WINTERING. 
517 
Winter passages are recommended by many ; these 
consist of a small hole, ^in. or more in diameter, cut 
through each comb, about the middle of its length, and 
one-third of its depth from the top bar, and having 
a curled, stout shaving or wooden pill-box, without top 
or bottom, placed within, so as to prevent the bees 
filling the opening. Commonly, the bees of the 
several seams are literal detachments, and when con- 
densation takes place during cold spells, many in 
the outside seams, unable to pass round the edges 
of the icy frame, get isolated from the main body, 
and freeze to death. With winter passages they pass 
through the comb ; but these disfigurements are not 
at all necessary with the plans hereinafter described- 
A cake of candy ((?, Fig. 19), as suggested on 
page 397, gives passage-way above the frames, but 
the paper is liable to collapse ; and last winter I 
cast the candy in section boxes, one side of which 
had been made level by cutting, and the result was 
excellent. One of these, placed on its side, and 
covered down snugly under the chaff-tray, keeps 
the bees above, feeding, and, as the candy disappears, 
they cluster in the space it occupied, holding almost 
all their honey under immediate command, and main- 
taining heat with great facility ; while there are no 
bees that are in any way separated from the whole 
cluster. With this arrangement, and the wide setting 
of the combs, the empty cells before referred to are 
hardly required. 
In the States and Canada, whose winter climate is 
for the most part much more rigorous than our own, 
a plan having much in common with that now given 
