December 8, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
503 
the hive, will effectually prevent rain or snow from finding 
an entrance. An ordinary wooden roof very often cracks 
after a dry hot summer, and if care is not taken to remedy 
the mischief before the storms of rain and snow come on 
an injury may at once be done, and unless immediate 
precautions are taken the ruin of the stock will be inevit¬ 
able. A little putty worked into such crevices and fissures 
and a good thick coat of paint over the whole roof will 
defy both rain and snow, and keep the hive dry and free 
from injury through the longest winter. 
Attention is very often not paid to covering the 
frames of the hive itself. In some cases there is barely 
any covering at all, and in others there is more than 
enough for three or four hives on every stock. A porous 
covering is so good and useful that it seems unnecessary 
to advise anyone to try the American cloth which is now 
used extensively in some apiaries as a winter covering, 
and with apparent success. Hives cannot have a better 
covering for winter purposes than one consisting of calico 
next the frames, then several pieces of felting, and on the 
top of these a section crate filled with sawdust or corkdust, 
and of sufficient size to extend over the surface of all the 
frames. There will, when such a covering is used, always 
be an upward though hardly perceptible ventilation, and 
both bees and comb will in spring be found in excellent 
condition, provided that sufficient care is taken in other 
respects. Above the section crates so filled, and between 
it and the roof of the hive, there should be a space of at 
least 6 inches. Under the eaves of the roof there should 
also be two or more small holes covered with perforated 
zinc, and so placed that the wind cannot drive the 
rain or snow into the hive. By means of these holes 
there will be a continued circulation of the air above the 
section rack, and any moisture which may by chance 
accumulate within will soon be dried up, and any moisture 
which may percolate through the top coverings of the 
frames will at once be carried away. With such a winter 
covering the entrance to the hive need not be large, 
although on the other hand if the bee-keeper is able to 
prevent mice from entering and gnawing the combs there 
is no objection to having an entrance larger than those 
usually seen in the winter months. Care must also be 
taken that the stand of the hive is firm and able to resist 
the strong winds which are sure to beat upon it with great 
force before another spring. If the hive is on a stand con¬ 
sisting of floorboard and legs, then pieces of slate or other 
material of a similar nature should be placed beneath 
each leg to assist in preserving it against the insidious 
onslaught of damp, which will cause the wood to rot, and 
may be the means, unless the mischief is perceived in 
time, of causing trouble and loss. Every roof must be 
made firm by some means or other to the hive which it 
protects. It is very easy to devise a fastening which 
shall unite roof and hive together securely, but if no other 
means are available a couple of bricks tied one on each 
end of a string of suitable length and slung over the roof 
of the hive and allowed to depend on either side will be a 
sufficient safeguard, even if in appearance a somewhat 
clumsy and awkward looking device. 
A good supply of food is an absolute essential to a 
successful winter management. A short supply, and con¬ 
sequently threatened starvation, causes restlessness and 
the loss, owing to flights on unsuitable days, of many 
bees. At least 25 lbs. of honey should be left, or an 
equal amount of syrup stored, in every stock. It is poor 
economy to starve bees in January and February when 
they are just beginning to become more valuable than at 
any other time of the year. If it pays to give 15 lbs. of 
honey to support a stock until the end of January, surely 
it is also profitable to allow another 10 lbs. to assist the 
bees to tide over the spring months also. To give an 
insufficient supply of food is utter folly and waste, but to- 
allow bees to consume a quantity of food and then to die 
is absolute and irreparable loss without one single or 
possible advantage; yet this is a course only too often 
pursued in certain apiaries where confusion exists as to 
the difference between an economical and a miserly man¬ 
agement. Economy should by all means be practised,, 
but care must be taken that the desire to practise economy 
does not become a craze for saving pennies at the expense 
of pounds. 
Weak stocks are very rarely profitable when managed 
upon the lines generally followed in apiaries of consider¬ 
able size. It is possible, no doubt, to build up a few 
bees into a strong colony capable of yielding a consider¬ 
able surplus, but it is more than questionable whether it 
is in any way profitable to keep over the winter (except 
for experimental purposes or for preserving a tew spare 
queens to supply the place of those which may possibly 
die in the course of the winter) such small colonies. It 
is, in general at any rate, a far wiser policy to winter two 
or more small lots together in autumn, and thus to form 
one good colony which will not require extra labour or 
extra care in the early and busy months of spring, than 
to keep them separate. Some bee-keepers believe, and 
act upon their belief, that bees winter better when con¬ 
fined to a space which they are well able to fill rather 
than when they are allowed to occupy the whole of the 
hive. Bees may winter well in hives thus reduced in size,, 
but judging from experience extending over many years 
it seems almost preposterous for any bee-keeper to attempt 
to maintain that a stock will winter better in a reduced 
hive than in one allowed to remain at its full size. Colo¬ 
nies under such circumstances may winter well, but they 
cannot possibly winter better than do those stocks which 
are allowed to remain undisturbed in hives of a large size, 
which allow several combs unoccupied by bees to hang 
on either side. The best stocks in spring are those which 
have neither had any frames taken away or any excessive 
care taken to keep them warm. Those who winter a few 
seams of bees on three or four frames may possibly have 
an advantage in reducing their hives to a capacity which 
will barely hold the bees, but the owner of a strong stock 
will make a great mistake if he thinks that by crowding 
his bees on to a reduced number of frames he is further¬ 
ing his own interests; and if for the sake of comparison 
he will treat two stocks as far as possible identical with 
regard to the age of queen, number of bees and food 
supply, one on the one plan, the other on the other, lie- 
will quite probably be surprised to find that the unreduced 
hive will in March and April contain the greater number 
of bees, and that it has not in any way suffered, while 
the reduced hive will have had a marked increase of 
mortality, and will consequently be weaker than its rival. 
—Felix. 
NOTES ON BEES. 
BEES WEARING OUT AT THE HEATHER. 
At page 450 “ A Hallamshire Bee-keeper ” says, “ I have 
several times noticed ‘ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper ’ assert that 
working on the Heather seems to wear bees to death more than 
any other honey-yielding blossom. Tt seems to be well understood 
by those who are in the habit of taking their bees to the Heather, 
and he has also several times asserted that no satisfactory expla¬ 
nation has been given. If he will carefully ponder over these lines 
I think he will now comprehend the cause.” Has “ A Hallamshire 
Bee-keeper not made a mistake in attributing to me the above- 
