 approach of cold weather in the fall, and may be 

 permitted to remain until the opening of spring. It 

 forms no obstruction to the free ingress and egress 

 of the bees during warm days in winter and early 

 spring. If properly ventilated, and the mice keep 

 out, bees Avill winter safely in this way. It is bat 

 little trouble, and suits careless bee-keepers very well. 



But the great difficulty has been, in wintering bees 

 iu the open air in all kinds of hives made of wood, 

 to get rid of the moisture generated in the hive 

 by the breath of the bees, which condenses on the 

 sides and top of the hive in very cold weather, ac- 

 cumulating, at times, until the bees are completely 

 enveloped in a sheet of frost and ice to the thickness 

 of over half an inch. This frost and ice will melt 

 the first warm day, and trickle down over the bees, 

 where the} 7 are clustered on or between the combs, 

 wetting them ; and frequently the weather will 

 suddenly change and freeze very hard the following 

 night. Under such circumstances I have seen colo- 

 nies frequently frozen to death, which, if they had 

 been perfectly dry, would have survived the winter 

 without any difficulty. 



Then again, if hard freezing weather continues for 

 several weeks without intermission, which frequently 

 occurs in this latitude, this moisture will be con- 

 stantly thrown off by the bees, filling the pores of 



