168 
SPRING. 
The bee can fly up, you think ; so it will, sometimes ; 
but will try a dozen times first to get up without, and 
when it does, it is a very bad position to start from, 
being a smooth board. In hot weather it does better. 
Did you ever watch by a hive thus raised, in April or 
May, towards night, when it was a little cool, and see 
the industrious little insects arrive with a load as 
heavy as they could possibly carry, all chilly, and 
nearly out of breath, scarcely able to reach home, and 
there witness their vain attempts to get among their 
fellows above them? If you never witnessed this, I 
wish you would take some pains for it, and when you 
find them giving up in despair, when too chilly to fly, 
and perishing after many fruitless attempts for life, I 
think, if you possess sympathy, benevolence, or even 
selfishness, you will be induced to do as I did — dis- 
card at once wire hooks and all else from under the 
hive in the spring, and give the bees, when they do get 
home with a load, under such circumstances, what 
they richly deserve, and that is, protection. 
ADVANTAGE OF THE HIVE CLOSE TO THE BOARD. 
Ai^ inch hole in the side of the hive, a few inches 
from the bottom, as a passage for the bees, is needed, 
as I shall recommend letting the hive close to the 
board ; it is essential on account of robbing ; also, it 
is necessary to 'confine as much as possible the animal 
heat, in most liijres, during the season the bees are 
engaged in rearing young brood; and warmth is ne- 
cessary to hatch the eggs, and develop the larvae ; we 
