WINTEKING BEES. 
337 
The Aijiarian, 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 anim.al heat of the bees; for, like human beings, if 
sheltered fi'om the wind, they will endure a low tem¬ 
perature far better than a continuous current of very 
much Avarmer 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 Avaste straAv to a vaTuable account in 
sheltering their bees. 
If the colonies are Avintered in the open air, the 
entrance to their hives must be large enough to alloAV 
the bees to fly at pleasure. Many, it is true, Avill be lost, 
but a large p.art of these are diseased; and, even if they 
Avei'c not, it is better to lose some healthy bees than to 
incur the risk of losing, or greatly injuring, a Avhole 
* If these holes are made before they feel the need of them, they will frequently 
close them. Mr. Win. W. Cary (p. 204) has invented a process of making these 
holes without removing the combs, lie makes a hole in the side of the hive, 
which, when not in use, is covered with a button or plug (PI. V., Fig. 16), through 
which ho slowly worms an Instrument In the shape of a fiour or butter-taster 
(sharpened at the end), until it strikes the opposite side of the hive. By this 
process of making the Winter passages, only a very few bees are hurt. As the 
queen always runs away from danger, she Is not liable to bo hurt. 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 the movable-comb hive. 
I strongly ad>iso every one using my hives to make Winter passages for their 
bees. As the frames touch neither the top, bottom, nor sides of the hives, the be»‘e 
have such extraordinary facilities for intercommunication, that they cannrt bo 
depended on to leave any boles in their combs. 
t The Winter of 1S5.V6 will long be remembered, not only for the uncoil moo 
degree and duration of its cold, but for the tremendous winds, which, ofte i for 
days together, swept like a I'olar t<»rnii(h» <»vit ilu- land. Apiaries standkig to 
exposed situations were, in inniiy iust.anee.s. nearly i uine‘1. 
15 
