THE HONEY-BEE. 
231 
its sides. It must be allowed to cool very gradually, 
otherwise the cake which it forms will crack ; and, 
therefore, it should be kept in a warm place. 
Management of Bees during Winter . — The honey- 
harvest being now over, it will be necessary to pre- 
pare the stock-hives for passing the winter in safety. 
For this purpose, certain preliminary precautions are 
requisite, and none more so than to guard against 
pillage. After the process of separating the honey 
from the wax, it is usual and economical to carry out 
to the apiary, the vessels and implements employed 
in the manipulation ; and the bees will readily avail 
themselves of whatever honey may adhere to them, 
and clean them effectually. Pieces of refuse comb, 
also, arc presented to them, and in a very short time 
the industrious insects rifle them of every particle of 
saccharine matter. Having exhausted these sources, 
the bees are tempted often by the more than usually 
strong odour exhaled from the hives in consequence 
of their recent luxurious feasting, to rob their neigh- 
bours of their share of the boot}'; and a scene of 
pillage ensues which sometimes cuds in the total de- 
struction of the besieged hives. If the colony attacked 
be pretty strong in population, the evil may be put a 
stop to, perhaps, by contracting the entrance. Every 
proper door has one or two small holes at the bottom, 
which may be opened or shut as occasion requires, 
just large enough to admit the passing of a single bee. 
This contracted entrance greatly assists a besieged 
colony ; but the doors are generally so thin, that the 
robbers often effect an entrance by adroitly slipping 
