WINTKRTNG BEKS. 
347 
shelt&'ed jrom piercwg winds, they have all the condi¬ 
tions essential to wintering successfully in the open air. 
Great injury is often done by disturbing a colony of 
bees when the weather is so cold that they cannot fly 
Many which arc tempted to leave the cluster, perish 
before they can regain it, and every disturbance, by 
rousing them to needless activity, causes an increased 
consumption of food. About once in six weeks, however, 
it will be advisable to clean the bottom-boards of hives 
Avintered in the open air, of dead bees, and other refuse. 
Where permanent bottom-boards are used, this may be 
done Avith a scraper (Plate XI., Fig. 30), made of a piece 
of iron-Avire, about tAvo feet long; this, Avhen heated, is 
bent about four inches, and flattened to one-quarter of an 
inch Avide, both edges being made sharp.* 
Bees very rarely discharge their fajces in the hive, 
Ainless they are diseased or greatly disturbed. If the 
Winter has been uncommonly severe, and they have had 
no opportunity to fly, their abdomens, before Spring, often 
become greatly distended, and they are very liable to bo 
lost in the snoAV, if the Aveather, on their first flight, is not 
unusually favorable. After they h.ave once discharged 
their faces, they Avill not venture from their hives, in un¬ 
suitable Aveather, if Avell supplied Avith Avater. 
Having given the necessary precautions for Avintering 
bees out of doors, the methods for defending them 
against atmospheric changes, by placing them in special 
depositories, Avill be desciibed. 
In some parts of Europe, it is customary to Avinter all 
• Where a ventilator is innde on the back of the hive (Plate V., Fig. 16), any 
refuse may be hlmm out by a pair of bellows. A very little smoko should be used 
before cleaning the bottom-board. Pallndius, who flourished nearly two thousand 
years ago, says that bees ought not to be disturbed in Winter, except for the pun 
pose of cleaning their hives of dead bees, <kc. 
