89 
any families have perished, it is known what must be done 
with them. At each visit the hoods of the hives must be 
noticed, to ascertain whether any vermin have taken pos- 
session, that if so, they may be destroyed. 
When the hood is removed, you can take the opportunity 
of renewing the farinaceous preparation mentioned in the 
direction for the last month, first neatly cleaning the bench, 
before replacing the plate with the flour and salt. At this 
time also, they may be supplied with some of the sirup be- 
fore spoken of. This should be put into an earthen cup, about 
_ the diameter of the hole on the top of the box. ‘The mouth 
_. of the cup should be covered with a piece of new cloth, dou- 
bled, and fastened with a pack thread. The cup must then 
_ be reversed, or put mouth down over the hole, to which it 
_ will serve as a stopper. The sirup will percolate gently 
through the double cloths, and the bees will repair to it 
in continual succession, and pump out with their trunks 
the restorative liquid, the effect of which, united to the fa- 
rina and salt, assures the health of the bees. 
In the two months of November and December, and 
also in that of January, bees do not often go out; nor ought 
they to go out to procure subsistence. During the severest 
cold, they remain, grouped together, in the upper part of 
the box, on the combs supplied with the eggs of the queen, 
laid before the destruction of the drones the preceding 
summer. They remain there continually, as if to guard. 
this hope of their country. ‘They are crowded one to the 
other, and remain in that state till a milder air reanimates 
them, and inclines them to seek nourishment for support. 
Small grates should be placed over the openings of all the 
hives, as soon as severe cold begins to be felt. These in- 
sects would be exposed to destruction, in the three winter 
months, if, deceived by the serenity of a few fine days, the 
proprietor would allow them free egress. ge 
JANUARY. 
The same cares and attentions as in the two preceding 
~ months. If much snow has fallen it must be removed 
from the hives, and the greatest care must be taken, to pre- 
serve them from humidity, without depriving them of the 
~ free circulation of the air. Fewer bees die, in the hives, by 
cold, than by the humidity which by negligence is allowed 
- to penetrate their dwellings. The air ought to be renewed 
from time to time; hence the recommendation to cleanse the 
H 2 
