WINTERING BEES. 
337 
The Apiarian, should, therefore, late in the Fall, cut, 
with a pen-knife, a hole, an inch in diameter, in the centre 
of each comb, about one-third from the top * 
Great care should be taken to shelter hives from the 
piercing winds, which in Winter so powerfully exhaust 
the animal heat of the bees ; for, like human beings, if 
sheltered from the wind, they will endure a low tem- 
perature far better than a continuous current of very 
much warmer air.f 
In some parts of the West, where bees suffer much 
from cold winds, their hives are protected, in Winter, by 
sheaves of straw, fastened so as to defend them from both 
cold and wet. With a little ingenuity, farmers might 
easily turn their waste straw to a valuable account in 
sheltering their bees. 
If the colonies are wintered in the open air, the 
entrance to their hives must be large enough to allow 
the bees to fly at pleasure. Many, it is true, will be lost, 
but a large part of these are diseased ; and, even if they 
were not, it is better to lose some healthy bees than to 
incur the risk of losing, or greatly injuring, a whole 
* If these holes are made before they feol tho need of them, they will frequently 
close them. Mr. Win. \V . Cary (p. 204) has invented a process of making these 
holes without removing tho combs. lie makes a hole in tho side of the hive, 
which, when not In use, is covered with a button or plug (I’i. V., Fig. 16), through 
which he slowly worms an instrument in tho shape of a flour or butter-taster 
(sharpened at the end), until it strikes tho opposite side of tho hive. By this 
process of making tho Winter passages, only a very few bees are hurt. As the 
queen always runs away from danger, she is not liable to be hnrt. An application 
for a patent on this device Is now pending. If the patent issues, the right to use it 
will bo free to all owning the. right to use tho movable-comb hive. 
I strongly advise every one using my bivos to make Winter passages for thou 
bees. As tho frames touch neither tho top, bottom, nor sides of tho hives, the bees 
have such extraordinary facilities for Intercommunication, that they canurt bo 
depended on to leave any holes in their combs. 
t The Winter of 1855-6 will long be remembered, not only for the uncottmon 
degree and duration of its cold, but for the tremendous winds, which, often for 
days together, swept like a Polar tornado over tho land. Apiaries standing in 
estwwcd situations were, In many instances, nearly ruined. 
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