WINTERING BEES. 279 



winter mats are equally applicable to any kind or 

 style of movable comb or leaf bee hives; or in 

 common chamber or box hives, a mat may be put in 

 the chamber with great advantage, simply removing 

 the honey boxes and leaving the holes open imme- 

 diately above the bees. A very considerable amount 

 of moisture will be thus absorbed, which would pass 

 up through the openings, particularly if large. 



HOW BEES WINTER WHEN LEFT TO THEMSELVES. 



A warm climate seems to be the natural place for 

 bees, yet like many other kinds of domestic stock, 

 they will live and thrive in almost any climate where 

 flowers abound to produce honey and pollen, and 

 there is sufficient warm weather to permit them to 

 lay up supplies for winter use, providing they are 

 properly protected from the rains and storms, to- 

 gether with incidental protection from extreme cold. 



Bees in this climate, when left to themselves to 

 seek a location, usually select a cavity or hollow in 

 the trunk or limb of a tree in the forest, which is 

 generally oblong in shape ; here they build their 

 combs, having a much greater depth than width. 

 When the bees cluster for winter, they will assume a 

 neat compact shape, commencing at the bottom of 

 the combs and extending upward to a height in 

 proportion to the size of the colony. Thus clustered 

 they are similar to a sugar loaf, with the large end 

 up. This form secures the greatest economy of ani- 

 mal heat, which, by a law of nature, always ascends, 

 and serves to warm the combs and honey a little 



