THE APIARY. 145 



brimstone, and when no arrangement for smoking has been made 

 in the honey room, take a store box or flour barrel, and leaving 

 a cavity at the lower end to receive the match, put in the boxes 

 in such a manner that the smoke can enter them, and cover 

 the top to confine the smoke. When separated from the combs 

 by straining, honey is secure from the moth, its food being wax, 

 and not honey. Strained honey may be kept from graining, by 

 heating to the boiling point, (setting the vessel in boihng water, 

 to prevent burning,) and keeping it in a dark room. Empty 

 combs, unless the moth eggs have been destroyed by freezing, 

 should be examined occasionally, and if traces of worms can 

 be seen, smoke them also, being careful afterwards that millers 

 do not get to them. 



WINTERING BEES. 



In regions where the ice garb of winter remains unbroken 

 from fall till spring, the consumption of food may be lessened, 

 and the safety of light stocks better secured by wintering them 

 in dry cellars, or even in houses. But in this changeable climate, 

 where the bees are frequently aroused to activity by summer 

 weather in the middle of winter, and impelled to fly out to dis- 

 charge their feces, it is not so necessary to guard against cold, as 

 it is against the great consumption of honey in warm weather, 

 or the filth and disease caused by confining the bees where they 

 can be affected by changes of temperature in the atmosphere. 

 Hence, unless a dark, dry cellar can be had, the mass of bee- 

 keepers at least, will succeed best by properly preparing their 

 stocks, and leaving them upon their summer stands. 



